The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-17

government has presented memorandum
to the powers, setting forth the condition
of affairs in Macedonia since the Turkish
government undertook three months ago
the promised reforms.
The most precise details, dates, places
and names are given In the memorandum,
the whole constituting a terrible category
Of murder, torture, incendiarism, pillage
and oppression committed by Ottoman
soldiers and officials. These particulars
were obtained from official sources, such
as the reports of the Bulgarian consuls,
and agents of the Bulgarian govern
ment, and, in many instances, the reports
made by Turkish authorities. The Bull
garian government guarantees the abso-
lutte truth of every statement and chal-
lenges the porte to disprove single
charge.
Reform Has Meant Persecution.
The memorandum begins by stating
that during the past three months the
Ottoman. government has taken a series
Of measures with the alleged intention of
inaugurating the promised reform and of
assuring peace and tranquility to the Bull
garian population Of European Turkey,
but which have had the contrary effect
of further exasperating the population
and reviving the revolutionary movement.
Instead Of proceeding solely against per-
sons guilty Of breaches Of the public or
der, the civil and military authorities have
sought every possible pretext to prosecute,
terrorize and ruin the Bulgarian inhabi-
tants, alike in the large cities and in the
small villages. tst
Wholesale massacres, individual muir
ders, the destruction Of villages, the pill
Laying and setting fire to houses, the ar
rests, Ill treatment, fortunes, arbitrary
Imprisonment and Punishment, the clos
ing and disorganizing of churches and
schools, the running of merchants, the col
| lection of taxes for many years In adj
vance-such, proceeds the memorandum,
are among the acts of the Ottoman adj
ministratton Of the vilayets Of Saloniki,
| Monastir, Uskub and Adrianople.
Men Tortured to Death.
| The memorandum next relates in detail
a number of such cases In each vilayet.
Beginning with the vilayet of Saloniki it
states that In the town of Saloniki it
self the Bulgarian professors of the uni
versity, the students and shopkeepers; in
| fact all the intelligent Bulgarians, have
| been cast into prison. One hundred and
twenty soldiers entered the village OF
s3orna- Ribnitza, May 10, and tortured to
death five men and two women In the
first three weeks of July, twenty-five vii
lagos in the district Of Likvesch were sub
tected to the depredations Of the Turkish
| soldiers and bashi-bazouks. The Villagers
were beaten and tortured, the women
were violated and the houses were plum
dered while the administrative authorities
looked on.
In the vilayet of Monastir, artillery
bombarded and RACED the flourishing town
Of Smerdesch, the 800 houses being left
a heap Of ruins. At the beginning Of July
two Greek bands, with the connivance
Of the authorities, pillaged Bulgarian vii.
lagos and murdered many of their In
habitants.
In the valleys of Uskub, the entire Bull
garian population has been systematical-
" prosecuted since last May. The d.
rector of the normal school at Uskub was
imprisoned because his library contained
the Revolutionary works Of "Othello
and Lies Miserables."
Used Red Hot Irons.
In the districts of Palanka, Koschani
Koumanovo and Gostigar, the prisons are
filled with Bulgarian priests, schoolmas-
ters and merchants. In June the soldiers
and bashi- bazouks terror1zed the In
habitants of the Schtf district, tortur-
ing them with red-hot irons. Similar
atrocities perpetrated in the vilayet o.
Adrianople are cited.
Altogether, the memorandum gives par
ticulars Of no less than 131 individual ant
general cases of excuses and outrage!
committed by the Turkish authorities
In summarizing the memorandum de-
| clares that wholesale massacres were per
petrated by regulars and bashi-bazouks IL
the town Of Saloniki and the villages o
Baldevo, Banitza, Echourilovo, Karbinza
Mogila, Smerdesoh and Enidje, while tn
scenes of carnage, pillage and incendt
t arism were everywhere terrible. A
Smerdesch, over 200 Bulgarians were shot
killed with swords or burned to death
Over 250 houses and the church an
/ schools were set on fire with petroleum
, and pillaged, the property being sold b.
, the soldiers and the bashi-bazouks Il
lneighboring places. Similar scenes oc
, Cured at the villages Of Gorna-Ribnitza
: Igoumenetz, Dobrilaki and Nikodon-th
; villagers there abandoned their home
and fed to the mountains.
FugltIves Number 5000.
Over 5000 men, women and childre
. | fed from Seros and even more from Kirk
kliese It is difficult. says the memo
, ra ndum to obtain the exact number c
Bulgarians who were imprisoned. mostl
on the fiimsiest Of pretexts, as when the
4 were released others were immediatel
arrested The estimates obtained give fo
| the yilayet Of Saloniki, 900 parishioners
for Uskub, 500; for Monastir. $50; and fc
lAdrtlanople $50; for Monastir, 800; and fe
IA information Is lacking from many dis
n tricts in these vilayets it is thought ths
r without exaggeration the number of pris
y oners may be placed at even three time
e this total.
d NO IMMEDIATE DANGER
: International Complications Consider,
a, Unlikely In the Balkans.
London, Aug. 17.-According to info