Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1896-10-10
THE ARMENIAN oUTRAoEs.
A Com pany Of Drunken kuris stirred
Tn the Trouble.

n NOm puuy OF drunken NurUe Stbrfcu
Up the Trouble.
The massacre of Armcnlans. which
has been carried on In Turkey for over
Il year with atrocious brutality, was
begun by the Kurds. 1t has been
stated upon authority that two Kurds,
who had engaged In a drunken quarrel
with their companions. were killed In
q small interior town. The comrades,
to shift the offense from their shoul-
ders, carried the bodies to IN Armen.
Ian church. Early the following day
the two dead Kurds were found on the
doorstep Of the Christian Church. An
alarm was ut once given. The cry
went forth:
"The Armenian dogs have killed our
brethren! Let us rise against them!'
How well they did the rising the civil.
lied world already knows. The pages
Of history have no blacker spots. II as
black. as the ones that have recorded
the inhuman and brutal murder Of de.
fcnselcss men, women. and children.
The Kurds have always hated the
Christians. From time immcmorial
they have ravaged ana murdered the
Armenlans. ana In nearly every In.
stance the Sultan of Turkey has looked
upon their murderous assaults with
favor.
took place after the finding of the
Kurds' bodies. The men who had
killed them Joined In the general
slaughter. Women were compelled to
look on while their babes were de-
capltated ana cut In two by this brutal
tribe. Many OF the Armenlans of both
sexes sought their churches for safety,
but everywhere the bloody carnage
went on. A few of the Christian young
men made a stand for their lives. Word
was ut once sent, on this account, to
the ruler OF the province that the Ar
menians were up In arms. Reinforce
inents were needed. or else they 1.-THE
Kurtls) would he swept off the earth by
the Armenians. Like the spreading of
prairie fire the inhuman butchery
spread from one end Of the Turkish en-
pre to the other.
1t will never be known how many
Armenians have been killed since the
general massacres began, but the num-
Der has been estimated cOnservatively
At over quarter of million.
1t will be interesting at this time,
now that the eyes of the civilized word
are upon Turkey, to know something
OF the Kurdish tribe. This race of peo-
pie inhabit that section OF Turkey near
the Persian frontier, though they are
now to be found In all parts of the en-
plre. The Persians claim the right to
govern n part of Kurdistan, while the
greater part Is supposed to be under the
rule of the Sultan. While these two
powers say they rule them, the Kurds
look with scOrn upon any effort of gov
ernment. No one ever saw Kurd In
his own territory that would acknowl-
edge the sovereignty of any power be-
sides their own chiefs. whom they
adore.
10 see the Kurd In anything whicl,
resembles his original character, the
traveller, IL he desires to risk his life,
| must seek those ranges which form a
natural barrier between Persia and
Turkey In Asia, extending from Mt
Araat TO the region of Bagdad. There
the Kurds enjoy the wild freedom
which has been real part of their eX.
istence from the earliest period of the
race 1t may be the good fortune of
the visitor to be courteously received by
this tribe. II so, he will never regret
having made an effort to reach such
Il region that seemingly from Its
strangeness belongs to another planet.
They will entertain him, place all the
goods of their humble shelters at his
disposal, but woe be 1t II they look up
OH him with disfavOr.
But 1t Is not the real Kurd, the Kurd
IN the home of his ancestors, who has
been guilty of countless atrocities
against Christians. 1t Is the Kurd who
has degenerated into Turkish soldier.
The type has altered and instead of the
singing and gaudily dressed mountain
Kurd, he is shallow type of a fanatic,
whose face denotes that the owner pos
sesses the vices and crueltles Of his
rulers. He is the specimen Of the old.
time Kurd who may be found In the