Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-03-01
Writer Reveals FiendiSh Acts
Committed by Turks.
8uigar Soldiers. Maddened by Treat
ment Of Their Countrymen. Show
Moslem Troops-Women Are
Horribly Mutilated.

habaktcha Village, near Tchatalja.
Owing partly to the fear OF bloody
vengeance to come for the horrors OF
this war. partly to more natural
causes. great migratory changes are
taking place in that rich eastern sec
ton of Turkey in Europe through
winch the Bulgars swept on their hur-
flcane storm TO Tchatalja. Though
from all appearances the old regime
or murder, mutilation and Injustice
! VIII soon be forever ended. the fear
struck Turkish population is moving
| southwark again toward Asia Minor.
whence 1t came. while the Bulgar
peasants of the Tchatalja district are
neeing as nervously north. Amid
these scenes Of exodus. one is led to
thlhk 1t may yet not be too late to
oIinB some order in the Balkan racial
chaos.
meanwhile. the Turks have waged
'he present conflict in their old style
burning, violating. massacring. AL
most at the Bulgarian frontier the
atrocious tale begins
t"S hOnent the war was de-
ciared the Turks began to loot and
Durn the Bulgar villages. But as
the stern soldiers from the north
pressed down. winning victory after
victory. the Turkish population. per
maps rightly fearing vengeance in kind
from the men who found their blood
XIII wfcnged and slain right and left.
set of on 2 frantic migration to Con-
stantinople. where they arrived in the
pitiable state already known to the |
world. or such Turks as stayed be-
hlnd the Bulgars felt forced to kill |
some. Others they put TO work with !
the army transports. still others they |
Ieft In peace. their villages intact.
just as one finds also Bulgar villages |
lntact-where the Turks did not have |
time TO do a thorough Job
We expected" said a Bulgar officer |
with whom | talked at Tchatalja. Ito |
ind rich and plenteous country as |
we neared Constantinople. We found
you see, nothing, Hard
ly a living being! Utter devasta-
toni"
met an old Bulgarian woman near
Tchorlu who was the first Red Cross
nurse upon the ground after the ter
rible destruction at Lule Burgas. She
said that on her way to the field hos
pitai she was sent to the succor of n
Greek village where the Turks had
scattered ruin. Unlock your western
ears now, and hear the truth. She
found young girls lying naked by the
roadside nearly dead. She found chill
dren stricken down by careless sa.
bers. A housewife had been mur.
dered as she kneaded her bread the
dough still on her hands. And in a
bloody sack the Turks had gathered
breasts!
IL Is not difficult to verify such
stories. They are common knowl.
edge here. The Bulgar peasant has
no imagination. He tells what he
sees. will give one more example.
According to the Mohammedan re-
igion. pork is unclean and is forbid
len. For Turk to kill a pig is thus
a special insult to a Chris
ian The advancing Bulgars found
many pigs shot down or stabbed in
arm yards
The Bulgars began the war in
humane spirit. as such terms 90 In
war time. But not a soldier in that
army OF 100000 is ignorant now of {
certain fiendish evidence his comrades ;
have witnessed. In the fighting at
rchatalja. thu Bulgars. having ad- :
during the day. were fire.. ;
luently obliged to retire at night. leav- {
ng their wounded on the field
When the next days fortunes
brought them again over the same '
ground they found only stripped bod {
es gruesomely hacked. while the of.
icers' corpses had been mutiIated in {
! way so much more disgusting than :
] have hitherto mentioned
hat ! cannot even write OF It. think [
wen kindly people in their tranquil {
ZONES across the world in America |
will understand the reason now. when
add that should the war continue, {
10 more Turkish wounded will be sent {
forth to be nursed In 9ulgar hospit- {