The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-11-07

tire race. and that too one of the
oldest and most honorable. is under
going a process of determination thai
fer completeness of design and cruelty
OF execution surpasses anything that
ever preceded Il In Turkey or in any
other country.
Although this work Of destruction
began more than six months ago. II
did not reach the height of its fury
until July and August, and owing to
the close censorship OF the press. the
world is only now learning the facts
from eyewitness and from official
documents, It Is now unquesttonably
established that the plan includes the
extinction OF all the Armenians and
probably OF other Christian races
throughout all OF Turkey. The high
est Turkish official at Fonstantinople
declares to representatives IF foreign
governments that this il their pur-
pose, and the local officials in the
provinces openly proclaim that such
are their peremptory orders from the
capital
Massacres of fs95-'9G.
The rulers of Turkey experienced
the fun force OF popular Indignation
at the time OF the Armenian massacre
In 1885 when. according to con-
sentative estimates, SO 600 mostly
men were miserably killed. ard
nearly as many more were forced o
accept Mohammedanism upon penalty
of death Therefore, the present
rulers OF Turkey, remembering the
cry Of protest that went up at that
time from the civilized world de-
cided upon plan IT determination
new to Turkey and TO the world. This
49, 4
with cruel ferocity hitherto un-
known even In Turkey
The first step Of the process IN the
elimination Of all able-bodied men
This was done Ivy forcing all such to
were not permitted 10 bear arms. bit
were given different kinds ~ service.
like road making. Evidence IS now
coming IN showing that these have
been deliberately killed by the thou
sand.
when y was decided to clean the
Armenians cut OF a city from which
those able 20 bear arms had already
been taken. with the exception RI
those who paid the immunity tax. the
remaining adult men were arrest ed
and thrown into prison. In one In
stance where full evidence Is ~ han /
men thus arrested numbered l.2l5.
few days later all Of these were
taken out upon the road under pre-
tense OF deportation and q few miles
ont they were all Killed. The cyl
dence is complete After ali Of the
strong men were out of the way. the
attack began upon the deerepit men,
! AsaeFH eH-aHa children These vera
carried In carts or forced upon the
road on foot, without adequate prep
aration for the Journey The destna-
ton, In mose instances. was an
Inounced as Northern Arabia, FOR
most OF the refugees this was several
hundred miles away, depending a
course, upon the starting point
All Help Denied.
When attempts were made 10 pro
vide these refugees with food for the
Tourney or 10 feed them by the way.
the information was freely given ny
the officials IN charge that they wish
ed nothing to be done that would pro-
long their lives
One of these wayside camps was
visited by the official representative
Of one Of the friendly powers. lie re-
ported in detail the terrible condition
which he found there In the follow
ing words:
If II were simply a matter Of be-
Ing obliged to leave here to go some
where else. it would not be SO bad.
but everybody knows Ii is II case ~
going To ones death. If there was
any doubt about It. 1t has been re
moved by the arrival of number Of
parties. aggrega ting several thousand
people. from Erzroom and Erzinggau
II have visited their enca M pment q
number Of times and talked with
some Of the people A more pitiab
.sight cannot be imagined, They are
almost without exception. ragged
filthy. hungry ard sick That is not
surprising, In view OF the fact that
they have been on the road for nearly
two months with no change of cloth
ing. no chance to wash. no shelter
land little to eat. The government has
been giving them some acanty rations
here / watched them one time when
their food was brought. wild animals
could not he worse. They rushed upon
the guards who carried the food and
the guards beat them back with clubs
hitting hard enough to kill sometimes,
To watch them one could hardly be-
lieve that these people were human
beings.
las one waiks through the camp.
mothers offer their children and beg
one TO take mem. IN TACT the TURKS
have been taking their choice of these
children and girls for slaves, or worse
In fact. they have even had their doc
tors there 70 examine the more likely
girls and thus secure the best ones.
Men Are Killed.
There are very few men among
them. az most of them have been kill
ed on the road All tell the same
story of having been attacked over
and over again, and a great many of
them. especially the men, were killed.
Women and children were also killed
Many died, of course. from sickness
and exhaustion on the way, and there
have been deaths each day that they
have been here Several different
parties have arrived and. after re-
manning n day or two, have ben push
ed on with no apparent destination.
Those who have reached here are only
a. small portion. however, OF those who
started. BY continuing to drive these
people on in this way 1t will be pos
sible to dispose Of all of them In a
comparativel yshort time.
THE condition Of these people in
dictates clearly the fate of those who
have left and are about to leave from
here. | believe nothing has been
heard from any Of them as yet. and
probably very little will be heard.
The system that is being followed
seems to be to have bands Of Kurds