The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-13

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Key In which the ABashi-Bazouks are
not permitted and-encouraged to take
ne star role in the bloody drama OF
! ailalrs. So thoroughly is this recog-
hizeo that their name has come to be
synonymous with bloodshed, their
presence the gruesome forerunner OF a
CERTAIN harvest of death. Even among
the Turks themselves their common
deslgnation has come to be BLACK
Mora" devil of the night, and the
most obdurate and refractory child
qutils and becomes obedien at the mere
Whisper of that awful name.
Although known as irregular soldiers
or guerrillas, and paid solely by the
plunder they are always sure TO get
they are the SultanS chosen 1nStru-
ments when it becomes his Imperial
pleasure to wreak wholesale venge-'
ance upon any of his Christian SUD
Jects. 1t was the Bashi-BazoukS let
loose upon the Greeks at Scio in 1922
that reduced that fair island of gar
dens to ashes, while $4,000 people met
death in a single day and 10000 Wom-
en- and children were carried Off ana
sold as slaves, to the scandal Of Chris
tendon.
In the Turkish war with Russit in
1877 thousands of Bashi-BaZouks were
transported from their homes in the
highlands of Asia and turned upon the
helpless Christian population OF
Southern Bulgaria, massacre1ng over
10000 of them in the month of June
alone. 1t was at this time that whole
large school of children were killed at
once and the bodies of the victims. to-
gether with the school house, burned
by the destroyers.
1t was the Bashi- Bazouks, armed
with Martini rifles by command of the
sultan, though in defiance of the Berlin
treaty who began the awful Armenian
at
twenty three days the work of carnage
was permitted to- go on in that single
district, village after village being
wiped out of existence, while 10000
people-men, women and little children
were put to death with every con-
ceivable torture In one village all the
young men werel tied hand and foot,
laid in a row, covered with brushwood
and burned alive. Other We're seized
and hacked to pieces; little children
were cut and pantilated, and young
girls outraged n-the presence OF their
families. On the last day of August,
the anniversary of the sultan's access
sion to the throne, "a speech was made
to these ensanguined butchers by Zekki
Pasha, the Turkish general, urging them
to redouble the slaughter in honor of the
day. So we'll did they act on this sug-
geStion that after the war many Of
them boosted of having killed a hum
dred Christians apiece. The BaShi-
Bazouk, indeed, takes pride in his
prowess and of the part he plays in the
determination of the Christians. In an
interview with E. J. Dillon, the war
correspondent, a notorious Bashi-Ba-
zouk, after narrating several adVen-
lures of his, in the course of which he
dishonored Christian women, killed Ar
menian villagers, robbed and looted
from right and left, went on to say:
<Jf = i
that would astonish the twelve powers
to hear told. We attacked villages,
killed people, Quilted houses, taking
money, carpets, sheep and women, and
robbed travellers. Daring and great
were our deeds, and the mouths of men
were full of them"
Who are these Ba shh-Bazouks who
pride themselves on being. such mighty
men of valor, calling themselves Lords
of the Hills ?"
+ They are Kurdish no1nads, descend
ants probably of the ancient Carduchi,
who occupied the mountainous eastern
border Of the Assyrian empire in the
time of its glory. Like all Orientals,
they have legend OF their own origin
which may account for their Ishmaelit-
ish proclivities. ages ago." runs the
legend. there was in the capital of
Persia king famous even there for his
cruelty. For many years his crimes
went unavenged. At last the gods sent
two serpents to take up their abode,
one on each shoulder. These serpents
preyed upon his flesh, which was con-
stantly renewed, so that each morning
found him with the same suffering to
be undergone. Studying how to escape
the torment. and reasoning that his
own flesh was no sweeter than that of
his nobility, he sent out among the
wealthy families of his kingdom and
0nr lad oil he 10 he
brought before him.
Every morning lots were cast, and
two of these were taken and fed to the
serpents to divert them from the king.
Naturally, terror reigned throughout
the kingdom, and the subjects set their
wits to work in turn to discover a way
of cheating both king and serpents.
Wise ones reasoned that when the first
taste of the serpents was stated, a
sheep might satisfy their hunger. Ac-
cordingly each morning lots were
drawn between the two victims and
one escaped and fled to the mountains.
while his comrade paid the penalty.
How long this was carried on the leg
end does not say,0 but long enough,
however, to result in the gathering of
a large number of. the escaped nobility
in the mountains sof rDemavend, and
these banded together to avenge the
wrong upon them and upon their kim
nus there grew up a race whose
hand was against every man and every
mans hand against them"
While there are many different tribes
or clans among the Kurds, they may be
divided roughly in two general divi-
sions, the nomads, lawless and brutal,
to which belong the Bashi- Bazouks,
the serfs or subject Kurds, who are
merely stolid, stupid peasants, content
with filling the soil in the most rudi-
mentary way, but displaying wonderful
skill in weaving rugs.
The nonnadic Kurds never work, but
meaning literally crazy heads" and
than ordinary brigandage is going on,
depend upon the Armenians, as para
site does upon a plant. When not upon
the actual warpath, and nothing more
. the chief of each tribe comes down
from the mountains every spring at the
head of his men to collect tribute of
the Armenian villages in sheep, mules,
rugs, stockings, or anything else that
takes his fancy. All OF their
wheat and grain they get from the
Armenians, who are forced to support
themselves and the Kurds, and at the
same time pay taxes to the Turkish
government
They are all very fond of finery, and
never hesitate to. avail themselves of
any opportunity for adding to their
store. They seem to know by intuition
when an Armenian girl is getting her
wedding finery together, and often ap-