The Republican journal., 1896-05-28
A Bangor Woman in Turkey.

Report of the Relief Work of DR.. Grace KImhalI.
The Missionary Herald of the American
Board published May 21st the fourth re-
port of the Van Industrial Bureau and
Village Relief work in Eastern Turkey,
for work from February lst to March 1st,
by Miss Grace n. Kimball, NJ. D., whose
home in this country is Bangor, Me. The
report is in part as follows:
During the early months of the winter
we clearly foresaw that February and
March, and April would make the heavi-
est demands on all departments of the re-
lief work, and our expectations are being
fully realized The people have been lit
orally eating themselves out of house and
home; and every day brings to light scores
of those in the city who have completed
this process and who therefore fall into
the lists of the hungry. These families
often who two years ago were considered
the we'll OF the city-make applica-
ton through any one OF the many chan
nels, and caring for these cases has been
one of the heavy tasks of the manage
ment. Work is given wherever work can
be found or created. And here it is en-
couraging to notice that almost all the APP
plications we have from city people are
for work Many resist free aid to the last
degree, and we are not infrequently oblig-
ed to give help to such, when work is not
to be had, by indirect means. | have
known many families to 90 hungry for
days. while insisting on work rather than
free aid.
So great have been the crowds, both of
the city poor and village applicants that
we have been obliged to treat them en-
Hldsse, to a great extent In the case of
the city poor we oblige them so far as
possible, to make application through
their ward officials, and treat the list thus
presented as whole, after they have been
verified by our own examiners. In the
case of the Villagers we again treat them
in groups through their headmen or
priests. The entire group is called up,
looked over to get general idea of the
degree OF misery represented by them,
and their appearance, together with our
own knowledge of the condition of their
village, is made the standard Of our Civ
ing, These groups are often very pitt
able. One in particular included many
women and children who were in such a
terrible condition from their long endured
poverty in the village and their cruel suf
ferings from cold and hunger on the way.
that our entire secretarat was dissolved
in tears at the sight of their misery.
The villagers from the districts of Xiii
IAN, Norduz, and Moks show the most
distress. AT khzan, district partly in
the Bitlis, partly in the Van vilayet, there
is a large koordish population, fanatical
Moslems, headed by sheikh, the son of
the famous Sheikh Jeladin. Last fall tie
sheikh instituted a regular campaign
against the Christian population, with
a view to roofing out that religion from
his borders. This outburst of fanati-
cism was avowedly brought to climax
by the visit of British vice consul to the
region. All the Armenians who enter
tanned him, or in any way had to do with
him, were either killed or barely escaped
by flight and hiding. AS a result of this
crusade last fall, practically the whole
Christian population has nominally ac-
cepted Islam, the churches are turned
into mosques, and even the gravestones
bearing the sign of the cross have been
pulled down and detiled by serving as
layatories for the koords Very many
it is impossible to know how many-were
killed out OF special spite, and as an ar
the rest. The priests i'll particular We're
victims either OF slaughter or of forcible
conversion. One poor priest was brought
IN disguised as a common villager, who
for over four months has been buried in a
pit never seeing the light OF day, through
fear Of detection. AS lie pathetically re-
lated, he could not even have his children
brought to him, lest they inn ocently say
afterwards that they had seen their DER
Baba. Another priest and vartabet
who had seen the hosts Of the British
consul escape as 10y IA miracle, and their
friends made a grave for them under
the managers of the cattle in a dark, damp
stable, After more than four months
imprisonment in this unhealthful and
melancholy refuge they were helped to
escape by night 10y their friends, at the
risk OF their lives. The attitude of the
Moslems of this region is one of rampant
fanaticism, and the poor Christians are
entirely at their mercy, both as to their
faith and their lives. OF property, they
practically have none left. Nor can we
send help there. We can only succor
those who succeed in escaping and find
their way here.