The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-01
TURKISH ATROCITIES.
FEW FACTS SHOWING WHAT
THE ARMENIANs HAVE SUI
FERED.

" htch NAristAaM feopie ~ we're sub
5ected On Account of Their Re-
Iigion.
BY II. H Van Meter.
The following facts. respecting Turkish
atrocities in Armenia, are a few from the
thousands established by incontrovertible
evidence. and confirmed by blue books.
consular reports and unimpeachable testi-
mluy OF eye-witnesses. Notwithstanding
tile unspeakable shame that those who
were so brave as TO testify IN the face Of
almost certain Imprisonment, torture and
death. to these terrible truths; before Eu-
r-1aan and Turkish consuls and commits
SONS were deserted BY 'The Great Pow
ers" ana LETT defeuseless 10 be Imprisoned,
tortured and put to death by every devil
l-a device when demons incarnate could
.o--rive. while the Christian" nations
Looked on in criminal acguiescence, read
j. he bloOLiest. blacklist record that has
-s.- bIottea the pages OF human history,
r. guilty silence. when the guns on the
Attest ornaments the world has ever
u should De laundering up to the very
t.r5ue OF the Eternal against these worse
alan heNish horrors which no mortal mind
could begin 10 imagine in all their awful
blending OF tears and blood and agony and
death with which it is written by bloody
sword ana bayonet. dripping dagger and
CORY spear, deadly ball and cruel blows.
tlrments and fortunes too terrible to tell,
crimes that boil the blood to dream o.
wrongs that wiring the heart to think of.
horrors that sicken the soul to hear of,
deeds no decent tongue could speak or
by demons who disgrace our race, and
desecrate our age, and damn us If indilfcr-
enL
Truly, no pencil could picture. no pen
eould depict, no tongue could tell the terri
bic details Of these awful tragedies Of
modern martyrdom in the midst of the
m4ddest maelstrom of death and destruc-
ton that has ever darkened the ages; as
Mohammedan demoniacs. with their wild
deluium of devilish delight in obedience
To- orders of the sultan. seemed determined
10 eXterminate the Christians of Sassoun,
this scene occurred, as sworn to by eye
witnesses-it being but one of innumera-
bic instances of the ike:
An Armenian mother, pure, Christian
woman, assaulted by the Turkish soldiers,
f-l on her knees and mplored them for
the sake Of her unborn babe TO spare her.
ALLAH, himself. VIII reward YOU richly
t0r ms mercy SHOWN TO a woman IN my
us 8, boy Or a grip they jeeringly
;AnswerY' one shouted.
How can she tell2' exclaimed another.
'Of course, she can; / can tell that my
seq. lts ID boy! 1 bet seven medJldlehs on
Instantly the bet was taken. the stakes
81 put up, ana InG pleading UlOLNEE nercl-
q !essly torn open; amid their yells of fend-
Il ish laughter; TO settle the question, when
the wager was paid, while babe and moth
er suffered 50 and died, because she bore
the name of Christ
Another scene at Sassoun which gives
MS glimpse of that awful carnival of
nellish cruelty shows the soldiers drunk
en- with their bloody debauch, betting on
now many helpless Christian children
tney could XIII at one stroke Of the
u bet you ten tshireks I can cut clean
through the necks of four Christian pup
pies at one stroke of my scimitar," cried
'Done," shouted a crowd Of Turkish
regulars, as they snatched four tender
mothers, and bound them amid heart
rending screams, one neck above an
The brave Turk, who had made the
bet, touched the. neck of the nearest
His bright scimitar flashed for an in
slant above them, then four little life
i less forms quivered in the blood-stained
i dust. before their mothers eyes, TO
whom such a death itself would have
been most unspeakably more merciful
Turkish soldiers took delight in placing
long lines of Christian children In tiles
to be fred at as targets, to see how
innocents they could kill or wound, or
cripple for life with one cruel shot, while
others were torn apart by their limbs,
ana others had their jaws wrenched
asunder, and stiH Others were held up by
their hair to be decapitated or deformed
for life, before their broken-hearted
Many women, with babes unborn, were
ripped open and their babies carried
about upon spear points in sport
In one village about SIXTY young brides,
+ with the most beautiful girls, We're crowd
II ed into their Christian church and Kept
there for days TO satiate the lust OF their
tormentors, till they were done TO death,
1 and their blood streamed from the door
In another, the most attractive women
Of the place were promised to be spared II
they would deny their faith, but pointing
70 the dead bodies of their fathers, hus-
bands and brothers before them, they re-
why should we deny Christ? We are
no better than they'll Kill US, tool
So they shared the same shameful fate
OF thousands Of Christian women ana
Their natural defenders having been
D. treaoherously disarmed by the imperial
government in preparation for this whole
sale robbery, outrage and slaughter,
Christian women and children were hunt
ed like wild beasts, after the loss of their
fathers, husbands and brothers, to be
Iurned over by thousands in obedience TO
imperial orders to serve the brutal lust
Of their MOhammedan prosecutors Till
Gcse We're tired of them, when those who
had survived were hacked to death by
words and bayonets, or left to linger and
Bands of hundreds of starving nearly
Il naked, terroriZed women, whose husbands
II fathers and brothers had been imprisoned
II sought mercy Of commanding officers of
troops of the sultan in vain. In answer to
their tears and entreaties, they were or
dered to be outraged and then butchered
p drOves, by the demons who had defled
E aem, when wearied of their devilish de-
bauch-
But this was better than AIohammedan
apivity for Christian women which is
2l has been the common lot of beautiful
Armenian girls and women for ages pass
alive
one band Of brave women worthy of the
SaGiration of the whole world had de-
EQed their little ones, their lives, and
5er honor, day and night till overwhelm-
by numbers, when, with their babes
p5n their backs, and their children by
er sides in the fight, finding themselves
grounded, cut off from all possible
ance of escape, they followed their he
leader, as she plunged over a preci-
with her babe in her arms, to be
bed to death.
silently the children followed their moth
Ike lambs to the. slaughter. till the
faVine was so filled with the dying
the dead. last Ia lean foil