Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-05-13
LAND OF MASSACRES,
For Centuries Fire, and Sword
Have Visited Adana.
SCENE OF ARMENIAN MURDERS
Ever Since Days of Alexander and
Pompey the Turkish Province Has
Been a Region For Destruction.
When the Shenandoah Went There.

Pompey the Turkish Province Has
Been a Region For Destruction.
When the Shenandoah Went There.
There Is nothing like personal ia
miliarity with a locality to arouse a
real interest in news cQNcerning 1t
even IL that news be of so startling
character as to merit the name of
massacre. Poor Adana, the province
in Asiatic Turkey where many Ar
menians have recently been killed!
There was a time when | knew Its
broad wheatfields. silvery streams,
luxuriant gardens and the Wild noun
tains that hem the fertile valley In,
for | went there in smart corVet
and fetched away a marble sarcoph-
agus that had held the remains of
a Roman princess for a thousand
years and more before it came to be
a show piece in the New York Metro
politan museum. Now I venture the
assertion that not one person in ten
thousand " no has read the late star
Ting dispatches ever heard the pretty
name before or knows whether 1t be-
longs to a town or Il district or where
to locate it except as indefinitely some
where in the sultan's Asiatic dominion.
In fact. the general tenor of the dis
patches where the name is found in
discriminatory classed with Aleppo,
Beirut, Damascus, etc, gives the nat
ural impression that 1t is somewhere
in Syria If old St Paul were alive
he would surely pour out the Walls of
his ready wrath upon any one who
dared to call him Syrian, for he was
a Cilician, and the Roman province
of Cillcia of his day is the vilayet of
Adana today.
OF to the northeast of the island of
Cyprus, Just after the mainland makes
q sharp bend from running north
along the Syrian coast to west along
that of Asia Minor. lies this the finest
natural granary of the whole Mediter-
ranean coast, and its three principal
towns of Mersina, Tarsus and Adana
lie almost in line completely through
its center. Riding and camping out on
the banks of the Cydnus, our care free
band heard from the native story tell
ers traditions innumerable of the fair
land that is so unfortunately located
as to have been the battle-ground of
nations since the dawn of history.
The name of the mythical Sardanap-
alus is claimed as that of the founder
of every town and village. Within its
boundaries Alexander the Great won
the most famous of his victories. Pom
pey the Great reached the pinnacle of
his fame here when his legions cap
tured the province for Rome, scarcely
thirty years before st. Paul was born.
Then the Arabian Moslems swept up
and across it from the east; the saw
age Armenians from the mountains in
the north devastated ii; the Christian
emperor Baldwin of Constantinople
brought fire and sword from the west;
Greeks and Venetians harried the
coast from the south, and so down the
centuries the little province simply
from being a military key to surround
ing peoples was kept in poverty and
desolation until the great Haroun-al-
Raschid gave 1t the new name of
Adana and brought peace and plenty
to the land.
There was wealthy native of Tar
sus named Aldo Dabbas, who for
protection of an appointment as con-
suiar agent of the United States. and
1t so came about that In one of his
fields was unearthed fine marble
sarcophagus, which, as mark of ap-
probation, he made gift to the
United States, with only the proviso
that some one should be sent to take
it. And so it came about that the
Shenandoah was ordered to the east
ward to pick 1t up and in due time
let go her anchor in the snug harbor
of Mersina
1t was a grand opportunity for old
Aldo, beyond his dreams, to have
man-of-war as ocular proof of his i'm
portance, and he made the most of 1t
In the best of ways. for not only were
his house and gardens placed at our
disposition, but at the first mention to
him of the interest that was most
natural to see the backgrounds of
Alexander he equipped a complete
camp, even to a detachment of Turk
ish infantry. to take us throughout the
province. Over the campfire at night
the stories were told that, true or
false brought to our ears the famous
names whose victories and defeats had
alike brought only misery to a peace
full people. OF all those names so often
heard one only. Haroun-al- -Raschid, our
ARABIAN Nights" hero, was called
blessed.
All through the rolling plain and In
the foothills of the Taurus were In
this time of thirty odd years ago fine
fields of grain, orchards and luxuriant
gardens and all that should make
people happy and well to do, but the
war storms of nearly 5000 years have
stamped an indelible mark on the peo-
pie. Poor Adana! One more massa-
ere is but drop in the stream.
AS for The sarcophagus, the secret of
Its soul will never be betrayed, for it
bears no inscription nor was anything
recovered from 1t. Probably what
ever it contained was stolen by the
laborers who unearthed 1t. Its bulky
eleven tons was hoisted to our quar-
uerdeck. the beautiful sculptures care
fully boarded in, and the last home of