Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-02-10
VENGEANCE OF HOLY RUSSIA
Atrocities Committed by COssaoks in the
Villages Of the Caucasus
RESULT OF EFFORT At REFORMATION
village Burned, Men Murdered
Women violated, wealth Plum
dered as the Cars An
swer 10 the Peasants.

BAToUM, Jan. s-Cspecial Correspond
ence.)-For a week the tempest has ragged
without ceasing over The valleys and noun
tajns OF the Caucasus.
A biting wind has howled across the
land. driving with II thick columns Of rain
and snow and hail, that have fallen day
and night with hardly an interval Trees
are torn up and flung over the paths.
The hills are deep in snow TO the base,
nat fields and valleys stand like lakes,
streams are swollen to impossible torrents,
bridges are washed away, and across the
roads the water runs In dangerous fords.
The sky is covered with whirling mists OF
brown and gray. Ten miles inland one
hears the roaring Of the sea-
All the week 1 have been traversing a
desoiated country, where people are home
less I'm the storm. In one burned village
after another have seen the rain beating
upon black ruins where once a singularly
noble. race Of peasants was living in peace
The burning had been easy, for nearly
all the houses were built Of wood. the five
or six large wooden rooms being clustered
round a central chimney Of brick or stone
Now all that is left is the chimney stack
that would not burn, and the stone piles
upon which the house once stood, raised
two feet above the ground.
All else is litter of black ashes upon 9
level space, and perhaps a few charTed
boards or stakes that have not been entirely
consumed. The only exceptions are the
walls of the schools and village libraries
Of which the people once were so proud.
Church il Always Spared.
These, being public buildings, were gen.
orally made OF stone, and the outer walls
now stand blackened with fire, while the
windows are empty sockets. the roofs have
fallen I'm, and the books and furniture have
been consumed or plundered. But 1 ought
10 mention that in no case I think has the
village church been burned or desecratet
by the sacrifice OF pigs upon the altar. OF
dehled.
That is because the destroyers were
Christians, holding the same religious faith
as the villagers whose existence they de.
stroyed. Both. indeed follow exactly the
same form OF Christianity IN rites and
doctrine.
This religious clemency distinguishes the
destruction here from the things l saw
three years ago, when the Turks were
laying waste the Bulgarian villages Of
Macedonia. There the churches we're desc
Grated and destroyed, because the Turks
are not Christian like holy Russia, and ow,
no more respect to the temples of Chris
than to His living followers.
Otherwise In no detail is there the small
est difference or distinction between the
two processes Here under holy Russia, a
in Macedonia under the Turks. womer
have been violated, men murdered. wealth
plundered. villages destroyed and the Who'll,
population left to starve.
Under Government Authority.
And all this has been done with tn
direct authority and approval not only o
the officers, but of the central government
at St. Petersburg. have myself seen tn,
bloodthirsty orders issued by General Vo
romtzeff Dashkoff, the czars viceroy II
Tifiis, and IL was from the car and hi
ministers that he received them.
1t would be useless to give you tn
names OF the villages through which
have passed-ozurgheti. Nagomari. senak
and the rest-to you the names woul
mean no more than they meant TO me be
fore / saw their ruins. 1t Is enough tina
most Of them lie in the two provinces o
Guria and Mingrelia, In the basin between
the Caucasus and anti-Caucasus, not ia
inland from the point where the Rion. tn
ancient Phasis. flows into the Black sea
Probably most English people would rec
ognize It best under its ancient name O
Colchis, but for centuries II was part O
the brilliant kingdom OF Georgia, whic
Russia annexed by treachery 100 years ag
and In defiance OF all treaty obligation
has since been trying to amalgamate a
an indistingulshable part of it's empire.
The villagers are without exceptio
Georgians, a race we used TO read OF
our childhood as the finest early type {
European man. think they are that still
both IN appearance and natural intellec
and the Georgians especially have latel
become known to people who watch soci.
progress for the reasonableness and cou-
age Of their attempts at self-govsrnment
Crime of the Georgians.
Some three or four years ago they bega
by refusing the excessive rents in kir
claimed by their own nobility. That que
Il, Is almost settled now and does n,
concern US. But, they went on to refu,
payment to the bureaucracy in st. Peter
burg.
They refused to contribute any more to