Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-12-22

SHE LEAPED FROM THE PREclPIcD,
gun anew after the floods subsidized,
for Armenia is one of the oldest lands
and it's people trace their lineage direct
to that Biblical emigrant ship which
colonized it when the world was young.
From many quaint, fat-roofed dwell.
soft-yoiced echoes sang responsive
choruses among the cliffs, and at least
one church bell tried bravely, singly
and alone, to supply an imitation Of
Christmas chimes. 1t was peaceful
picture, upon which the stars twinkled
approvingly as they bespangled the
slopes with frost-diamonds and coated
countless sparkles from the pallid snow.
The Armenians are devout people, and
make much of the Christmas festival.
This little hamlet was in many respects
not unlike Bethlehem, and near it were
many shepherds who guarded their
fiocks by night, as did those of Judea
when the angels sang of peace on earth,
good will to men.
AT the home of Abanazar, the head
man of the village, there were quiet
festivities, decorations of holly and
other evergreens, songs of praise and
stories which for generations had hand
ed down cherished traditions and
legends of Armenia. There were the
aged grandfather and grandmother,
Abanazer and his good wife, three little
girls ranging from six to twelve years
old, and Zillah, the 16-year-old daugh-
ter, with her aftianced lover Akthar,
the stalwart young herdsman. She
was beautiful maiden, with regular
features. large eyes aglow with love,
the small but symmetrical form char
acteristic of SO many women of her
race. In her picturesque costume she
was marvellously handsome, and her
tones were as musical as the tinkle
of silvery bells or the low notes of Ak
thar's flute, to which she sometimes
sang soft accompaniment. The pleas
ant scene in this home was duplicated
in many others that starlit Christmas
eve.
Suddenly the scene changed. The
church bell rang in sharp, short strokes,
spirited alarm, confusion succeeded
calm, and there We're excited exclamn-
tions and hurrying in hot haste as a
Notwithstanding down the one central
street, shouting: Save yourselves,
Christians, the Kurds are coming!"
But there was no time. Close upon
his tracks came hundreds of swathy
horsemen, turbaned and fierce, with
loud Alohammedan malcdictions
shouted in deep-voiced hate, and eyes
which cleaned like live Goals from be-
meath beetling brows. In moment
pandemonium seemed to have broken
loose, the guns spoke sharply, seine
tars flashed in silver and turned Grim.
son, and soon the flames from burning
buildings cast their lurid glare over an
earthly hell wherein fiends held high
carnival in shedding innocent blood.
Abanazar and his family, with others.
gained the church which stood on the
edge of precipice, and there made q
Breaches were made in the walls, the
place carried by storm, and hundreds
slain before the altar dedicated tapcace
and decorated with Christmas symbols
in readiness for the morrow. The floor
literally ran in blood, and Hillah IL
speechless anguish beheld the men Of
her family and her lover cut down. and
women subjected to tortures which
chilled her to the soul. With other
women and girls she fought heroicaily,
but finally found herself breathless and
disarmed in the embrace of Rustcm,
the huge leader of the Kurds, who had
often in days of peace paid her atten-
lions rs often repealed.
Suddenly she drew the steel bodliin
from her hair, plunged it with unerriEg
aim and the strength born of despera-
ton into the giants heart, and as he
sank to the floor she bounded to the
side Of the church, seized lighted
taper, opened trap door in the floor,
hurled the light into a supply of powder
stored there, and springing through Il
side door leaped from the precipicc as
scores of other women had done within
the horrible half hour preceding. There
was a flash, thunderous roar, and the
solid church seemed to be heavcd high
in air, while in the lurid light of the ex-
plosion dead bodies of men and women
could be seen among the flying frag-
ments, and with them scores of live
Kurds struggling as they arose,
scorched and blackened, toward the
sky. The fragments, human and other
wise, came. down again and darkness
succeeded. The surviving Kurds butch
cred all who survived, of the villagers.
except the women they bore off as cap
tives, but at the foot of the cliff they
found but the mangled remains OF
scores of brave women who had pre-
ferred death to slow torture and devil
ish indignities.
An hour later all was strangely still,
burning ruins smoldering with the dull