The Washington times., 1915-12-15
WOMAN DESCRIBES
ARMENIAN KILLINGS
German Missionary Says Turks
Proclaimed determination
Their Aim IN MaSea"-aS

NEW YORK, Dec Is. The American
J committee tor Armenian and syrian
/ relief, at 10 Fifth avenue has announces
= the receipt OF cablegram from the
! American consul at Tins, IN when ne
SAID that there were more than loO,OVV
Armen ans lin a most pitiful CONDITION
i'm various provinces that came unueI
his Immediate notice OF these 1O,OW
are in the EIvaip province, 2O,OVo III
Elisavethol, 10000 in kars, ana ooOVV ia
! Tiflis.
sacres are reaching the committee
4 daily. One from a German woman ms
! sionhry,; who Is stationed not tar from
J the border of the Caucasus was re,
ceived within the last three days, anu
although not written for publication,
gives an intimate y cture of the terrlDle
/ fate that has befallen the Armenlans.
! Toward the middle of April, s she
writes, I'VE heard rumors that III N1h ,tn
there were great disturbances. we
have heard statements made from poth
d Turks and Armenians; and, as tnese Ie
ports agree In every respect IL 10 Ino D,
plain there is some truth IN tneHn.
namely. that the government OF turkey
sent orders that all Armenians were TO
give up their arms, which the AIine
mans refused to do, stating that Iney
/ required them in case of necessity, rms
! caused a regular massacre. All NlIlAbes
inhabited by Armenians were Durht
| down
|
that the whole Armenian population OF
Bitlis was done away with. II was at
! this time that we received news that
| tie American missionary, DR.. Knapp
| had been wounded in an Armenian
house. and that the Turkish govern
| mcnt had sent him to Diarbekir. Inc
very first night in Diarbektr he dled'
and the government explained ms
! death as a result of having oVereateh'
| which, of course, nobody belleVes'
! When there was no one left In Bitlls
to massacre, their attention was calt-
| ed to Musch. Up to now crueltles
! were committed, but not too publicly;
row they started to shoot people down
| without any cause; they beat them to
death because they found delight ih
| doing so.
+ I'm Musch itself. which is a big
town, there are alone $4,000 Armen-
ians; around Musch there are 300 viii
/ lagos, every village containing abous
500 houses: and not one male Armen
ian, ami but a few women here and
there are visible now.
| beginning of July: In the first week
CT this month. 10000 soldiers came
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 the
tcwn and go to Harput. We pleaded
1
ir, our charge all the orphans ard pa
tients, but he was angry and threat
cred to force us away If we did not
90 as we were instructed. AS we both
. ! became sick, we were allowed to re-
main at Musch. received permission
in case we should leave Musch to take
the Armenians of our orphanage
|. along; but on my asking for assur-
ances of safety, his only repfS waS.
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
! pretended 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, Of
course. was not possible, as we could
not leave our charges. A new order
was the next day promulgated that
three days were given them toJ be
re ady. They were told to register
l themselves at the government office
1 before they left. The families could re-
money was to be conshcated.
THE Armenians were unable to go.
3 as they had no money to pay for the
trip, and they preferred to die in their
Y dure a lingering death on the road. AS
Y mentioned before three days were given
d the Armenians to leave: but two hours
: had scarcely elapsed when the soldiers
4 broke into the houses and arrested
s 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
q for fear Of our orphanage catching fire
Il went to the mutessarif and begged
c him to have mercy on the children a
:. least, but in vain he replied the Ar,
i menian children must perish with thel
nation. All our people were taken from
our hospital and orphanage. They lef
us three female servants. Thus Musci
was burned down in this monstrOu
d way. Every officer boasted of the mum
y ber he had personally massacred, thu
Kidding Turkey OF the Armenian race
o We left Harput. Harput has becom
the cemetery of the Armenians.