Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-04-19
Massacres Confirmed. 1000 Dead, Among Them
Two American Missionaries MANY Killed and
1000 Homeless at Tarsus---Refef Is Urgent.
"HELP ApANA."

Boston, April 1S-The message "HelT
Adana," the first news verifying to any
extent the troubles in central and east
ern Turkey to be received in this coun-
| try from the many missionaries in the
affected district, was received here to.
| day by Rev. James l.. Barton, secre-
| tary of the American Board of Com
| missioners for Foreign Missions. AL
| though brief and serving in but small
| measure to amplify the press dispatch
es Of the wholesale slaughter of mis-
sionaries at Adana, the cablegram
which is signed by Rev. VIM. Cham
| bers, the resident missionary Of the
| board at Adana, has nevertheless quite
dissipated the hopes of the officials of
| the American Board that their mission
| aries We're not endangered. The board s
officers, most of whom are in this city,
stated today that it could only be an
urgent emergency which would prompt
such message as that received, and
they notified the state department at
Washington. It is probable that the
matter will he drawn into official in
ternatlonal attention.
The fact that there are known to
| have been upwards of Is missionaries
connected with the American Board in
session at Adana this week for the an
nual conference of the Central Turkey
Mission, has made the officers here
more lcath to accept without further
confirmation the awful stories of mas
sacres. In addition to the missionaries
of the American Board, it is probable
NO M n,I- nfh 1nrn Vino
lions We're also in attendance at the
Acana meeting.
TIE news in the dispatches today that
Missionaries Rogers of Tarsus, and
Maurer of Hadjin We're killed at Adanal
was, stated by the American Board Off
ccrs to be almost certain knowledge
that the conference was in session at
Adara, for otherwise the missionaries
should be at their relative stations,
some distance from the Inflated city.
About 90 missionaries are attached to
the Central Turkey Missions. OF this
number about one half attended the
conference at Adana, hut the identity
of the particular delegates is not known
to the American Boards officers in this
city Among the missionaries likely to
have been in Adana during the Ar
menian- Turkish conflicts, are the fol-
lowing:
Miss Kate f.. Ainsee of Ohio; Miss
Alice c. Brewer Of Washington, niece
of Chief Justice Brewer Of the United
states supreme court; Miss Isabella M.
Blake of Vermont; Miss Ellen M.
Rlakely of Winchendon, Mass; DIR.
Thomas d. Christie of Hartford, Ct,
| and his wife; William N. Chambers of
Canada and mis- wife: Cornela p.
Chambers If Philadelphia; Fred r.
Goodsell and his wife, Lulu X. 8. Good
| sell of San Francisco: Dr. Lucius o.
Lee of Owasco, Mich; Frederick w
McCullum and Mrs. McCullum of To-
ronto. Can; Mrs. Margaret r. Trow-
| bridge of Brooklyn; and Miss Clara l..
Peck of Chicago.
Among the others who are in the dis
| trict is Miss Corinna Shattack, who
has beer stationed at Corfa. since 1878.
Miss Shattack passed through the ter
| rfying period of the great outbreak
Of 1885, in a manner especially to en-
dure her name on the rolls of the
| American Board.
During the series of massacres in
! 1895 Miss ShattaCk saved the lives of
| nearly 200 women and children. A band
| of Turkish soldiers, seeking a fresh
| field Cor their atrocious depredations,
came upon the little mission at Corfa,
while there was no man in the place.
| Horrifyins tales of the treatment which
| the inmates of other missions had met
ut their hands had come to Miss Shat
| tack, and jealous of the lives and in
terests of her helpless and covering
charges. she stationed herself before
the only door. when the soldiers de-
manded admittance. To the command of
the Turkish officers that she step aside
Miss Shattack answered, you will
pass through this door only over my
dead body"
| Her steadfast determination and
| bravery appears to have cowed the
| Turkish officer, for he ordered his men
to proceed without in any way modest
| ing the missions inmates.