The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-05-22
AMONG HUMAN BUTCHERS.
Miss Hess Tells of Her Work and How
Shiawassee County Contributions
Have Helped

| NAiSS AACoo AShS VI f1SI VOfk anu f1oW
Shiawassee County Contributions
Have Helped.
MARAsH, MARCH 25, 1896.
DEAR FRIEND:
| Your kind letter of February 10th, was
welcomed at this post.
| Before l thank you for your generous
contribution l wish to tell you how part
of it has been used, and you will see just
how much ''thank you" means in this case.
One day saw young girl in the street
weeping bitterly. A widow, whose sole
means of support is the money she gets for
doing errands, was weeping with her. 1
knew that If the widow had any tears left it
must be truly pitiable case. On inquiry
learned that the father, who had been i'm
prisoned before the massacre, had been re-
leased a short time ago, had taken the
typhus and died. The most pitiful part
was that they had not a yard of cloth to
cover his body before 1t was put into the
grave, nor had they any possible means of
getting 1t. COfflns are not used here, even
weather. class. They are beginning to
have plain boxes made. Nor can the peo-
pie now afford single superhuous yard to
wrap the body in. The cheapest cotton
cloth is stretched from head to foot and tied
at neck and ankle. In the above case not
even this was obtainable. Nor was this
all. There was no one to carry the father
to the grave. l asked If they had no rela-
tiyes-all were killed. Their home was
plundered and torn down, and they had
taken refuge in an old house in strange
neighborhood and they must pay for carry
ing it. L consulted my associate and she
thought sum equal to 35 cents would af-
ford a respectable burial, SO gave that 1
Visited them later. A sanitary inspector
would not permit animals to be kept in such
quarters If they were to be used for food.
The walls were of mud brick and had no
windows at all. Light and air could only
enter through the low door. The floor was
the earth. There was rude elevated plat
form, perhaps 12x15 feet at one end, and
here four families slept. They are all wild
ows, and this one had not a single dish in
which to cook food, and of course none
| from which to eat it, l bought them cop
per kettle (there is no iron here for dishes)
costing 60 cents. took the precaution to
have Americans written on it, as the
government can not so readily seize it for
taxes.
| The need of some utensil for cooking food
appealed to me greatly in view of the
spreading typhus and the need of warm
cooked food. They have subsisted almost
entirely on market bread when they could
not borrow cooking dishes. Our Bible
woman took me to see number of such
deserving cases. The first visit was to the
house of an Armenian family, formerly
wealthy, as the house showed, but now
destitute of everything The father had
hidden himself above the door the day of
the massacre, in gallery. saw the stains
of blood as 1t sank into the boards, where
he was hacked to pieces The lower part
of the house had been taken by the govern
ment as stables for horses. l spent the
whole morning going about. There was
little variety either in the sights or stories
of misery. The last family visited had
also been wealthy. The father is butch
er, but his trade is forbidden" to Chris
tians these days. found the first case re-
versed here. said use the money judi
, ciousy, and wish you could hear the peo-
pie exhaust their oriental vocabulary in
their efforts to express their gratitude.
We had commenced TO make some head
way in the relief work when the surrender
of Zeitoon opened an incalculabe amount
of work. From six to eight hundred came
here to Marash. l think 1 have told yon
before Of their sufferings on the way. In
one party there were 20 frozen-children
frozen and their bodies eaten by the wolves.
The village 'bride" found back of our place,
the victim of human wolves, the reception
here at the hands of the mob, who showered
stones on them as they were driven to the
church, and the carrying away of young
women and the beating of men, the refusal
to protect them or to allow food to be given
them. One might think that their cup was
overflowingly full already, but 1t seems thai
even remnant is not to be spared. Soon
after their arrival destructive form of dys
entery broke out and the people died lik'
flies after frost. We turned two schoo
buildings into hospital and the best peopl
in the city were there to help. Then I,