Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-04-30
FIRST GRAPHIC
STORY OF TERRIBLE
ADANA MASSACRE.


rising. He gives as follows the first
graphic story of the series of maSsacres
and incendiarism:
The entire vilayet of Adana has been
the scene during the past five days Of a
terrible massacre of Armenians, the
district. The terror has been general.
and the government is poweriess to check
the disorders. AdaEa, the capital of the
province, has been the storm center.
Conditions have been unsettled for
some time and there has been animoSity
between Turks and Armenians owing to
the political activity OF the latter and
their open purchasing OF arms
early last Wednesday morning, while
| was in the market, | noticed the Ar
menianS were closing their shops and
hurrying to their homes. An Armenian
and Il Turk had been killed during the
night and the corpses were paraded
through their respective quarters. The
sight of the dead inhamed the inhab-
itants, and crowds at once began TO
gather i'll the streets armed with sticks
axes and knives. A few young. Arme
mans assembled in the center of the
covered market aud began firing revol-
vers into the air. BY II o'clock in the
morning the crowd had begun the loot
ing of shops.
The military commander of Adana
was by my side in the market when the
firing commenced. He had not the cour-
age to endeavor to dispense the mob;
he returned to his residence and did not
venture out for two days.
'William Chambers, field secretary of
the Young Mems Christian association.
and / proceeded to the INonak and found
a bowling mob demanding arms with
which to kill the GiaourS.
I'VE then went to the telegraph office
to summon the British consul. On the
steps of the building we saw three Ar
menians who had been maSSacred. Their
bodies had been mutilated. While we
were i'll the telegraph office, a mob burst
into the room where we We're aud killed
two ArmenianS before our eyes. The
uufortunates were supplicating the pro-
lection of the vail when they were struck
down.
I'VE managed to make our way into
the next room, where we made repre-
sensations to the vail. This official said
he could do nothing. lie was afraid Of
his own life, and he made no attempt to
protect us. Somehow we managed to
get to the interior of the Konak, where
we remained at the side of the govern
ment officials for the next forty-eight
hours.
THAT afternoon the situation grew dis
tinctly worse. The Armenans with
drew to their quarter of Adana, which
is situated on a hill and converted their
houses that held advantageous positions
into fortresseS. Here the fighting went
on for two days, during which the Ar
menians succeeded in beating off their
Turkish aSsailantS.
"Wednesday evening Maj. Daughty-
Wylie, the British vice consul at Mer-
aina, arrived at Adana and established
headquarters in the house of a drago-
man of a wealthy Greek resident, where
many refugees had been received. The
wife of the British vice consul, who was
brought into Adana under fire on Thurs
day, tended personally to many wounded
women and children.
"Adana was a hell The bazaars were
looted and set on fire. There was con-
tinuous and increasing shooting and kill
ing iii every part of the town, and fires
ragged in many quarters.
"Moslems from the neighborhood be-
gan pouring into the city, and notwith-
standing our vehement protests, the vail
distributed arms to these men, alleging
that they were Turkish reserves.
Maj. Daughty-Wylie, at the head of
troops which he compelled the vail to
supply, went to the railway end Of the
town and was successful IN preventing
the villagers from coming into Adana.
Later, while the ma or was attempting
to pacify the town, he was shot and
disabled.
missionaries of the central Turkey
mission had assembled for district
conference in the center of Adana on
the day of the outbreak. They received
and protected hundreds OF refugees in
the American seminary for girls and
courageously endeavored to pacify the
warning elements.
"On Thursday Daniel Miner Rogers
and Henry Maurer, American mission
aries, were killed under treacherous cir
cumstances. On Friday the Armenlans
yielded since when there has been lit
tie numbering.
"Adana is in a pitiable condition. The
town has been pillaged and destroyed,
and there are thousands of homeless
people here without means of Hveli
hood. 1t is impossible to estimate the
number of killed The corpses lie scat
tered through the streets Friday, when
| went out | had to pick my way be-
tween the dead. Saturday morning
counted a dozen carloads of Armenian
bodies in one-half hour being carried to
the river and thrown into the water. In
the Turkish cemeteries graves are being
dug by the wholesale.
s'The condition of the refugees Is most
pitiable Not only are there orphans
and widows beyond number, but a great
many, even the babies, are suffering
from severe wounds.
1.-THE situation in Adana itself is un-
speakable On Friday afternoon go
so-called Turkish reserves, without otfi-
GERS. seized train at Adana and COM
PEELED the engineer to convey them to
Tarsus where they took part in the
destruction of the Armenian quarter
which is the best part of Tarsus. The
work of footing was thorough and rapid.
1t is said that they fired the great his
toric Armenian church at Tarsus, the
most important building i'll the city.
They demolished marble statues and
shattered important historic tablets.
Everything portable was carried away,
but the church itself resisted their at
tempts to burn it. Fortunately few
persons were killed there. This was
owing to the proximity of the American
college, where 1000 destitute and home
less persons had sought and found shell
ter"
There is total of thirty-three Ameri-
can missionaries in Syria and the Gill
elan district of the vilayet of Adana,
where the conflicts between Mohamme-
dams and Armenians are raging the
fercest With the exception of d. M.
Rogers and Henry Maurer, who were
killed at Adana, no one of them, so far