The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-02-15

khnouss, begging as an inestimable favor to
be- shielded from the brutal treatment to
which they are all subjected. 1t is needless
to publish it here. Written appeals are
seldom very forcible. If the reader had seen
the wretched women themselves as saw them
and heard them tell their gruesome tales in
tho simplest of words, punctuated by sobs and
groans, emphasized by misery and squalor.
they would be in a condition to form some
idea OF the state of things in Armenia, which
i'll the good Old times Of theocracy would have
brought down consuming fire from heaven
Mr.. w. w. Howard, gives an authentic ac-
count as an eye witness from which we take
these excerpts:
The horrors Of the present hour in Armenia
have not yet been told even in thousandth
part.
Tho Turkish Government has determined
upon the oblitcration OF the Armenian race
by the most irightful campaign of murder.
wholesale massacre. forced starvation and
unspeakable tortures ever conceived in the
history Of the world.
Il have seen the cunning and cruc machin-
cry of the SultaE at work And besides my
own evidence Of my eyes and ears. ] have
brought back to civilization signed state
ment by the American missionaries i'll
Armenia, and an official document from the
spiritual head of the Armenian Church.
Read them. And then ask yourselves if the
Christian world is to sit idly by and witness
this crusade of persecution which will not
end until 1000, 900 Armenian Christians have
been wiped out-wiped out because they will
not abandon Christianity and worship in the
Moslem mosques of the Turks.
No family, high or low, rich or poor, is
secure against the dishonor OF its women, the
torture OF its men, and the abduction OF its
children. Of the $4,000 Armenians in the
province Of Van alone, with the affairs Of
which am familiar. fully 100. 900 are in want
of food. More than half of the foodless ones
live on roots and herbs.
"The gates of the American mission at Van.
where | lived for several weeks are thronged
from sunrise until sunset with wretchcd
beings asking in Christ's name for bit of
bread for their starving children.
People are dying of starvation. Before
came away sixty-tivc had died Of hunger in II
few days in one district.
In the one district of Moks, in the province
! which | visited, only one-iourih OF the people
are left in their village homes, the others
having been driven out by Kourcls and Turks
to beg their bread or die of starvation in the
mountains
In the district of Shadakh only one-third
of the people cling starving to their ruined
homes. The rest are homeless wanderers
dropping dead of hunger and despair
The American Missionaries have sent a
statement to the Christian people from
which we take the following sentences
AT the present writing we have reliable
testimony from more than fifty of the vii
lagos that the people are on the verge of
starvation. To day the Turk has very
nearly approached the climax of his
policy to leave no Armenians to either
need Or receive foreign protection! This
policy has been carried out chiefly by
means of forcible PROSECUTING, murder and
starvation. II we turn to the condition of
the peasant still in the villages the picture
is even more pathetic-yes, verify appalling!
Neither by day or night is he for moment