The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-05-19

a normal incident What they have
suffered themselves they infiict on
Others
Many Were Burned
One band, under a certain Donchcf,
notorious guerilla chief, was said
10 have burned 345 Turkish houses in
one day, shut up the men in mosques
and burned them alive or shot them
as they attempted to escape. A Volun-
teer of the Macedonian Legion who
convinced the commission Of his re-
liability stated that while marching
through GumuIjina he saw, among fifty
murdered Bulgarian peasants, the dead
body Of woman hanging from a tree
and another with a young baby on the
ground with their eyes gouged out. In
spite of these acts IL rs the opinion
Of the commission that "a real effort
was undoubtedly made to check the
laWlessness of the bands and to deal
with marauding on the part of the
troops"
In weighing the charges made by
the Greeks against the Bulgarians
which have already become familiar
through the newspapers, the report
says:
The Greeks as usual suppress all
mention of the provocatior which the
inha bitants had given. The Bulgarian
account is silent as to the manner in
which their reprisals were carried out.
Both narratives contain inaccuracies
and neither of them tells more than
Il part of the truth"
The commission disproved several
eXtraNagant stories of the torture,
death and mutilation of certain indi-
VidualS by finding them alive and in
good health. It also rejected as in
herentIy improbable and unverified ac-
CuSatiOnS made by some of the diplO-
matte representatives. of Greece in for
eign capitals that the fingers and ears
of women had been found in the
pockets of captured Bulgarian sol
dierS.
There nevertheless remains when
these manifest traVesties OF fact are
brushed aside. a heavy indictment
which rests upon incontroyertible evi-
dence"
This Indictment which consists
mainly Of the events at DoXatO and
Demi-HissaT. with the burning uf
Series. is carefully weighed and in
Vestigated in the report of the COM
mission. which says in conclusion:
The case against the BuIgarians
which remains after critical exam
nation Of the evidence. is sufficiently
grave. In each case the Bulgarians
acted under prOvOCatiOn and in each
case the accusation is greatly eXag-
gerated. but their repTisaIs were none
the less lawless and unmeasured."
The commissions Judgment on re-
ported excuses committed by the
Greeks among the Bulgarian peasantry
was founded on vivid narratives told
by witnesses for whose EeraCity
the commission holds itself RESPONSE
bic. Al intelligent Bulgarian boy Of
fourteen escaped the onslaught of the
Greeks by feigning death. told the
commission that he saw his mother
shot and killed by a Greek cavalry
man, that he saw his village burn, am"
that g, Creek trooper had all but killed.
him with q revolver shot and sajrs.
pt1T q s1~l-. y,fN s-D If.l1 no
story was COTrOborated and it was tn
opinion of the commission that the in
cident was typical.
Evidence gathered regarding the VIII
lage of Akanuieli satisfied the ComE2i5-
sion that, although the village sab
mitted from the first. it was sacked
and burned: the Greek troops gay"
themselves up openly TO a debauCn Of
lust; and that many of tho peasants
were killed wantOnly. and without pro-
vOca ton. The mass Of evidence. ap-
cording to the report, goes to show
that there was nothing singular in the
cases which the commission itself in
Tcstigated. In one instance a number
of Europeans witnessed the brutal
conduct of a detachment of Greek reg
ulars under three officers. Fifteen
wounded Bulgarian soldiers took
refuge in the Catholic convent of Pa
liOrtSi and were nurSed by the sisters.
Father AllOati reported this fact to
the Greek commandment, WhereupOn
detachment was sent in search for a
bulgarian chief who was not there. II
the course of the search the Bulgarian
Catholic priest was severely logged
in the presence of Greek officers. y
Greek soldier attempted to violate a
nun. five Bulgarian women and
young girl were tortured and a large
number of peasants carried off to
prison without reason. The officer in
command threatened to kill Father Al
loati on the spot and TO burn down
the convent.
IF such things could ne done to
Europeans in a building under the pro-
lection of the French flag continues
the report. 1T is not difficult to be
lieVe that Bulgarian peasants Jared