Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-10-04
CAMPAIGN IS LAUNCHED
FOR ARMENIAN RELIEF
''rcate>t Effort Undertaken Since
Hclgian Commission Was
Organized.
FUND or s5,ooo.ooo is NEEDED
Appeals Sent to Ministers of 100, 900
Churches - Many Thousands Of
fc0ple Are Starving to Death.
Whole Villages Wiped Out.

w y s II | y g T O " octobcr .rho
greatest American relief campaign to
be undertaken since organization M
inc heigian Relief Commission was
launched to-day by the American Com.
m'ttcc for Armenian aud Syrian Relief
->h exhaustive summary OF the whole
Armenian and Syrian situation wos
maze public. and will he sent to min
listers Of 10000 churches all ovor
country and to many leading citizous
and relief organizations \ fund of
S"'ooo'o"o is called for To rclievt Iono
w" destitute. eNilcd and starving Ar-
hchihns and Syrians. scattered broad
cast over Turkey. Persia. Syria and
''icSuhc. The appeal declares that of
h""riN :.ooe.Ooo Armcnians originally
III 'heir native country. three quarters
"f million have been mnssacrcd NJ,
have died Of wounds. disease or cx-
hanStion since the war began.
BLOCKADE Is LIFTED
TO PERMIT PASSAGE
Thc state Department. throuuh
urgent negotiations. recently secured
Turkcy's consent TO extension OF
American relief. provided IL Is dis.
tributed Jointly by the American Rcd
Cross and the Turkish Red Crescent
To-Day II was announced that the
allicu blockade had been lifted TO
aiiow passage of the supplies October
q and. 30 have been set aside by nroc-
'amaii"n by President Wilson ms relief
days. and the appeal being sent broad
east by the committee calls for ser
mons in every pulpit of the country
N
some of the Armcnians cannot he
reached. since Turkeys consent has not
been extended to Armenia proper.
Many thousands would bc found in
Persia, however and the sections re-
Gently conquered by the Russians, as
wen as in Syria. In this latter sec
tlon' the appeal declares, the situation
mas been made even more terrible by
restrictions OF the allied blockade and
The scarcity Of Turkish railroads, bv
the cNportation of supplies for The
Turkish armies aud by the destruction
OF other supplies by virulent locust
scourge.
i'eople were found eating grass.
herbs and locusts," says the committee
in describing Its investigation of con-
ditions there. and In desperate cases
dead animals and human bodies are
reported to have been eaten In some
cases men were lined up 50 that soy
erni could be shot with one bullet. i'm
order not to waste ammunition \
mother said that not Il girl above
twelve (and some youngcr) i'm the viii
iase OF - escaped violation The
people kill and eat the street dogs
y short time ago they killed and ate
a dying man.
or i50 IN ONE VILLAGE.
ONLY ONE WOMAN LIVES
'bf 40 from one village. only ono
woman lives. 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 hy a
kurd. but escaped by night naked. and
after terrible suffering. fell in with
some refugees.
I'm the literal sense OF the word
about 10000 Armcnians arrived at
Etchmiadzn stripped even Of their
outer garments. There 1900 people
died and 10000 more in the country
In Aicppo relief funds ara so made
duate that many cXiics in the destitute
places have only grass 10 eat. and they
are dying OF starvation by the hun
HrcuS. Ei"rook seems 10 have been
dealt with most Savagcly Less than
200 Armcnians out of 10000 have cS-
capped death or deportation.
of the first caravan Of 500 people
sent from Dcir Ior Ia Ana. the Arabs
killed 800 or the WAY. In Il native let
ter from ilaich last week the number
Of orphans at that place WAS estimated
at a50oo. Some OF the villages lost
more than one third of their popula-
ton