The herald., 1896-02-24
THE armenian ATROCITIES
Not Ended by Labors of the
Commission
A FARCICAL INVESTIGATION
Consisting Simply Of Threat Of Ex.
termination
A FARCICAL INVESTIGATION
The Armenlans Are Impoverished - Hunger
and Cold r1ay Finish the Work
Begun With the Sword


porte, soon after the massacres in this
country, sent out commissioners to investi-
gate recent disturbances and take meas
ures for quieting the country. One group
of commissioners went to Erzeroum and
the other entered the country at Sassoun
and came to Sivas. THIS commission from
the interior did its work very rapidly,
spending only few days in each of the
principal cities on their route. The day
after their arrival, when summoned. there
appeared before them a number of leading
men, Mcslems and Christians. These were
admitted to the presence of the commits
sioners separately, first the Moslems, then
the Christiaps. The representative says
the commissioners said to the Moslems: ::
1--WE did not expect so much of you, but
you have done it; never mind. Hence
forth you must keep the peace"
When the Christians were admitted the
commissioners received them standing and
at once began to read an address reciting
the benefits the Oh istians had received
during the reign of the beneflcent sultan,
Abdul Hamid Khan, and the conduct of
the Armenians, who had started newspa..
pers and sent men to Washington and
against their government In conclusion
the address said:
thereafter if either Turks or Armenians
stir up trouble there will be no moro i'm
prsonments, but the death penalty will be
visited upon such offenders"
After the reading of the address Abdul
Pasha began to address the Christians in q
much more violent strain. He said if the
Armenians should again begin to agitate,
not even the name Armenia would be al
lowed to remain. They would all be blot.
ted out. Drawing himself up to his full
height and stretching out his arm like a
sword, he said: "What we gained we
gained with blood, and when we give UP
this morsel we will give it up with blood,
blood, biood.o
So far as l can learn. in the Harpool
villAyet. the commissioners spent all their
time in Meseren, and did not even visit
the city of Harpool, which was plundered
and burned, although it is only two miles
from Meseren. No questions were asked
Of the Christians summoned before them
When the commissioners had finished
their speeches they dismissed them.
Another fact of interest is the sending
out of officials to enroll in the government
lists the names of Christians who have be-
come Moslems. Multitudes have been
forcibly converted TO Islam. do not
mean that they have been obliged to
choose between becoming Moslems and
pershing by the sword, but that they have
been bound OF held while the rite of cir.
cumcson was performed without their
consent. ] know of one case in which an
aged priest was tied to his own door and
circumcised. while in other villages Chris
tians begged to be killed, and their Turk
ish neighbors said to them: mo, we want
you to till the fields. We will make you
Moslems."
The government has said that these con-
versions were worth nothing, and that no
one would be forced to change his religion,
but now government officials write the
names of these new converts, while the
Turks drive them to say they are Moslems.
In the village of Sheiklaj the officials said
to the Christians: II write your names on
a separate list to satisfy the Turks there is
no force about it." But one acquainted
with Turkish ways may expect to find
those Christians soon enrolled as Moslem
citize The carrying off of Christian
girls and women, too, still continues. In
the city OF. Palu, Turks carry off girls.
keep them for few days and return them
dishonored. The same is done in many
other places. In one of the Arabekir viii
lagos eight girls are imprisoned in Turkish
harems. Their friends hear their cries,
but can do nothing to help them.
The destitution of the Armenians beg
ears de crintion. Men who were wealthy
in October were begging their bread in No.
vemoer. Villages were pillaged of every
scrap of food and clothing. When the
plunderers could find nothing more to
carry off the villagers returned and sifted
the dust to get therefrom a few kernels of
wheat or barley. Doors and windows were
carried off. In many cases the timbers of
the houses we're pulled out and carried off.
Jars were broken. Everything of value
which could not be, carried away was
broken. Windows, cupboards and boxes
we're smashed. The utmost pains were
taken to leave behind nothing of value.
And all this was done at a time when win
ter was so close at hand as to make it rea
sonably sure that cold and hunger would
destroy those whom the sword had spared.
Wherever you GO you meet piuched
faces and scanty garments. And You
know the multitudes spend the long, cold
nights huddled together with nothing to
lie down on and no hing to cover them.
OF course disease sets in and carries them
off. 1t is estimated there are between SO,-
600 and 100000 people in extreme desti-
tuition. Europeans and Americans are
touched with compassion, and funds are
being gathered for the relief of the suffer-
ers In every town and city. 1t is far differ
ent with the Turk. He views his work
with complaisance, and does not like TO
see it interfered with. The government
has given a little aid occasionally. In
many cases the allowance is one-sixth as
much as is given to a Turkish gendarme
or soldier. l have seen the bread given in
severa! places. 1t resembles the lipseed
cake used in Europe and America for
feeding cattle. Even this allowance is sell
dom continued for any length of time. A
large share of the governments appropri-
atoms for the relief of the
many destitute goes into the
pockets of the officials. Moreover,
the Turks are hostile to relief work and
oppose it in various ways. In the city of
Pa,u the Turks said to the Christians: "If
our beneficent sultan wishes you to have
but he has not seen fit to do SO and now
you are receiving money from the English
and forming an alliance with them. We
will cut you OFF,
No Christian in Palu dares to receive or
distribute funds. happen to know that
the Armenian missionaries tried to eend
money into Paiu and it was returned to
them because no one in Palu dared to re-
ceive and distribute it. The same is true
OF the town of Chooncousch.
In some of the villages tax Ratherers
took from the villagers the scanty pittance
they had received to keep them alive. They
beat them to extort from them the money.
One poor vuiiap.. said: "Ihe rod is hard
and the flesh is soft, so we gave il up."
l see by the papers that the Red Gross is
about to take up this work of relief, but
greatly fear that the Turkish government
will exhaust all it's tactics to keep them
from entering the country. While nego.
tiations are pending the Armenians will
tering Turkey they will have to encounter
population hostile to their work, who
have been emboldened by their successes
in recent raids. It is hard to predict the