The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-01
Copyright. 1876

= the Government to conceal the
- state of affairs in Armenia, the facts
49,, coming to light. and they are sutii-
-f.,+lv appalling to make the CIVILIZED
,-l5 sbudder with apprehension as to
- may follow. All that has been &C
--,rlisbed in the way Of reducing the ma
- CHRISTIAN population by the recent
-.,s-acres will prove Insignificant in com
..,- with the overwhelming ''reduc-
80, that is now going on in 900 villages
.ratolia the official designation of
,r-nenia). Not the sword, the rl1ie or
Iva torch could ever have done a TWEEN
.'.tb mart of the havoc among these
-.+cbed people that is now being done by
-ho,s+ed nature. Cholera, cold and hun
= ara the new and formidable allies of
.to Sultan in his war of determination,
NJ the wolves of starvation are stalk
mo IN and down the valleys and plains
of Asia. Minor, claiming thousands OF I'M
resisting victims.
Although we still hear almost daily news
NJ slaughter and plumber, these reports
II the main, relate to events which oc-
cured before the beginning OF the pres
LII ,-ear There have been no massacres
since 1886 began, and very rev disturb
noes OF any considerable extent IN the
Yaf
.rronhic communication in Asiatic Turkey
F. extremely limited, and there are hun
rods of small, isolated towns ana VII
iages which were almost oblterated our
10 tho Great Kurdish and CircasSian raids
If october and November, from
which the news OF their ca
hmities is only now coming IN; ana lhere
are others whose fate may not be known
for weeks to come. A sudden night rush
Of Kurdish horsemen, doors burst open,
firious volleys fired upon the affrighted
1o down.
and the raided buildings looted and lett
heaD of smoking ruins-such has been
the fate of hundreds OF Armenian villages
whose sites are now as bare as a desert
II has only been by precipitated flight
that the multitudes of refugees who are
now wandering among the Armenian
ageous defense was made against the
Kurdish and Laze troopers, the over
whelming force of the aSsatlantS only
made the fate of the defenders the more
terrible.
All the world now knows the story of
those dreadful October and November
days of blood; but it does not know yet
that the last state of the survivors is
worse than the first. Between 400. 900 and
$4,000 Armenian Christians are to-day
homeless Migrants weak and emanciated
from their long fight against fam
me From Sassoum to the Persian
border this is the situation. They have
hocked to all the cities-Van, Trebizond,
Erzeroum. Sevas, Diarbekir, Harpoot,
Adana, Aeppo, Mardin, Aintab-and
they are still coming. From caves and
rude huts in the snOw-coVered hills; from
rocky hiding places in the valleys, where
they have lived on berries and leaves I'M
I'll the snow and frost deprived them even
of such wretched food; from the DESC
lated villages, the ruined farms, and the
pundered homesteads they are coming
because in the cities they at least hope to
be helped, even if it be only to a morsel
OF bread. Gaunt men and lads, feeble
girls, totterng mothers with wan-faced
babies, that seem ready to breathe out
their puny liVes-they are coming Van
alone has nearly 10000 of these refugees,
ana the other cities in proportion. A
multitude have crossed the Persian from
tier at kho and many have reached
Salinas and the neighboring towns, and
even Urumia. The cities of Armenia haV-
ing been already raided and plundered, are
in no condition to help the horde of new
arrivals There is no food, shelter or
clothing for them; and they wander aim
lessly about the streets, or congregate in
crowds wherever there is a prospect of
charity being doled out to them In a
few places, the government is ostenta-
tously supplying rations to the starving
the ration consisting of half pound of
bread daily for each adult. Hunger and
the train of diseases that follow it are
moving them down daily in increasing
numbers.
1t is now generally accepted as a fact
that the porte does not wish to interfere
between these pitiable creatures and
their impending fate. Europe is excited
When a few thousand Christians are muir
dered; but the programme of starvation
can be carried out without danger of in
reference, as no government will lay at
me door of Turkey the responsibility for
the mortality from such a cause Mean
while mere handful of brave men and
women are standing between the desti-
lute AfmenlanS and death. They are the
missionaries of the American board, and
mus FAR not man or woman among
mem has left their post of duty for the
purpose OF assuring personal safety. They
nave mterposed between the raised yat-
ashan and its victim so often that the
presence of death has become familiar. At
EafpCot, the bullets swept through the
Corridors of the American mission, but
lhe missionaries escaped unhurt. In this
spirit the faithful little band has car
Iied on such a relief work as has prob
aoly never before been attempted in the
history of Christian missions All the 9TH
eI missionaries having been temporarily
WilhdraWn 1t has fallen to the lot of the
american workers to distribute the funds
Collected both in England and the United
2taIes, including very large part of the
1HSilsh contributions known as the
Duke of Westminster Fund" and also
me fund raised by DIR. Louis Klopsch
o oFfr09 lg his journal, the Christian Herald
was mainly expended in feeding and cloth
ing the survivors in the districts affected
ny the Sassoun and Talvoreeg mas
mat they could not control the
44elIel FUNDS they made a stubborn at
Tempt TO stop the work of relief alto
sether; but the American missionaries
flrs,-
tnelr point, and were permitted to remain
iu the held Not a hair of their heads
ads oeen injured though they have pass
ca through massacre and fire.
al we look death in the face, and it SEEM
ca sweet to u.s. said DIR. Barnum of Har-
poot telling of the time when the mission
mousse was blazing and slaughter ragged on
Sle streets. Il count it the browning glo-
~ ar OF my NE to have been permitted to be
nere az that time wrote Mrs. Montgom-
f1y from Adana, where she faced death
"a 'front.' of her class of girls OF such
heroic stuff were the men and women
MADE who declared that with Gods help
%llu the sympathy of his people, the
11armenlans should not be exterminated
ny starvation as Turkey had fully intend
~ ~ with the small sums at their disposal
!tney began to help the neediest in their
immediate neighborhoods. Relief sta
IONS were opened at Bitis and Van. In
We latter city DIR. Grace N Kimball an
american medical missionary, began an
inau'strlal work for the purpose of giving
esIipioynent to as many of the destitute
- possible in the manufacture of cotton
goods. When her work lano1,ished for