New Britain herald., 1915-09-03
TURKISH ATROCITIES
 KILLING ARMEMANS
Horrible Conditions Existing Through Persecution of Christians

ed by the Turks, are described in let
 ters received from Constantinople by
 the American Armenian Relief Fund. 1 As Miss B. Gertrude Rogers of this
 city has been laboring a mission
 ary in the very fields described in the
 letters, they are of more than usual in 1 terest to New Britain. The treasurer
 of the fund is Brown Bros. & Co.,, 59 Wall street, New York city, Accord l ing to information supplied the 1 Herald, the letters from Constanti- nople are from a high authority whose word is not to be doubted.'
 The communications follow:
 Armenian Nation Being Crushed. Constantinople, June 15, 1915. You wish to know which districts are the most in need of help. It fol-
 lows from this inquiry of yours that the public in America is unaware of the great crisis through which the Armenian nation in Turkey is passing at present.
 Indeed our knowledge of the
 actual condition of the provinces is
 very little, because of the strict cen-
 sorship to which communications with
 the interior are subjected, and be-
 cause of the absolute interdiction
 against travelling on the part of Ar
 menians; yet you will have an idea
 of what we know already.
 3'The Armenian nation is dwindlfng
 between life and death at this mo-
 ment in every part of Turkey I will
 pass over the misery caused by
 arbitrary confiscations, the ravages of
 typhus, the conscription of men be-
 tween eighteen and fifty, and the i'm
 prisonment and exilement during the
 1oe,
 menians. About the beginning of
 April, immediately after the events of
 Van, Armenian houses, schools
 churches and diocesan offices were searched by the order of the central government, even in the poorest coun- try corners, and consequently many 1 people were thrown into prison for | possessing arms, which were hither- l to permitted, and for books and pic 1 lures publicly sold. In the tails of Cesarea alone 500 Armenians are in- carcerated' today, besides those who have been exiled by administrative orders only and without any guilt, to places inhabited solely by Moslems. is
 "But this condition of affairs is l much milder than that of the pro- vinces of Ci1icia and of those border Ing the Caucasus. The Turkish gov is executing today the plan of scattering the Armenians of the Armenian provinces, prof1ting from the troubles of the European powers and from the acquiescence of Ger-s| many and Austria. This scheme be- gan to be carried out first in Cflicia. The whole of the populations of 1eitun, Dortyol and its neighborhood, 1 md the greater part of those of l Marash and Hasanbeyly were deport- ed forcibly and without notice. About 1000 families were transport ed to Soultanieh, in the province of 1 Konia, and a larger number to the 1 various villages of For, beyond Alep- DO, and to the surrounding districts 1 of Aleppo, Mumbej, Rab, Maara, Idlib, 1 etc. The deportation is still going on. l Adana, Mers1n. Hajin, Sis and other places will no doubt undergo the same ate according to news received by us 1
 "All these people are being removed without any of their goods and chat els, and to such places where the cli- nate is totally unsuited to them. They are left without shelter, without food, ! and without clothing, depending only upon the morsels of bread which the government will throw before them, j. government which is unable even to feed it's own troops. It is impossible | % read or to hear, without shedding ears, even the meagre details of these 1eportations. There are only fifty males among the thousand families l exiled to Soultanieh. Most of the fla niliies have travelled on foot, old men l and children have died on the way, l young women in childbirth have 1 oeen left on mountain passes, and at east ten deaths day are recorded l among them even in their place of ex- le,-victims of hunger and sickness i 1t has not been possible as yet to for ward any help to Soultanieh, owing to he interdiction of the government in l spite of the efforts of the American 1 whose philanthropic and 1 generous endeavors in aid of the Ar 1aenians, is gratefully acknowledged. |
 Some money has been sent to the of Cilicia who is in Aleppo It present, an eyewitness to the mis- { cry and slow destruction of his flocks. f m that city alone, at least thirty-five pounds sterling a day are necessary 70 provide for the bread of these suf- ,erers. In those parts, at least, the ocal authorities permit help to be ex- ended to the miserable exiles.
 "You can easily imagine what will q become of those who are in the C leserts, the very inhabitants of which 2 the Arabs-are themselves starving. r
 "The same condition prevails now ( tt Erzeroum, Bitlis, Sert, etc. Accord z ng to information communicated to IS the deportation of the Armenians i ,f Erzeroum and vicinity to Terchan, vas begun two or three weeks ago. !
 From Bitlis and Sert urgent tele- graphic appeals for help are coming or the past three weeks. There is no !