Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1896-10-28
The Constantinople Massaeres.

Deen duly, and on the whole fairly
chronicled, but few details of tn,
damage done to property may be in
teresting. 1t is difficult to conceive
how so much damage could have beer
done in SO short time, but the recent
outbreak was SO well organized that
once the signal given land it was given
without doubt the hordes of ruffians
fell to their work with fiendish frenzy
and did it most effectually. The busi-
ness quarter of the city resembles a
field destroyed by locusts. Buildings
were stormed, their guardians beaten
to death, and their contents not only
stolen but ruthlessly destroyed. Safes
were opened, furniture smashed to
atoms, letters torn to shreds, and books
wantonly hacked to pieces
l have visited few of the buildings.
and they look as if they had gone
through siege, in fact, worse, as the
buildings, while left standing, were
turned out, and go where you will
there are signs, not only of loot, but
downright, deliberate destruction. The
amount of damage done cannot be esti-
mated, and the injury to trade will be
felt for months. In connection with
the raid one cannot but deplore the
loss of life. The janitors of the Khans
or Offices were principally Armenians,
innocent and unarmed, and they were
cudgelled to death like rats, and even
shot down by the Turkish troops, who
evidently had carte blanche and We'd
with the rabble in their murderous
work. Now, things have in measure
settle down, but it will be long before
complete confidence will be restored,
and after the ordeal gone through the
slightest noise leads to panic.
Letting alone the attack on the I'm
perial Ottoman Bank, which was as
silly as objectionable, the late riot is |
the outcome of the atrocities commit |
ted in the interior last year. The |
Armenians naturally brood over their
merciless treatment at the hands of the |
Turks, and although the remnant are
peaceable and innocent, some of the |
hotbloods do their little that their
be allowed to live. Their
tactics have been stupid and futile and
fatal, but love of liberty is rampant in
the human breast, and history is full
Of similar sorrowful episodes which
- |
which have often ended in victory.
Our sympathies are with any oppress-
ed people. and our anger is stirred at
the apathy of Christendom The
author of all the horrors gloats over
the havoc done, but he shall have his
reward, and may, should he live long
enouge, regret the loss of SO many
loyal subjects.
The Armenians were the backbone
Of the country, intelligent. Industrious
and law abiding, and although a few
more thousands have been added to
the CHASTITY holocaust, they are still
enough here and in other
lands to attain their end and witness
the discontinue of their oppressors.
Turks cannot govern their Christian
subjects justly SO long as the interior
is full of lawless unpaid tribes. The
capital itself swarms with lazy, loupg-
ng parasites who live on rotten gov
ernment, and already they begin to
srumble at arrears of pay, six to eight
months. and any day they may side
With the mob in protesting against a
ovoreign who, although he poses as
he head of their religion, has lost pro.
yince after province, is estranging the
owe and allegiance of his people, has
brought upon himself the saorn and ;
contempt of the whole world, and who I
s in a fair way of losing his thron and s
lis life. This hatred of race is bolster !
ID up by fanaticism and ignorance; the t
sverage Turk knows little of what is +
'oing on. He is fed on pottage and is {
hrowing away his birthright. Of late
lays many Armenians have left the :
ountry, but am told that Rumania,
russia, France, and Greece refuse to |
eceive them. To go back to their +
ZONES and friends in the interior :
would mean certain death, SO that t
Vhat will become of these poor per-
ecuted people God only knows.