Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-01-28
Asks Justice for
Greek Soldiers.

uShed In New York, is circulating Droau-
| cast vigorous defense of the conduct
| of the Grecians in the late war. Abso-
| Lutte denial that they are responsible Tor
the atrocities committed is afforded and
| Bulgaria is accused of disseminating the
stories of Greek brutality. The ATTAIN
/ It's goes even further and charges that
the Bulgarians are the people who should
sink their heads in shame. The editorial
follows, in part:
For some time past the suffering and
starving horGes or Bulgaria have been
called To the attention and sympathles or
| the American public with emphasis and
persistence-so be it--great suffering and
| distress undoubtedly eXists-the conse-
quence of terrible and devastating war,
| ana the unwillingness or inability OF a
grasplng government and d people lack
| ing both patriotism and coordination TO
grapple with conditions and bring order
out OF chaos. Let generous America give
| generously if she will-Gfeece does not
ask for alms-but she is voicing her pl o
/ test against the accusations OF whole
sale atrocities, murder and rapine pup
lcly and officially frought against her BY
Bulgaria, in an effort to excite sympathy,
and most OF all. to distract attention
| from the proved and acknowledged
atrocities committed by her troops, which
schocked and incensed the whole civilized
world.
by declaring themselves the victims,
not the perpetrators, OF unspeakaple
cruelties and wanton destruction, they
have sought to put the shoe on another
foot. Their activities in the broadcast
dissemination of defamatory literature
concerning the Greeks have reached
every country. OH earth. In America they
have been given unWarranted publicity
and credit-unWarranted in that the
the dreadful results of Bulgarian teroc1ty
are matter of public record and are at
the disposal of any one who will give the
time TO ascertain them
Unfortunately the Iurid allegations
proved so colorful that they We're seized
upon with avidity by certain journalistic
interests and, with no thought of the
injustice involved, set forth as facts to
the public. The Greeks of America are
r1ghteouSly indignant-they have not
asked help from any other country for
their destitute thousands at home-they
have co-operated in strenuous Self-sacrI-
flee to suffice to these pressing needs
but they do demand and expect common
justice and a fair hearing from the
American people The very paper that is
now conducting a whitewashing cam
paign and passing around the hat for
Bulgaria printed in its columns not six
months ago the following With the
exception of the Greeks. who observed
the principles of humanity and Christian
warfare, the Balkan peoples have shown
themselves to be hordes of murderers
and savages. The present attitude of
this publication cannot be due to any
change of convction-for the facts re-
main the same-to the shame of Bulgaria,
they are now part of the history of the
18th century. The reason then must be
in the sensational elements involved. Let
the sympathiZers with the Heroes of the
Balkans urge their readers to help the
stricken nation, but when ii comes to de-
nunciation of those responsible for the
prevailing misery existing now, not only
in Bulgaria, but all over the Balkans,
longs or else pass silently over the whole
tragic subject. Have they forgotten the
statements of Sir Edward Grey in the
House of Commons Or the results of the
French Investigations? Yet Mr.. Pichon,
Minister of Foreign Affairs. unqualified,y
confirmed the accusations and the protest
Of the Greek government against the
bulgarian army, when with the. close OF
the second Balkan war, they began in
their retreat the systematic slaughter
of the Greek non-combatants in Mace
donia and the looting and total devasta-
ton of the country. The first Secretary
of the French Legation at Athens, act
ing under instructions from the Home
Office visited Series Doxato and Nigrita
Immediately after evacuation by the
BulgarianS. His personal report was OF
the most reyolting nature-hundreds of
defenseless Greeks had been massacred
In a manner shat only fiendish Tartar
ingenuity could have imagined or execut-
ed. The, Consuis of Austria and Italy
at Salonica visited Series, and after
official inspection of the smoking ruins
of the once fiourishing city and the .ques-
in every detail the righteousness of the
bitter protest of the Greek government.
f"Even the few Bulgarian inhabitants
of the devasted area gave testimony to
the insane fury Of their conatlonallsts,
denouncing them as assassins and BAN
dts who spared neither non-conbatants
nor their own countrymen.
THE wholesale and inhuman slaughter
of the Mohammedan population by the
Bulgarians during the Greco-Turkish war
was officially confirmed by the British
Foreign Minister. Sir Edward Grey's &C.
sular reports from Macedonia and
Thrace The Minister declined. however,
to make public the details of the matter,
contending that consular reports We're
confidential. and moreover that he mad
refused to publish reports from the same
consuls concerning the massacres COM
mitted by the Turks: Nowhere Is there
even a question of Greek atrocities"
THE Greeks are the outposts of Euro
pean civilization of which Greece hefseit
was the mothers Never IN all her auhals
has she shown one evidence of Tartar
brutality ON the contrary, national
spirit "of force and idealism, respect for
the laws that were even the expression
of the aspirations of the whole people
have from time immemorial been hers,
Her armies fought against an army bar
barrie in its methods-she fought beside
an army even more inhuman-yet she
conducted her campaign according to
the rules of warfare laid down by the
nations of Europe Is her honor now TO
he besmirched? Is she to stand by and
Permit her racial soul to be defiled by
calumny? Shame on those who would
commit such Injustice, Could the mem
bers of any nation, save the cruel Tartar,
have taken as his mementoas and spells
/ of war portions of his victims dried IN
the smoke of their burning homes?"