Perth Amboy evening news., 1903-08-17
TERRIBLE CATEGORY.
Bulgarian Government Dom.
plains of Porte's Tyranny.
MURDER, TORTURE and PILLAGE.
A Memorandum to h Great Powers
From Sofia Deals with the Terri
bic Condition of the People
Under Turkish Rule.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Aug. 1.-THE Bull
garian government has presented 6
memorandum to the powers setting out
at great length the condition Of affairs
during the past three months in Mace
doniu since the Turkish government
undertook to %inaugurate the promised
reforms. The most precise details
dates, places and M of persons are
given in the memorandum, the whole
constituting q terrible category of muir
der, torture, incendiarism, pillage and
general oppression committed by the
Ottoman soldiers and officials.
These particulars were obtained en-,
tirely from official sources. such as the
reports of the Bulgarian consuls and
agents of the Bulgarian government,
and in many instances the reports
made by Turkish authorities. The Bull
garian government guarantees the ab-
solute truth of every statement and
challenges the porte to disprove a SIN
| gle charge made in the memorandum.
The memorandum begins by stating
that during the past three months the
Ottoman government has taken a Sc
ries of measures with the alleged inten-
ton Of inaugurating the era Of prom
Used reform and of assuring peace and
tranquility to the Bulgarian population
of European Turkey, but which have
had the contrary effect of further ex-
%asperating this population and reviving
the revolutionary movement. Instead
of proceeding solely against persons
guilty of breaches of the public order
the military and civil authorities have
sought every possible pretext to perse-
cute, ~terrorize and ruin the Bulgarian
Inhabitants. alike in the large cities
and In the small villages.
Wholesale massacres, individual muir
ders, the destruction of villages, the
pillaging and setting fire to houses, the
arrests, i'll treatment. fortunes, arbitra-
ry Imprisonment and Punishment, the
closing and disorganizlng of churches
and schools, the running of merchants,
tho collection Of taxes for many years
In advancs-such, proceeds the memo
randum, are among the acts Of the OF
topan administration of the vilayets
Of Salonika, Monasttr, Uskub and Adri-
anople.
Beginning with the vilayet of Salo'
nika, in the town Of Salonika itself the
Bulga rian professors Of the university.
the students and shopkeepers-in fact,
all intelligent Bulgarians In the city
have been cast into prison. One hun
dred and twenty soldiers entered the
village of Gorna-R ibnitna May 10 and
tortured to death five men and two wo-
men. During the first three weeks OF
July twenty-five villages in the district
Of Tikvesch were subjected to the dep
relations of the Turkish soldiers and
BashtbaZOuks. The villagers were beat
en- and tortured, the women violated
and the houses p%lundered while the ad-
ministrative authorities looked on.
In the vilayet of Monastir artillery
bombarded and RACED the f1ourishing
town of Smerdesch, the houses being
left a heap of ruins At the beginning Of
July two Greek bands, with the CONN.,
vance of the authorities, pillaged Bull
garian villages and murdered many of
their Inhabitants.
In the vilayet of Uskub the entire
Bulgarian population has been sys-
tematically prosecuted since last May.
The director of the normal school at
Uskub was imprisoned because his IL
brary contained the Revolutionary"
works Of "Othello" and LES Misera-
bles." In the districts of Palanka, Kos
cham, Koumanovo and Gostigar the
prisons are filled with Bulgarian
priests, schoolmasters and merchants.
During June the soldiers and Bashlba-
zouks terrorized the inhabitants of the
Schtif district, torturlng the people with
redhot irons. Similar atrocities perpe-
trated La the vilayet of Adrianople are
cited.
Altogether the memorandum gives
particulars Of no less than 131 indi-
vtdual ana general cases of excuses
and outrages committed by the Turkish
authorities. In summarizing the spe-
cific details of the outrages mentioned
the memorandum declares that whole
sale massacres were perpetrated by
regulars and Bashfbazouks in the
town of Saionika and the villages of
Baldevo, Banitza, Tchourilovo, Kar-
binza. MOghiia, Srnerdesch and Enidte.
while the scenes of carnage, pillage
and incendiarism were everywhere ter
rible. At Smefdesch over 200 Bulgari-
ans were shot, killed with swords or
burned to death. Over $50 houses and
the churches and schools were set on
fire by the soldiers and Bashibazouks
In neighboring places. Similar scenes
occurred at the villages of Gorna- Rib
nftza, Igoumenetz, Dobrilaki and Niko-
den. The villagers there abandoned
their homes and fed to the mountains.
Over 5000 men, women and children
fed from the sanjak Of Sores and ever
more from the sanjak of Kirkklise.
1t is difficult to obtain the exact num-
Der Of BulgaFtans who were impris-
oned, mostly ON the 6imsiest p~retexts,
as when they were released others
were Immediately arrested. The esti-