The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-27
NEW HAvENMORG JOURNAL

Zeitoun and the surrounding villages will take part"
 The following description of the mas sacre at Alntah is furnished by an eye witness of the occurrence under date of November 23:
 "All the west and south part of the | city seemed to be in an uproar crowds of people rushing in every direction,the roofs covered with excited men, women and children, the mingllng of cries of fear, anger and defiance with occasion- al pistol and gun shots made up an ex- hlbltion of the most fearful tumult and confusion, Already troops were hurry ing forward, and soon a company of | sixty soldiers was stationed in front of the American Girls seminary, with | pickets out to cover the approaches to the hospital and college. From our po- sition We could see the narrow street densely crowded with intensely excited 1 people, and now and then a rush made upon some house or gate the rally of l defenders On the roofs, among whom women were the foremost, using l stones, clubs and sometimes guns and 1 pistols, as best they could. Sometimes the attack was beaten off and the as- sailants withdraw to organize new assault, Sometimes a gate or wall was broken down, and then the noise of con fict subsided and the work of massa- ere and plunder begun. Later on long lines of people were leaving their homes laden With plunder and later still the flames and smoke arose from the burn ing houses
 | What we heard was the indescrib-
 able roar of the mob pierced by the sharp reports of pistols and guns, with
 now and then shrieks of agony and 1 fear, and over all the most horrible of all the loud shrill 'zullghat very; like the cry of our northern looms, pro- 1 longed and sharpened, raised by the Turkish women crowded on the roofs, and cheering on their men to the at tack. The massacre and pillage began in the markets and those parts of the | city where Christian houses surrounded l by Moslem neighbors offered easy points of attack. These places having been footed the mob moved on toward 1 what are known as the Christian quar- | ters. Here the resistance became more obstinate. In two of these the old street gates were still in use by shut tiEg which the district enclosed became a small fortified community capable | Of making a strong resistance to an un- organized mob. Here at last the assail- ants were arrested and beaten off. l Under such general conditions the | storm of mob violence ragged on with out much abatement till the middle of l the afternoon, when the tunult grad
 ually subeided and night brought quiet except in the vicinity of burning houses, 1 where the uproar went on until near
 midnight.
 By morning military arrangements seemed to have been made which gave | Us hope that order would be maintain ! ed. Soldiers were posted at intervals around the Christian quarters of the city. Very early on the morning of the | 17th crowds of villagers were seen scur- rying toward the city from every direc- l ton, evidently ca ger to share the plum
 der of another day of riot. The sol- diers met and turned them back. They. l
 numbers,
 Then for an hour chaos was let loose
 again and the horrors of the previous day were repeated only that the Christ
 ians were prepared and being in
 strong position were generally able to beat off their assailants. At one point
 of the line of defense were few Mos.
 lem houses. and the men bravely and | heartily joined in the defense with their
 neighbors. The gallantry of this act
 was marred. however by the demand | which they made the next day for a
 large sum of money for this service. | These men actually demanded and re-
 ceived about $5 piece for this neigh | borly help
 When it became evident that the
 mob could not force their way into the
 places held by the besieged, the soldiers.
 perhaps having received new orders,
 resumed show of activity, fired a few
 shots into the air, drove the mob out of
 the city and dispersed them As near
 ly as can be judged the figures will be
 about 200 killed (some say 1,O0o) and
 400 wounded; nearly all the Christian
 shops and 250 houses pilaged and a considerable number of them burned | Some 1000 men, who in the first panic 1 took refuge in Khans and mosuues, are
 still held as prisoners, for what pur-
 pose can only be surmised."
 l