The Topeka state journal., 1916-10-21
Armenian Appeal in Topeka
Churches Tomorrow.
One Million Persons Are DeSti-
tute and Starving.
FIVE MILLIONS ARE NEEDED
America Attempting to Send
Immediate Relief.
Latest CabIegramS Say Arme-
mans Are Eating Grass.
Facts About Armenia.

Survivors 1'0o00'0o0 1'o00'0o0
Destitute or starving. ......----. 1000'00o 0'00o
Amount Of money needed d--.....-. .$o'VoO'ouV
These are the facts, presented by re-
liable men and women, that are re-
sponsible for the issuance of pro-
clamation by President Wilson, setting
aside next Sunday, October %, as
Armenian day in the churches OF the
country. on that date Christian
people all over the United States are
expected to contribute in special col
lections, as their own affairs will per-
init.
Topeka churches, along with thou
sands of others in the country, will do
their part. Ministers have been re-
quested to enlighten their consresa-
tions upon the Armenian situation and
to call for contributions
\ crushing blow has fallen upon the
Armenians and Syrians, due primar-
lily to the fact that they are Chris
tian people living under Turkish rule
According to the most reliable lntor-
nation 10000 of them have perlsned
by massacre, disease and hardship
within the year. a million survivors,
each with a tragic story. are in dis
tress They are far from their homes,
without shelter. clothing or food
For twenty-five centuries, between
the Black and Caspian seas, the Ar
menians have had a home. Suffering
has been their lot. perhaps beyond
any other race. that has ever lived
one after another-Assyrian Persian
Parthian. Roman. Turk-has come to
Cypress or exploit or persecute. 10
CAV their land is divided among Tur-
key, Persia and Russia. A. year ago
they were the best educated, most
skiIfuI. most industrious and most val
liable people in the Turkish empire.
When Europe Caught Fire
But modern history began on Aug
ust 1. 1914, when Europe and Asia
caught fire" The young men, the
strong men We're called to the Turkish
colors leaving only a few men, the
aged and infirm, the women and chill
dren.
The men called to the army were
divided into groups and shot down
by the Turks, the men left at home
were led away outside their towns
and killed with clubs and axes
The consul of one of the European
nations in Turkey reported that on one
occasion 10000 Armenians were taken
out in boats, batteries of artillery
trained on the boats as targets, and
the entire company killed.
Schools and churches, built up thru
many years of toll and hardship
were broken up, the students killed or
sea ttere6.
Girls and women were reserved for
an indescribable fate in terrible
marches in harems, or in the homes
of officials, or in huts or teEts of the
wild tribes.
Villages and towns by the hundred
were wrecked. The whole Armenian
population Of large sections was de-
ported. OF one caravan of 600 people
the Arabs killed 500. Many thousands
died of disease, torture, exhaustion
and hunger.
OF 450 from one village only one
woman lives, and she saw her husband
and three sons tied together and shot
with one bullet, to save ammunition
She saw her daughters outraged and
then killed. She was carried away by
Kurd but escaped at night, naked
and after terrible suffering fell in with
some refugees.
The latest cablegrams say that the
eNiled, homeless Armenian survivors
are eating grass and dying by the hun
dreds of starvation and exposure and
disease Many of those who remain
alive can be saved only by prompt and
generous measures Of relief
1t is for the survivors that the
churches of Topeka are asked to &C
tribute next Sunday