The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1903-08-20
TURKISH ATROCITIES
Bulgaria Exposes POrte's "Reform"
Measures in Macedonia.
ATERRleLE cATEeoRYoF CRIME

Wholesale Massacre Torture, incen'
diarisn. piuage and General oppres-
sion Exposed in Memorandum TO
Powers.
Sofia. BULGARIA.. Aus 17.-The Bal
garian government has presented
memorandum to the powers setipg
out al great length the condition oil
affairs during the past three months
/ in Macedonia since the Turkish gov
ernment undertook TO inangurate the
nromised reforms The most precise
/ details. dates. places and names oi
persons are given in the memorandum.
the whole constituting a terrible cate
CORY of murder torture. incendiariSni.
/ nila and general oppression com
mitted by the Ottoman soldiers ann
officials. The bulgarian government
/ guarantees the absolute trut. OF every
statement and challenges the Porte
70 disprOyc single charge mauo III
The mCmurandunN
The memorandum begins by stating
thai during the past three months the
Ottoman government has taken Sc
| rios of measures with The alleged IN
tontion Of uauguratimg the era OF
promised reform and of assuring peace
and Tranquility to the Bulgarian popu-
lafion of Europe and Turkey but which
have had the contrary effect of further
| exasrc-atlng the population and re
vivine the revolutionary movement
Wholesale massacrcs. individual
murders the destruction OF villages.
the pillaeiug and setting fire to houses.
the arrests. IN treatment. fortunes, ar
/ hitrarv IMPRISONMENT and Punishment.
the closing and disorganizing OF
churches and schools. the running OF
merchants. the collection of taxes Tor
many years in adyance-such, pro
coeis the memorandum, are among
the acts of the Ottoman administra-
ton OF the vilayets of Salonica. Mon
astir. Uslu5 and Adrianopie.
The memorandum relates in detail
n number oi such cases in each VII
ayet Beginning with the vilayet OF
Salonica. it states that in the town Of
Salouica itself the bulgarian profes.
sors of the university. the students
and shopkeepers IN fact all the intel
Hgent Bulgarians In the city, have
been cast into prison. One hundred
and twenty soldiers entered the village
OF Gorna-Ribuitza May 10 and tortured
10 death five men and two women.
During the first three months of July,
80 villages in the district OF Tikyesch
we're subjected TO the depredatiOns of
the Turkish soldiers and Bashi-Ba-
zouks The villagers were beaten and
tortured. the women violated and the
houses plunderel while the admins
trative authorities looked on.
IN the viiayct Of Monastir. artillery
bomhardet and RACED the f0urishing
town OF Smegdesh the 900 houses being
left a heap of ruins. At the begin
ming Of July Two Greek bands with the
conniyancc OF the authorities pillaged
Bulgarian villages and murdered many
Of their inhabitants.
In the vilayet of Uskub the entire
Bulgarian population has been syste-
maiially presented since last May.
The director of the normal school at
Uskub was imprisoned beause his IL
bray contained the revolutionary
works Of "Othc,io" and Les Misera-
bles."
In the districts OF Palanka, KOsch-
ani. KoumanovO and Gostigar the pris-
ons are filled with Bulgarian priests,
schoolmasters and merchants. During
June the soldiers and Bashi-BazOuks
terrori2ed the inhabitants Of the Schtii
district. torturing the people with red
hot irons. Similar atrocities perpe-
trated in the yilayet OF Adrianople are
tied
At Smerdesch over two hundred
Dulgarians were shot. killed with
swords OF burned TO death. over 25O
houses and the churches and schools
were set on fire with petroleum and
pillaged, the property being sold by the
soldiers and Bashi- BazOuks in neigh
boring places. Similar scenes occurred
at the villages Of Gorna-Ribnitza, lg-
oumenetz, Dobrilalii and Nikoden. The
villagers there abandoned their homes
and fed to the mountains. Over 1000
men. women and children fed from the
sanjak of Sores. and even more from
tho Canfak of Kfrkklisse
In Onclusion. the memorandum de-
MES that Bulgaria fonented the reyo-
luton in Macedonia. and says the above
exposures condemn Turkeys govern
ment in Europe.