The Washington times., 1915-12-15
WOMAN DESCRIBES
ARMENIAN KILLINGS
German Missionary Says Turks
Proclaimed determination
Their Mn, ~ M,eeao-ae.

/ NEW YORK. Dec Is. The American
committee Tor Armenian and syrian
/ rclicr, at 20 Fifth avenue has announced
' the receipt OF "a CaDicSran from tiic
American consul at Tins, IN which ne
sad that there were more than lSO'oU
Armcn ans lin II most pitiiul condltioh
IN various provinces that came unuer
his immediate notice. or these lio'ooV
are in the Ervaip province, 20OVo Ill
Ehsavethol, 5000 in kars, ana oo'oVo III
! 1iflis.
Delals from the scenes of the mas
saCrcs are reaching the colflhitlc'
i Uaily. One from a German woman ms
sionnry.: who is stationed not far from
the border of the Caucasus, was re,
ceived within the last three days, ana
although not written for publication.
gives an intimate p Cture of the terrlpie
tate that has befallen the Armenans'
"Toward the middle of April, she
writes, we heard rumors that IN van
there were great disturbances we
have heard statements made from both
Turks ami Armenians; and, as these re-
ports agree in every respect, II Is qulle
plain there is some truth IN them.
namely. that the government or turkey
sent orders that all Armenians were to
give up their arms, which the Arne-
mans refused to do, stating that 1ney
/ required them in case OF necessity ms
caused regular massacre. All NlilhEes
| inhabited by ArmenianS were purht
| down.
at the beginning of June we heard
! that the whole Armenian population Oh
Bitlis was done away with. 1t was at
! this time that we received news thdt
| tie American missionary, Dr. Knapp,
! had been wounded in an Armenian
| house, and that the Turkish govern
| mcnt had sent him to Diarbeklr. Inc
! very first night in Diarbekir he died.
! and the government explained ms
I death as a result of having overeaten.
| which, of course. NOBODY DelieVrs'
! when there was no one left In BltllS
1 Ion, NNEn "a
| ed to Musch Up to now cruelties
! were committed, but not too publicly
! rCw they started to shoot people down
| without any cause; they beat them to
death because they found delight a.
doing so.
In Musch itself. which is a big
town, there are alone $4,000 Armen-
! ians; around MusCh there are 300 vii
! lagos. every village containing abou.
| 500 houses: and not one male Armen
| ian, ana but few women here and
| there are visible now.
"Beginning of July: In the first week
CT this month, 10000 soldiers cam,
| fl ON Constantinople over Harput to
| MusCh with munitions and eleven
guns and besieged Musch. In fact
the town had been surrounded since
the middle of June. At this time the
, Mutessarif gave orders that we two
| German missionaries should leave tn"
| tCWn and go to Harput. We pleaded
| with him to let us stay, for we ha /
| IT, our charge all the orphans ard pa
| tients, but he was angry and threat
| cred to force us away If we did not
90 we were instructed. AS we both
, became sick, we were allowed to re-
main at MusCh. ! received permissio ion
in case we should leave Musch to take
! the Armenians of our orphanag"
| along; but on my asking for assur-
! ances of safety, his only rept~ wa.
! You can take them along; but. being
! Armenians their heads may and will
be cut off on the way
"On the 10th of July MusCh was
bGmbarded for several hours, they
! rretenJed the reason was because
some Armenians had tried to escape. !
| went to see the Mutessarif. asking
him to protect our houses and his re-
| ply was: Serves you right for staying
irstead of leaving, as instructed. The
! guns are here to put an end to MusCh.
Take refuge with the Turks. This, If
course, was not possible, as we could
| not leave our charges. A new order
was the next day promulgated that
the Armenians would be expelled, anG
three days were given them to. be
ready. They were told to register
themselves at the government Office
before they left. The families could re-
main. but their property and their
money was to be conSficated.
The Armenians were unable to go.
as they had no money to pay for the
trip, and they preferred to die in their
houses rather than be separated and en-
dure a lingering death on the road As
mentioned before, three days We're given
the Armenians to leave; but two hours
had scarcely elapsed when the soldiers
broke into the houses and arrested
! every one and threw them into prison.
The cannons began to fire. thus pre-
venting the people from registering
themselves at the government office.
| We all had to take refuge in the cellar
for fear of our orphanagc catching fire.
| Il went to the mutessarif and begged
hiT0 IN hoy ha q n
. least. but in vain he replied the Ar
menian children must perish with their
nation. All our people were taken from
our hospital and orphanage. They left
us three female servants. Thus MuSCh
was burned down in this monstrous
way. Every officer boasted of the num-
: her he had personally massacred. thus
ridding Turkey Of the Armenian race
, We left Harput. Harput has become
the cemetery of the ArmcnianS.