The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1910-01-04
LAND OF MASSACRES.
For Centuries Fire and Sword
Have Visited Adana.
SCENE or ARMENIAN MURDERS
Ever Since Days of Alexander and
PoEpey the Turkish Province Has
Been Region For Destruction.
When the Shenandoah Went There.

&stPG @hG 80
8sen n Region For Destruction
When the shenandoah Went There.
There is nothing Ike personal ia
miliarity with a locality to arouse a
real interest In news concerning Ii
even if that news be of so startling a
character as to merit the name of a
massacre. Poor Adana, the province
in Asiatic Turkey where many Ar
menian have recently been killed!
There IA n time when / knew its
broad wheatfields. silvery streams,
luxuriant gardens and the wild noun
tains that hem the fertile valley In,
for I went there in a smart corvet
and fetched away a marble arcopf-
agus that had held the remains OF
q Roman princess for a thousand
years and more before IL came to be
a show piece in the New York Metro
politan museum. Now l venture the
assertion that not one person in ten
thousand who has read the late star
Ting dispatches ever heard the pretty
name before or knows whether IL be-
longs to a town or a district or where
to locate IL 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 it is mt here
in Syria. If old st. Paul were alive
he would surely pour u the walls OF
his ready wrath upon any n who
dared to call him a Syrian, for he was
a Cilician, and the Roman province
of Cilicia of his day Is the vilayet OF
Adana today.
on to the northeast of the island OF
Cyprus, just after the mainland makes
a 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 Adam
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 Il Gained as that of the founder
of We 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 legioBs cap
tured the province for Rome, scarcely
thirty years before st. Paul was born
Then the Arabian MoSlems swept M
and across Il from the EAST: the saw
age Armenians from the mountains in
the north devastated 1t; the Christian
emperer Baldwin OF Constantinople
brought fire and sword from the west;
Greeks and Veuetians harried the
coast from the south. and so down tho
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 it the new name Of
Adana ard brought peace and plenty
to the land.
There was a wealthy native Of Tar
sus named ABIDE Dabbas, who for
many years had prospered under the
protection of an appointment as con-
sular agent OF the United States, and
1t so came abou that In one of his
fields was unearthed a fine marble
sarcophagus, which. as a mark of APP
probation. he made n gift to the
United States. with only the proyiso
that some one should be sent to take
1t. And SO IL came about that the
Shenandoah was ordered to the east
ward to pick it 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 a
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 hat 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
h stories were told that, + or
false. brought to our ears the famous
anne whose victories and defeats had
alike brought only misery to a peace
full people. OF all those names so often
heard n only. Haroun-aLRaschid, u
Arabian Nights" hero, was called
blessed.
All through the rolling plain and In
the foothills Of the Taurus were in
this time of thirty d years ago fine
fields OF grain. orchards and luxuriant
gardens AMI all that should make a
people happy N well to do, but the
war storms OF nearly 5000 years have
stamped a N indelible mark on the peo-
pie. Poor Adanal One more massa-
ere Is but a drop In the stream.
As for b sarcophagus, b secret of
its soul will never be betrayed. for it
bears no inscription nor was anything
recovered from 1t. Probably what
ever IL contained was stolen by the
laborers who unearthed It. Its bulky