The morning times., 1896-02-16
STLRV[ 1T THEIR POSTS
Turkish Troops at zeitOun Are
Dying by Scores.
NEW STORIES OF MASSACRE
Thirteen Thousand Armed Men in
the City and Thirty-five Thousand
Stationed utside-Letter From
Marash Recites the Most Distress
ing Tales of Suffering.

Constautinople, Jan. 29.-Two citizens
| from Zeitoun came tc Adana, dressed as
| kurds, To find out the strength of the
Turkish army in that section, and it is
| possible that some OF the following ac-
counts from Adana have GENE from them.
! Thirteen thousand men are said TO be
iD Zeitoun. and ii is sUrrom ded by $4,000
soldiers stationed at Five Points. But
these latter. inSufficieuuy clothed ard
fed. are dying at the rate of forty a day
Specia! trains from Mersin and Adapa
| have been loaded with bread TO be fer
warded.
Many of the inhabitants of the beSesed
! city have donned the clothes or those they
| have captured, and come and go at their
| leisure.
A few Of them met a camel train of
seventy animals conveying bread TO the
! Turkish troops. ACcCStiDe them as broth hers
and expressing their sense of grateful
! satisfaction over the trouble they had
| been taking in order TO iced the suffering
! troops. they led them straight into their
! city.
HORDES WERE KILLED.
1t is generally supposed in Adana (where
nothing is yet known or mediationl that
some sort of an armistice has been agreed
upon until March !.
\ letter from Marash, written the first
week in January. says:
The hordes that went up TO Zeitoun
| for plunder were either killed or came
I back in silence and con sternation. 1t is
reported that the Turkish commander was
killed and the war may last for months
vet Further, regarding Marash, the
letter says:
The people are terrified by daily threats
! and beating and wounding in tie streets
are not punished Few men venture out.
The women go on errands instead.
The foreigners have to take charge OF
all the relief work, as the natives do not
dare help. Yet the foreigners cannot do
any visiting, because OF rough treatment
aftcrward given TO the persons visited"
The following letter. dated January 8,
from a city outside of the six provinces in
the interior. gives good idea OF the present
state OF affairs in many parts OF tie in
terror
Il wish TO speaN only OF the present con
dition OF the ArmNlianS here in its abso-
uteiy hopeless outlook for the future as
long a this government is in Tower.
ACTIONS OF OFFICIALS.
Il; is now nearly six weeks since the
massacre and the professions of the gov
ernnent OF sorrow for the unfortunate
event have had time to prove sincere
friendly towards foreigners and aocedc to
all the reasonable requests. Their cor
diality in tie matter OF tie relief eXpedi-
ton 10 the devastated villages was marked
The Americans say that when called
upon in reference 10 any business tie Of
fioials receive them grgciously and prcmi
hearty aid. They are also assured that
there iS no rossibiiity of n repetition OF
such IViCkedne>S. The one thing. fowCver
which mars on 7 confidence III these assur-
ances i the fact that all officials, from
the Governor down. were equally loud in
their a>>B RANGES previous 10 November 80.
Before that day we believed them; we
thought that the authorities really in
tended 10 keep quiet. Since that day we
can only say that we have no longer any
confidence in the word OF any Turk as
10 security OF life and property.
What has the government here done to
make amends for that day and to prevent
a repetition Of il? The Ulema (MOham-
medan combination of priest, judge and
teacher gave their solemn decision that the
property was stolen and not taken by
right; that the persons killed We're murder
ed and not killed by accident, or in course
of war.
MADE THEM CRIMINALS
This made the participants in the massacre
and plundering criminals. This was the
would have been n public proclamation to
the Turks TO continue.
Another commission OF Armenians and
Turkish officials WAS appointed to go
through the market and make an inventory
of the losses sustained in each shop. 1t
soon appeared, however, that the real
object OF this was to search for arms. In
all the Armenian shops thus examined, /
believe but three revolvers We're found.
of ma king pmpnaS. this is the end.
las to the means for preventing another
outbreak. what has been done? In the first
place the Soldiersare on guard, and while we
have a certain mca sure of doubt as to which
WAY their guns would fire, get we sup
pose their presence is a safeguard in some
degree. They are, however, being dis
banded. part at a time, and / suppose
they will be withdra wn in the course OF
a few weeks. The financial burden, of
course Of keeping such a body OF troops
under arms, must prevent its long con-
rinuance.'