The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-09-13
MISSIONARY is
STOUT DEFENDER
OF Bull CARIANS
Id. WoOdruff's Statement Com
mands Attention Of British
Foreign Office
London Authorities Alarmed At
Increasing Number Of Women
Who Garry Guns
Especial Correspondence.n

London, Sept. 13-One of the stanch-
est defenders of the Bulgarians in the
present controversy over the question
of alleged atrocities is L. D. Woodruff
the veteran American missionary who
recently presented a statement to the
British Foreign Office on behalf of
Bulgaria.
A summary of his statement to Sir
Edward Grey follows: when 1 en-
tered the city the streets of Adrian
ople were free from any excitement or
disturbance, with the exception of a
few scattering shots which I learned
afterwards had been fired at some
Turkish officers who sought to escape
from a house where they had been
hiding. There was an air of relief
and happiness on the faces of the
people. for even to the stubborn de-
Tenders the Bulgarian occupation was
a relief from impending starvation.
81 was surprised at how little dam
age had been done to the city by the
Commandment, only twelve civilians
having been killed. I saw no fezzes
being knocked from the heads of
Turks, and I know that when some-
one complained to General Vazoff that
his soldiers were snatching the fezzes
from the heads of citizens, he issued
an order that any soldier found guilty
Of such an action be promptly shot.
THE European Turkish soldiers were
released as soon as the lists of their
names were submitted. The others
were started as soon as possible on
the road to Bulgaria, and after the
column had passed several bodies were
found. These were prisoners who had
been shot as grim necessity of war be-
cause they either would not or could
not keep up.
''The Turkish officers were sent to
the best hotels in Philippopo1fs and
Sofia The soldiers were given bread
as soon as it could be procured. Many
Turks died in the cholera camps from
hunger because Of the indifference and
lack Of organization of their fellows.
On account of the danger of infection
the Bulgarians passed the bread across
the lines to selected orderlies, but the
supplies did not always reach the men
who needed food the most. The hor-
rors of this island of death cannot be
exaggerated, but the suffering there
was as much due to the Indifference
of the Turkish doctors as to Bulgarian
neglect. Shukri Pasha was praised
by the Bu1garians for his heroic de-
Tense of the city, but this awful ISL
and of death was the chief fruit of his
heroism.
when took charge of the relief
work in this terrible detention camp
was given an unlimited credit to
draw on the Bulgarian army supplies,
but we did not need greatly to de-
plete these supplies on account of the
provisions sent by the British consul
at PhilippopoIis. Not only did no
massacres take place in the mosques,
but so we'll were they guarded that
when we attempted, in a spirit of
mild vandalism, to remove a piece of
the Koran lying on the floor of the
Sultan SeIirn mosque, we were pre-
vented from doing so by a vigilant
Bulgarian soldier. An Armenian
gentleman, who saw from a tower the
long gray columns Of Bulgarians en-
tering the city, said to me with feel
ing, The Bulgarians entered the city
like gentlemen; how different 1t
would have been had the tables been
turned
The missionary is full of praise for
Miss Clara Haskell, an American
missionary teacher, who was acting
as a. nurse in a Bulgarian hospital
when the Turks re-entered Adrian
op1e.
Recruiting for the corps Of gun
women of the Womens Social and
Political Union has come to a stand
still for the reason that the authori-
ties, alarmed at the growing number
Of women asking permission to bear
arms, have declined to issue any more
licenses to women. Nevertheless no
less than three hundred licenses to
carry arms had beer issued to mem