Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-05-18
LABAREE'S MURDER
shah's Troops Securing Coun-
try Near Mount Ararat.
KILLED BY MOHAMMEDAN FANATICS
Kurds of This Region Are Thieves
and Murderers by Preference.
Most Dangerous Field For
MfssiOnaries,

p |
WASHINGTON, May 1s.-The full
story of the killing of the American
missionary, DR.. Labaree, who lived fol-
some years in Brooklyn, near Mount
Ararat as a result of a bitter religious
hatred is told in a report Just received
at the state department from Rich.
mond Pearson, United States minister
to Persia at Teheran. The report says
1T is now forty-one days since the
Rev. Benjamin w. Labaree, an Ameri'
can missionary, was murdered neaI
Khoi, almost under the shadow OF
Mount Ararat. l had hoped before
this to cable you that one or more Of
the murderers had been arrested, but
| can only report at present that a
large expedition under command of an
energetic general who is highly re
spected and commended by the mis-,
sionaries is actually securing the
mountains in search Of any and all of
the gang, who are all known and
identified. While only four men actu.
ally participated in the killing of Mr..
Labaree and his servant, ten othel
Kurds of the same gang were accom-
plices. They had simply taken another
road for the purpose of e%ntrapping
their prey and must be held guilty as
accessories before the fact.
The brutality and atrocity of the
murder remove any doubt us to its
motive and eliminate entirely the sug-
geston in my first cable that the INC
tive was apparently robbery The
stealing of the horses and other prop.
erty was a mere incident. The in.
spiration of the deed was religious and
race hatred without the slightest per-
sonal luminosity. The fact that the
chief and leader of the criminals is a
'Seyid,' an alleged lineal descendant of
Mohammed, adds greatly to the diff
Guilty of the arrest. These Kurds are
all Mohammedans of the Sunni sect,
and their fanaticism, which is both
ardent and sincere, added to their
hereditary and instructive love of
blood and pillage, makes them n dan
gerous and a difficult population to
deal with.
""They are shepherds by profession,
but murderers by occupation and
prediction. He prefers a horse that
he has stolen rather than II he has
raised and is fired by the honest belief
that his bloodiest deeds against Chris
tians will be crowned by the highest
religious sanction and reward. About
twenty years ago these Kurds arose In
all their might. They mustered an ar
my of 100000 men, and before they
were reduced into subsection they had
slaughtered 10000 Persians, mostly
women and children. They left moth
ing breathing OF standing In the path
of their ruthless destruction.
at seems strange, even sad, that Il
missionaries should have chosen such
a dangerous field for their labors, but
these devoted men and ONE make
personal safety and comfort one of the
last considerations, acting upon the
consoling belief that the greater the
danger the greater the glory. l have
been told by one of them thai In a sim
gle province, Urumia, there are now
10000 Protestant Christians.
1.-THE efforts which l have made to
secure the arrest and punishment of
the criminals have received unremit-
ting support from the British consul
general at Tabriz and from the mis-
s~ionarles. There seems to be little
doubt that the terrible murder and
robbery were committed by Sayid KAT
far and three other men from the
Dasht Kurds, Saidi, the son of Jangir
Beg of Ambi, and lamar Beg of Kiri-
Xxi, with a servant from Ambi."