The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1917-11-29
Armenian Reports Them More
Merci|ess in Prosecuting Ed
ucated of His Race.
NOTHING SACRED TO Them
They Have Less Respect Than Turks
for Religious and Racial Customs
Of Their Victims - Worse
Than Dantes' Inferno.

Bombay.-The following statement,
given to the Associated Press by a
British officer now in hospital here,
presents vivid picture Of the suffer-
ings undergone by the Armenians, of
which comparatively little first-hand
information has hitherto been forth
coming:
Before got my wound in the fight
ing up beyond Bagdad l came into con-
tact on several occasions with Il high
ly educated Armenian, who had es-
capped from the Turks and was being
employed by us as an interpreter.
The stories he told Of the inhumani.
ties inflicted upon his compatriots
were SO appalling that made notes
Of his conversations, and have at
tempted here to reproduce them in
something like his own language so
that you can get at the heart Of the
man and realize what he and all edu-
Gated Armenians feel. The interpre-
ter was in Constantinople until the end
Of last year, when he was sent to the
eral Of whom escaped"
Worse Than Dante's Inferno.
The interpreters story follows:
"What you have read and heard
about Armenia is not a hundredth part
IF the truth. Dante's Inferno was
heaven compared with the hell that
the Turks have made Of my country.
Something of the awful reality Of the
last twelve months have myself seen
In passing through on the way to the
front.
"At Aleppo there are four factories
In which, under the supervision Of de-
ported Armenians, two thousand Ar
menlan women are being employed
under terrible conditions. The women
are all deportees. One of them said
to me: 'On halt during our depor-
tations I saw gendarme bury a sick
woman alive. Cold-blooded murders
were an everyday occurrence. Our
guards had orders to kill on the spot
anyone who Jagged pace behind on
the journey. Often several were
killed at once, and there was no sep
nrate grave for them-the bodies were
Just thrown into a ditch together and
covered. It was all horrible to be-
hold, but our eyes eventually became
hardened to the sight
"Bab. Mcssguene, and Zor are three
places never to be forgotten by US
Armenians. I have visited them. Do
you know what happened there few
months since? BY the order Of the
governor, Aft, nearly one hundred
thousand Of my brothers were muir
dered, massacred by armed Circas-
slams.
"At Bosanti I saw six railway
trucks of little Armenian children be-
Ing dispatched to an unknown desti-
nation What had these little inno-
cents done to offend? Was it the
mere fact Of being alive and being
sons and daughters Of our thrice un-
happy race?
Worse Than the Turks.
"The German soldiers that one sees
around the stations in Armenia are
generally Of low type, and not far be-
hind the Turks in their disregard for
the rights of our people. Their cru
city is a little different from that Of
the Turks, but the difference is only
one of kind. The Turk, for example,
often respects certain things which
we have learned to associate with our
religious or RACIAL beliefs; the German
has no respec, for anything-nothing
Is too sacred for his profane hands.
The Turk frequently used to show
some respect and Difference to the
upper class Armenians, the educated
people, regarding them as perhaps
capable Of being useful even in q
Turkish dominion. The German, as
soon as he arrived here, pointed out
the educated Armenian as the most
dangerous Of all, and instigated the
Turks into organizing ruthless per-
secution Of the intellectual classes of
Armenians. One day they surround
ed the Offices Of the conservative
newspaper Asadamard, arrested all
the staff and deported them, I know
not whittier. VIII they ever return?
Who knows?
zone day I walked from a place
where thousands Of innocent women,
girls, and children were bivouacked
suffering nameless miseries. walk
ed away because I could not bear any
more to gaze upon them, and came
to hill where saw little child.
was in Turkish uniform. The child
came near me and cried in Turkish
Give me for Gods sake Il piece of
bread! For five days have eaten