Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-12-09
BACK FROM THE WAR

Who Is the stranger?' asked the
reporter Of Thomas Christos, the
clerk at the Handy Kitchin yesterday,
indicating a dark skinned, well dress
ed young man of self-contained ap-
pearance, who was evidently a new
conner.
That is my brother who has just
returned from fighting the Turks and
Bu,garians," said Christos. Il will in
troduce him II you like"
Following the introduction 1t devel-
oped that the young stranger was
born in the island Of Medelin; but had
spent several Of his twenty-five or
three years in America. He was work.
ing as a halter in Reading, Penn,
when the war broke out between the
Balkan allies and Turkey. anu he
sailed from New York thirteen months
ago with about 1000 Of his fellow
countrymen to help the mother coun-
try-Greece. He returned to New
York on November %, last and In the
meantime has been participant in
some pretty lively doings abroad.
Christos said that on reaching
Athens, he was assigned to the sew
enth regiment Of the second division
under Gen. Sotilis, and as this divi-
sion was In all the fighting at Kilkis,
Jannina and other bloody struggles,
he has plenty to talk about.
Speaking Of the battle Of Kilkis, one
of the bloodiest struggles Of the war,
where the Greeks lost 5000 men and
the Bulgarians at least 10000, he said
It was something awful The Greeks
we'll knew that they were badly out
numbered, and 1t was most desper-
ate case; but King Constantine had
told them that it was matter of
win or die, and the men made up their
minds to do one or the other. Nobody
seemed to think of anything else. The
Bulgarians seemed to be in about the
same humor, and as their cannon
moved US down for hours, 1t looked as
II they were going to get the best of
it; but we thought Of nothing but vic
tory and we finally won.
Asked as to how he felt while the
battle was in progress young Christos
said: THAT is a hard question to
answer. There were times when
there was little to be seen except the
men falling all around you and often
nothing to shoot at in 'front.' and then
there was plenty to see in front with
the Bulgarians falling like our own
men, and occasionally you would fig
ure that your time might be coming
next; but you were too busy and too
excited to care about that one way or
the other"
Although the fighting at Kilkis
was about as much as ever want to
get into and a little more, it was not
as trying as the campaign against ia
ninna. There we were subjected to
everything possible--famine, disease,
exposure, artillery fire and rifle bullets.
We lost thousands Of men, and II we
had allowed ourselves to calculate on
the chances of winning our cause
would have been hopeless"
Young Christos has no love or re-
spect for the Bulgarians. He says
they are as inhuman as the Turks If
not more so, in that they respect
neither age nor sex. He says that dur
ing the whole period Of peace negotia-
tions they were constantly violating
the truce. "On one occasion, during
the truce, was one Of four hundred
men who were stationed in a rough
section Of country awaiting develop
ments We were aroused by shots ear
ly one morning and got out to find
that we were surrounded by abou'
eight hundred Bulgarians. They pick
ed us off like rats. We sent out mes
sengers for help. Some were killed
but one got through and when help
came we were able to make the enemy
run. 1t was good to see!"
Asked as to whether he thought the
war was over, Christos said:
1T Is over for the present; but ]
have no idea that peace will be per-
manent The Bulgarians are not sat-
isfied and Greece will never rest un-
til she gets back Constantinople.
which the Turks have held for 557
years Every Greek boy is raised on
the idea that Constantinople must be
won back to Greece, and now since we
have proved that we are as of good If
not better stuff than either the Turks
or Bulgarians, that old time teaching
means more than it ever did. Greece
knows that her enemies are preparing
for the future and she is doing the
same thing"