The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-09-20
WRITES STORY OF HORROR.
Servians Who Revolted in Bulgaria
Hanged by Tongues.

who barely escaped hanging by the
Bulgarians. He describes in some
detail Instructions in Servia in April
last, the fate that they met, and un-
speakable cruelties visited upon the
insurrectionists by the Bulgarians.
His letter-the original is at pre-
sent in the Servian archives but can
be seen at any time-is written with
his own blood from his hiding place
in the Servian mountains and is ad-
dressed to his friend, Servian cap
tain serving with the Saloniki forces.
The captain fell into captivity not
long after the receipt of the missive
but succeeded in smuggling it out by
means of Servian sentry.
The letter frankly advises all Ser
vians to kill themselves rather than
submit to capture; it tells of the
forcible deportation of thousands OF
children to Constantinople; of the
frightful tortures inflicted upon pris-
oners before they are executed oy
the Bulgarians, such as hanging by
the tongue; of gibbets erected every
where to dispose Of Servian prisoners
Of war, especially of insurrectionists.
The names of both sender and
recipient have been suppressed for
obvious reasons, but both are on file
with the original of the letter, which
runs as follows:
Here l am in a mountain which IS
actually my sad residence. | escaped
on April 25 from the Bulgarian pri-
son where I was incarcerated with 20
comrades after having been sur
rounded and captured in the revolt
near There had been $4,000
of us insurgents; we had moreover
fought with a German division that
defeated us and drove us to flight.
Then We had been attacked by two
Bulgarian divisions armed with can
non and machine guns. l was taken,
put in prison and condemned to be
hanged, but during the night my
friend arrived with band
in Prokouplie, killed the sentinels
and rescued me-. In consequence l
was able to reach the mountains.
There are more than 5000 of us in
surgents. Nearly all of the other
mountains are filled with insurgents.
''The Bulgarians had summoned all
the male population between the ages
of 16 and 65 in order to incorporate
them in the army and send them i'm
mediately to the front. AT the same
time they had gathered togather all
the young people between Is and l6
and had sent them to Constantinople.
1t was this vandal process of these
monstrous Mongols that provoked
the revolt. The unfortunate mothers,
Iexasperated by the cries of thei rchll-
dren as they were carried OH oy
force. attacked the Bulgarians with
stones. This was genuine revolt,
to which the Bulgarians replied with
gibbets to which they hanged women
and children. Finally the people, ex-
hausted and revolving, threw them
selves upon the Bulgarian depots.
Men and women carried off arms and
ammunition, first to Prokouplie, the1
to Leskovatz, Leblanc, Varanie, Was
sotintze, Zayetchar, Kniagevatz, Poja-
revatz and the villages.
Defeated Germans.
'sIt was agreed that the insurgents
of Zayetchar and it's suburbs should
march on Nish, that the rest OF us,
from Prokouplie, Leskovatz and
Vranie, should do the same and re-
united. should take possession of the
city. Unfortunately those from
Zayetchar were late; we got ahead OF
them and had alone to withstand an
attack from German division. We
beat them and took away two bat
teries and 500 soldiers. The battle
took place near Gitoradja. From
there we carried Leblanc, Leskovatz
and Prokouplie of which we made
ourselves masters. Then we attacked
Nish, earring the depots and half of
the city.
Meanwhile two Bulgarian di
visions arrived and bloody battle
developed; We should have been able
to defeat the Bulgarians as we had
defeated the Germans if they had not
used a cowardly stretegy to prevent us
us from attacking them; they forced
the women and children to march
in front of their ranks. Unable to
fire upon our own people, we with
drew as far as Korvingrad, where a
new battle began and where the Hun