Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-10-15
ARMENIAN NATION
ALMOST WIPED OUT
NEARLY ALL OF THE MEN HAVE
BEEN SLAUGHTERED = MORE
THAN FOUR HUNDRED THOUS-
AND ORPHAN CHILDREN.

CT babies in trenches with the bodies
of their mothers, who had been
slaughtered or allowed to perish from
exposure, was practiced by the Turks
in their work of exterminating the
Armenians, it was declared here to-
day by the Rev. Henry H. Riggs, mis-
sionary of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions
to Harput, Turkey, who recently came
back to this country. A trench was
dug beside camp of Armenian wo-
men, he said, and as they met death
the survivors were forced to drag
their bodies to it and bury them
1.-THE gendarmes said they could not
take care of the babies that were left
behind so many of those were buried
with their mothers Dr. Riggs said.
When / visited this camp l freqent-
saw Turks wondering about among
the Armenians picking out pretty
girls and little children to take away
to their homes. Some mothers told
us that they had themselves thrown
their babies into the Uphrates rives
rather than allow them to be taken to
Moslem homes. Many more threw
themselves into the river to escape
bondage of shame worse than death.
About fifteen miles from Harput
j. a lake hidden from sight with manv
ravines about it. We were told that
the Armenian exiles were being killed
and left in these ravines Two Amer
leans investigated and brought back
photographs and actual facts. They
saw in tgenty-mile ride 10000 hui
man bodies most of them killed by
the bayonet. With few exceptions
they were women and children and
the mangled condition of their bodies
showed the horrible fate that has been
theirs"
The story of the deportation of the
Armenians of Harput is one of per
fidy, violence and murder DR.. Riggs
went on, adding, 1T is nearer to the
truth to say the Turkish government
undertook the extinction of the Ar
menian population After the issue
Of an edict for all Armenians to go to
Mesopotamia, he said, there came the
arrest of all of the men of standing.
"They were sent out on the road
tied together in groups of two to
fve," he said, beaten and driven by
the gendarmes. OF the first party,
$780, one young man survived to tell
the STONY of what happened. The
party was taken into a rayine and
ordered to sit down, he told me. Then
the gendarmes climbed up on the sur
rounding rocks and fired with their
titles into the crowd of bound pris-
oners as long as they showed signs
| cr life.
THE man told me the story succeed
cd ingettinol his knife and cutting
himself loose. AS he made his dash
for liberty he was followed by volley
of shots but got away unscathed. All
the other men of that and similar
parties were ruthlessly butchered.
1.-The women and children were then
stared on the road toward Mesopo-
tamia in companies of two or three
thousand By indirect routes they
were forced to wander about until the
summer heat and disease wasted
away the majority No transportation
was provided. I saw one old man,
who had travelled 200 miles, start out
10 go the remaining $50 miles carry
ing on his back his pack Of quilts
and clothes and on top of that his
aged palsied wife, who could not
walk.
"Often the routes chosen took the
people over waterless deserts where
thousands persisted from thirst. I
passed through such region where
side by the way told the story of
'waterless journey across the plains
in August.
"The people who passed through
Barput from the north usually spent
two or three days in camp within
site of my home. The sights We saw
there can never be forgotten. They
were absolutely without shelter day
or night, from heat or cold. The air
was unspeakably foul from dead
bodies lying near. AS we approached
the women and children came around
us like hungry wolves, all restraint
lost in the one desire for piece Of
bread.
"The sick and dying lay around
under the blazing sun with no one
to care for ihem waiting for the end.