The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-08-29
AMERICANS
As REFUGEES
IN BAD SHAPE
Suffering among Them is be-
You'd Description and Need
of Help is Great.
.aeEe.Al % "a. rr.seRAM,

NEW YORK, Aug. zS.-AtnoAS l
greatest sufferers by the European
war have been the Armenians Inelr'
condition is even worse than that Oh
the BeIgians. Massacres by the
Kurds and Turks have again broken
out, accompanied with atrocities a
multitude of Armen ans whose homes
had been ruined and burned have he'd
across the frontiers from Turkey and
Persia into Russia. There are apout
100000 of these refugees most OF them
women and children. Never In my
life have l seen such suffering, writes
Tolstoy,s daughter Alexandra VINO IS
serving with the Red Gross near the
frontier. Some of the refugees in her.
hospital had had their hands and 1eee
cut off. All were emac:ated ana IN
tatters. They are not only destitute
but broken-Rearted many having seen
their husbands and children slaughter
ed before their eyes. According TO
later dispatch from Tifiis. under date
of, August 10, 255.e0o Armenians nave
abandoned their country with the re-
treating Russian army and are taxing
refuge in Trans-Caucasia.
In Turkey, where every able-bodied
man has been forced into the army
the condition OF the women and call
dren is even worse the ravages OF fam
inc and pestiIcnce being added to
those of Kurdish savagery. In one
town not grown person was Iounu,
only 500 orphans.
Turks Slaughter Thousands.
The Armenians of Van were success
full in repulsing the attacks OF the
Kurds and Turks until the arrival OF
the Russian army. Thus they saved
themselves and upward of 6G,G00 help
less men and women With cn1ldren'
who had flocked there from the sur
rounding villages. But this heroic
deed caused intense irritation to the
Turks and Kurds and it cost the lives
of many more thousands Of Armen-
ans in the districts of pitl:s, Mardin
and Diarbekir.
Speaking of the Christian popula-
ton of these regions. circular OF
the American Board of Foreign Mis-
sions under date of August 4. says: :
1.-The suffering among them is beyond
description and the need of help Inn
mediate and Overwhelming.
Most heart-rending is the fate of
the Inhabitants OF many towns in Ar
menia and Asia Minor. who have been
exiled wholesale, and whose homes
and lands have been given to Moham-
medan Immigrants from Balkan coun-
tries. The men of these families have
been detained for some unknown pur-
pose, and the women and children sent
to distant parts in Mesopotamia and
Konia, to live in unhealthy places, or
rather to perish far from friends and
Appeal TO Americans.
From under this terrible weight OF
woe Armenia appeals to the KIND
hearted American people. The Armen-
ian colonies established in the United
States and IN other parts of the world
have made great efforts to relieve
their peopIe in the mother country.
They have already:raised among them
selves, and sent to the proper agen-
cies for distribution, hundreds of
thousands of dollars. But the misery
is SO great and SO widespread that
help from other sources Is urgently
needed
The American Armenian Relief
Fund Committee makes the present
appeal to the American pnblc. in the
firm hope that, moved with humans
tartan feelings, the men and women or
this country will extend a helping
hand TO this unfortunate and long
suffering nation OF the East.
Contributions to the American Ar
men:an relief fund may be sent to
Brown Brothers and Company, trea s.
urers, 80 Wall street, New York City
Brown Brothers and Company Will
transmit all funds, in equal parts 90
the Katolikos, Supreme Patriarch, of
all the Armenians at Etchmtadzin. at
the foot of Mount Ararat Russian Ar
men5a, ana to w w: Poet treasurer
Of the American Board OF ssions,
Icons antinop1e. TurlS eEs Z