The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-07-02


the Christian services, and show disre
spect to their churches They disregar,
the impoverished condition OF the people
Even after several failures of crops Il
succession. when famine was so sever
that the people were MANY of them beinl
fed by foreign charity. the taxes wer
collected In full. Their food supply, beds
household utensils and farming imple
ments were seized by the collectors Il
lieu OF taxes. These collectors maxi
false returns Of their taxes received. Tn,
matter is kept quiet until succeeding
set Of officials come into office. They sent
their officers to the village to presen
claims for back takes. The villagers Il
v9in contend that they have paid them
And so interminable trouble follows.
Mrs. isabella Bird Bishop, who Travelled
In that country Ave years ago, embodied
the results OF her careful investigations
In an article In the Contemporary Re.
view. Among other things she says: sir
plain English, general lawlessness pre-
walls over much OF this region. Caravan.
are stopped and robbed, travelling Is, fol
Armenians. absolutely unsafe, sheep ant
cattle are being driven of, and outrages
which 1t would be inexpedient to narratt
are being perpetrated. Nearly all the vii
layers have been reduced to extreme
poverty while at the same time they art
being squeezed for the taxes which tn
Kurds have left them without the means
of paying. The repressive measures
which have everywhere followed "tht
Erzeroom troubles" the seizure Of arms
the unchecked .ravages OF Kurds, the
threats OF the Kurdish beys, who are
boldly claiming the sanction of the gov.
ernment for their outrages. the insecur-
ity of the women. and dread Of vel
worse to come, have reduced these peas
ants to a pitiable state"
This will suffice to show you the con.
dition of things which led to the trouble
between the Kurds and Armenians. The
massacre took place in the mountainous
Sassoun district, just south OF Moosh,
two days ride west of Bitlis, and two
hundred and nifty miles south Of Tre-
bizond on the Black sea. The Armenians
of this district were living In some forty
id villages. Outside of this was a coun.
try settled by Kurds. During the latter
part Of last August the Kurds were ply
ing their usual avocation when they
swooped down on these villages and drove
OF fioclSs aand herds. This had been re-
peated until the Anmenians attempted to
retake their property. In the fight two
Kurds were killed. The Kurds imme-
diately carried their dead to Moosh, re-
porting that Armenian soldiers were over
running the land, killing and plundering
them. So the authorities at Sassoun
telegraphed to Constantinople that Ar
menians had killed some of the sultan's
troops. The sultan gave the order to
put down the Armenian rebellion, and
Immediately massed about 10000 regular
troops around these villages. Soon after,
sickness broke out and quarantine was
established. This not only shut the Ill
fated people In but furnished the secrecy
the dastardly work required.
Now notice how deliberately the attack
was planned. The Kurds formed the
inner circle around the doomed populace
and the regulars were back of them.
Some OF the regulars even assumed
Kurdish dress that they might mingle
freely In the first of the fight without
arousing the suspicion OF the victims.
Small companies entered the village on
pretense of protecting them as loyal sub
jects and In the night arose and slew
men, women and children. At this the
Armenians were convinced that exter-
mination was the object and fought des-
perately. The marshal of Erzingan came
on post haste and read the sultan's fir
man of determination, and then, hanging
the document on his breast exhorted the
soldiers not to be found wanting In their
duty. The official order contained this
sentence. ''Whoever spares man, woman
or child is guilty of disloyalty."
On the last day OF August, the anniver-
sary of the sultan's accession, the sol.
diers were specially urged to distinguish
themselves, and they made It the day oi
the greatest slaughter. No distinctions
were made between persons or villages
as to whether they were loyal and paid
their taxes or not. The orders were K
make clean sweep. A priest and some
LEADING men from one village went Out
to meet an officer, taking In their hand
their tax receipts declaring their loyalty
and begging for mercy; but the village
was surrounded and all human beings pu
to the bayonet. Others were seized and
hacked to death piecemeal. At another
village priest and several leading mel
were captured and promised release Il
they would tell where others had fed
but after telling, all but the priest were
killed. A chain was put around th'
priests neck and pulled from opposit,
sides till he was several times choked an,
a,ara n,o on+aS ,nr,ssnt ~ h .oiSoa yone. !.
tha oir and ,at saii ,,rSo,, 49,. M. !,
n,en mo- az ~ ona v,i,oaa % r'hpn NJ" eoa,na IN
.he .i,e- ,s.. =. o vniaSu, mnen nes, nV soo'
drea dre ~ s,,,,,hs, o oa 81, soe nse .u,
sart - - oro..o ~ 1nu ,,,! p,a'eu tnein ~
a.. So ~ a. o,SI, " a a., 49,. sesela s.sta,s
Ood 49, sne soeis .,n - aIuu 'le ssas su uusc
eir ST.. .noso mno mau no' uisu .,. y. nuisel
.osao.a ys y wonsn anu slis Wers
ssss ssieeu I'm ote Vinase anu piaceu III
nuion' M%eu ene soiuisrs were osoeree
w ~ VII mem 40 ehey nAeu, attc'
wn.c" mt.V my weIe puUcnereo. IN elouhel
MY cnoics woinen we.e set ISSUE am
ulseu " cnHnse Snelr lalen anu pecon'
nanuiis IN turhsn usrems. ouI tney IN
usnaiI.y reIuseu 70 ueny Snrist' prefer
rlns uie I@te Oh tneir tauners anu nus
panus.
reopie were crowoeu INTO houses Wnicl
were were .nen set on nre. IN one lnst~nce
nttie Doy ran OUT OF pne names, put wa
causnt on payonet ana thrown pacK
nandsome newly Wedoed COUPE nee
70 hlhuop' soiulers toioWeo' ano toie
tnem tney were pretty and Mouid 0,
spared II tney wouio accept !slam ou'
the tnougnc OF the norripie oeatn Iney
KNEW Wouio ioiiow eld not prevent tneH
rom conressins Cnrlst'
Az one place many young men were
ued nand ana 1901 ana tnen iaia IN
row, COVGTeQ WIN DTuBnWOOQ ana DuIueO