The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-11-04

fall they order the men out Of the
house and have the women at their
mercy. This rule is universal. You
will fnd it in the reports OF conSulS'
and you may remember that during
the Armenian horrors Of lSe4-,9o the
leading newspapers of this country
The Times among them, sent
special correspondents TO Armenia 10
report on the facts, and The Times S.
special correspondent asserted-and l
have quoted his words in letter TO
'"rhe Times" newspaper itself few
davs ago-that after very minute and
careful investigation in large district
of Armenia he found that there was
not single Christian woman in the
district who had not been diShonored
before she was married. That is the
condition Of the Christians through
out the whole of the Turkish empire.
Let me give you another example Of
how this hospitality tax works. /
nOw quote correspondent Of another
leading English newspaper, a paper
which is by no means unfavorable to
the Turkish government, but whose
writer's and correspondents are honest
Englishmen who will tell the truth.
He was in a certain town in Turkey
which was inhabited by Christians.
An officer of police arrived and de-
!nanded three days gratuitous hoSpi-
tality. All these villages and small
towns which are Christian have a
head man appointed by the sultan 10
be responsible for the conduct ano
taxes of the community. The officer
Of police found that by the connlVance
OF this man--at least so he suspected
some of the most beautiful girls OF
the place had been sent away before
his arrival. What did he do? After
be had lnsaddled his horse and sta
bled it he ordered a Christian standing
bv to bring the saddle out. 1t was
Christmas day. The head man was
pretty we'll to do, and he was
dressed in his holiday attire. The
officer of pulice ordered him to kneel
in the mud. He had the saddle put
On bis back, aud bride with Bit in
it put into his mouth, and be mount
ed him and rode him round the place,
taking care to ride him. in his best
clothes through all the puddles, and af-
ter his ride forced grass into his mouth
and compelled him, whip in hand, 70
eat it like a beast.
Taking all the taxes together, the
amount of taxation that the Chris
tians pay is, according to the reports
Of the consulS throughout all Turkey,
81 per cent. leaving them 33 per cent.
of the produce of their labor and toll
to live upon, and, in addition to that,
they have to pay brides, and in
some places their poverty is such that
in some families they have only two
or three suits Of clothes between them.
and some of The family are obllgheo
to staysesthe house while the others
go~a56ut in the two or three suits that
remain for use. You hear people
sometimes speak Of the toleratlon OF
the Turkish government. Let me tell
YOU what the toleration OF the Turk
means. It is crime for MuSsul-
man. a crime punishable with death,
to become Christian, and it is cap
ital crime for a Christian to convert
aim. 1t is a crime also for Chris
tian to disSuade a fellow Christian
from becoming a Mussulman. The
Christian subjects Of the sultan are
not allowed to build any new places
Of worship. They are allowed, gen
orally after paying bribes. to repair
the old religious buildings, which they
had when the sultan took possession
of the country. They are allowed to
repair the Old buildings, but not to
remove them beyond the spot on
which they originally stood, nor to IN
crease their dimensions; they must
not have bells to their places Of wor-
ship, and they must not sing loud
enough to offend the ears OF MuSSul-
men IN the Deighborhood.
I mentioned just now that the
Christians are obliged to wear sombre
dresses to mark their degradation and
TO distinguish them from their Mus
sulman neighbors. Let me relate, as
an example of how that law is carried
out, an instance related from the capl-
tai Of Bosnia, now occupied by the
Austrians, when it was under the sui
tan's administration. 1t is the report
of British consul named Holmer,
published in one Of the Blue Books.
1t describes a Christian wedding par
ty. The bride and bridegroom had
carelessly, and thoughtlesSly dressed
in gay colors, in violation Of the law
which condemns a Christian to wear
any but sombre and coarse clothes.
While the service was going on ID
church, MussulmanS were seen to
rather round and to collect the fagotS
near the church, and when the bridal
party came out they fell upon the
bridegroom and bride with their yata-
yhans, or short swords, and backed
them until half dead; then they took
their still living bodies and threw
them on the fire, for which they had
prepared the fagots, and burned them
to death. That happened in the cap.
ital of Bosnia in 1867, and is reported
by a British consul.
THE RETAIL MERCHANTS.