The Washington herald., 1917-07-22
Million Perish in Massacres;
Outrage Girls, Slay Women
Reign of Anarchy in Armenia Leaves Scenes
of Horror and Unburied Dead Strewn
throughout Land

Of entering a mad -house. II one brings
them food. one notices that they
have forgotten how to eat. Their
stomach, weakened by months of
starvation. can no longer assimilate
nourishment. II one gives them bread,
they put 1t aside indifferently. They
just lie there quietly, waiting for
death.
Amid such surroundings. how are
we teachers to read German Fairy
Stories with our children. or. indeed.
the story of the Good Samaritan in
the Bible? How are We to make them
decline and conjugate irrelevant words.
while round them in the yards ad-
joining the German Technical School
their starving fellow-countrymen are
slowly succumbing.
"In many Christian houses in Alep-
DO ! found Armenian girls hidden
who by some chance had escaped
death; either they had been left ly-
ing exhausted and had been taken
for dead when their companions had
been driven on, or, In other cases.
Europeans had found an opportunity
to buy the poor creatures for a few
marks from the last Turkish soldier
who had violated them. All these
girls showed symptoms of mental de-
rangement; many of them had had to
watch the Turks cut their parents
throats. know poor things who have
not had single word coaxed out Of
them for months, and not a smile to
this moment. A girl about fourteen
years old was given shelter by Herr
Krause. depot manager for the Bag
dad Railway at Aieppo. The girl
had been so many times ravished by
Turkish soldiers. in one night, that
she had completely lost her reason.
saw her tossing on her pillow in
delirium with burning lips. and could
hardly get water down her throat.
Women Are Stripped.
"A German l know saw hundreds
Of Christian peasant women who were
compelled. near Ourfa, to strip naked
by the Turkish soldiers. For the
amusement OF the soldiers they had
to drag themselves through the desert
in this condition for days together
in a temperature OF 10 degrees Cent?
grade. until their skins were COM
pletely scorched. Another witness saw
a Turk tear a child out of its Ar
menian mothers womb and hurl IL
against the wall.
There are other occurrences, worse
than these few examples which 7
give here, recorded in the numerous
reports which have been sent in TO
the embassy from the German consul
ates at Alexandretta, Aleppo and Mo-
sui. The consuls are of opinion that,
so far, probably about one million
Armenians have perished in the mas
sacres OF the last few months. or
this number. one must reckon that
at least half are women and chill
dren who have either been murdered
or have succumbed to starvation.
1T is the duty of conscience to
bring these things into publicity, and,
although the Turkish government, in
destroying the Armenian nation, may
only be pursuing objects OF internal
policy, the way this policy is being
carried out has many OF the charac-
teristics Of general persecution of
Christians.
"All Of the tens OF thousands Of
girls and women who have been car
ried off into Turkish harems, and
the masses of children who have been
collected by the government and dis
tributed among the Turks and Kurds,
are lost TO Christendom, and have
to accept Islam. The abusive epithet
'giaour' is now heard once again by
German ears"