Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1915-08-05
ARMENIANS GET
BAD TREATMENT
THOUSANDS HAVE BEEN DE-
PORTED FROM HOMES AND
FAMILIES BROKEN UP
By Henry Wood

Dedeagatch, Bulgaria, July 90
Delayed) d).-Atrocities that rival the
outrages of Abdul Hamid are being
inflicted on the 100000 Armenians
in Turkey by the Young Turk govern
ment. Official circles in Turkey are
using every possible means to prevent
the news reaching the outside world.
I have come here from Constantl-
nople to cable story of conditions
as they were told to me by sources
in the Ottoman capital whose reliabil-
ity cannot be questioned.
Thousands of Armenians DepOrted
Thousands of Armenians have been
deported from their homes in Asia
Minor; their property contiscated and
their families broken up. Young Ar
menians have been hurriedly drafted
into the army and rushed to Gallipoil
peninsula to meet a quick end in the
trenches of the Dardanelles. Wives,
mothers and young children have
been left helpless in the streets or
transported to strange cities and
abandoned to the mercies of the Mus
selman population.
NO WnOlcSdlc NdSSdCTeS
Thus far no wholesale massacres
have been reported to Constantinople.
But the critical moment for the Ar
menians will come when the Turk
meet with a serious reverse at the
Dardanelles, if that should occur, or
even when the Armenians themselves
become emboidened by the successes
of their local revolts and attempt
general movement in rebellion.
So critical is the situation that the
American ambassador, Henry Nor
genthau, who almost singlehanded is
fighting to prevent a wholesale slaugh
ter, has felt obliged to ask the co op-
GRAFTON of the ambassadors Of Tur
keys two allies.
Baron Won Wangenheim, the Ger
man ambassador, and Margrave Pal
lavicini, the Austrian representative
at Constantinople, have responded at
least to the degree of joining with
the American ambassador in trying to
convince the Turkish government that
a renewal of the atrocities of the for
mer Turkish regime would be see
rious mistake.
The order for the present cruelties
was issued early in May and execut-
ed with all the extreme genius of the
Turkish police system.
Women Left Helpless
At Brousse, Asiatic Turkey, the po-
lice at midnight swooped down upon
the homes Of all Armenians whose
names had been put on the prescribed
list sent out from Constantinople. The
young Armenians were then ordered
into the army; the older men were
deported into the interior, while the
women and children who were not
carried off were left to shift for them
selves.
Simultaneous with these arrests
throughout the empire, the Constan-
tinople police arrester the alleged
leaders Of an Armenian society who
were charged with plotting the es-
tablishment of an Independent Arme-
mia. Nineteen were hanged in front
of the ministry Of war.
Mothers, unable longer to nourish
their babies. dropped them in wells as
they passed, preferring to end their
sufferings.
The Armenian colony Of Constanti-
nople, numbering about 10000, is
practically the only group that has es-
capped, largely through Ambassador
Morgenthau. who has assumed sort
of unofficial protectorate over them.
In defense of these measures, the
Turks assert that the Armenians rose
in rebellion when the allies attacked
at the Dardanelles.