The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-05-18
Sixty Thousand Profess the Greed
of the Prosecutors and Are
Spared.
TURKISH LUST NOT APPEAsED
Christians Tremble at the Wrath Of
Abdul Hamid-The Kills
Massacre.

OMAHA, NEBR., May 17.-Mrs. A. n.
Peller OF North Bend, Nebr.. has received
mail advices from friend in Aintab,
Turkey, which are of particular interest at
this time in rejecting the feelings of a
downtrodde en- race-the ArmenianS. The
name of the writer is withheld, as it might
endanger life. Extracts from the letter
are as follows:
AINTAB, TURKEY, March 19.-It is now
more than five months that sword and
fire, famine and cold have been doing their
fearful work among US. Not less than
20O,00 of our people, largely men and from
influential and productive classes, have
fallen victims of the fury of our perse-
cutors. More than 10000 of our number
have, under threats of instant death, pro-
fessed Islam. Thousands of our sisters
and daughters have been violently carried
off to the harems of Turks and Kurds
Not less than 5000 of our principal men,
including many Gregorian priests and
Protestant pastors and teachers, are Ian
gushing in Turkish dungeons, arrested on
utterly baseless charges and given no op-
portunity to vindicate themselves.
Nor do we see any signs OF marked i'm
provement in our condition. 1t is true
hidden, but our Moslem neighbors are
still maintaining a fercely insulting and
threatening attitude toward us as a race,
and even were they constrained to aban-
don their bloody purpose the fanatical
fury of the Moslem people, among whom
we live, having been so fiercely inflamed is
quite sufficient, even against any feeble
efforts the Government might be con-
strained TO make, to complete the work of
destruction already so far accomplished.
Three possible courses OF action are open
to US: Frst-We can surrender all that
our fathers have clung to during their
many years of oppression and suffering
We can abandon our faith, profess Islam,
and lose ourselves and our children in the
mass OF our Moslem masters. Second
We can go on patiently dragging the
chains of our oppressors and bearing their
insults and abuses, wasting away our lives
and our strength in ignoble servitude.
Third-We can seek in other lands and
among hberty-loving people new homes
and new hopes of enterprise and hope.
Some OF our people have already tried
to adjust them selves to the first condition
named but even now their walls OF an
guish and remorse that are making their
lives an insupportable burden warn US
that death is thousand times to be pre-
ferred to life SO basely purchased. The
second alternative is no doubt still open
to us; we can repudiste all our claims
and aspirations for manhood, we can sur
render all hope of progress and take up
again the old servile life of the past. We
should rhaps be allowed to retain our
name, our traditions and our faith, but
how dwarfed, cramped and corrupted
Meanwhile other and Christian lands
open hospitable doors to US and extend us
sympathy and generous aid, and bid us
welcome to share with them the heritage
Of Christian liberty and civilization.
Will our Sultan permit US to emigrate
He evidently regards us as a dangerous
and pestiIential people in his empire.
Rather than further disturb the peace OF
his subjects by continued efforts to crush
and destroy US. Will he graciously permit
us to withdraw and leave him and his
people to the undisputed possession OF
this land2
More of our blood certainly cannot be
needed to appease his wrath, and as for
our property, we will be content with
whatever his magnanimity will allow US,
We should be glad if arrangements could
be made by which we could secure for our
future use some reasonable part of the
property we leave behind.
The facts concerning the massacre at
Kills are these: Kills has population oil
about 10000, of whom some 1000 are Ar.
menians and 1000 Greeks and Jews. The
rioting began without warning or apparent
cause at about 10 o'clock on Friday morn
ing and continued until 2 P. NJ. on Satur-
day. One hundred and two persons were
killed, of whom one was Greek and three
lone a priestl Catholics. Forty were
wounded and thirty protested Islam.
Nearly all the Christian shops and about
LOO houses were plundered. All along the
road Armenians were in the greatest ter
ror, and we found one of the principal
khans on the Aleppo road had been plum
dered, and expressions of hatred of Ar
menians were frequent and ominous.