The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-02

The American Committee for Ar
menian and Syrian Relief with head
quarters at 70 Fifth avenue. New
York, has just received most re-
rflarkable statement from an eye VIII
ness of the suffering Of the Armen-
lar refugees exiled to northern Syria
and Arabia. The writer Of this state
rnent is neither an American nor a
native of Turkey, but belongs to
neutral country. He has Travelled ex-
tensively through the regions along
the Euphrates River and into the in
terrier of the country. In this report
ne graphically. depicts what he saw
and experienced in the different
places visited.
4, DIR. James L. Barton, Chairman OF
the American Relief Committee states
that this report is in some respects
the most heart breaking of all the
sad MESA ges hitherto received by the
Committee He also declares that
While the name. of. the. writer of the
Export is known to him, for obvious
fSasons his identity cannot he reveal
ed at present. / There is, however"
said DR. Barton, mo question as to
the reliability Of the report and the
accuracy of the statements contained
fherein." This report is as follows:
II was permitted to visit the Ar
nlenian encampments all along the
Euphrates, Meskene and Der-i-Zor
Ind to give an account of the state
iA which the deported- Afmenians are
Mund in those localities, their pres
it condition. and if possible the ap-
oximate number of these unfortun-
B =
The above mentioned mission is the
bject of the present report. / take
e liberty to SEND you this asking
III at the same time to take into
nsideration my conclusions in the
tier part Of the report, which con-
usions, if followed, can alas, in
small way, only tighten the suffer-
ihgs which a race on the point of
disappearing is enduring daily.
ss 1t is impossible to give an account
Of the impression of horror which my
Journey across the Armenian en-
scattered Iall along the
Euphrates has given me. especially
those on the right bank between Mes
kene and Der-i-Zor. These can hard
~ be called encampments; because
of the fact that the majority Of these
unfortunate people, brutally dragged
out jof their native land, torn from
their homes and families, robbed Of
their effects upon their departure or
an route, are penned UP in the open
Ike cattle, without shelter, almost no
clothing and irregularly fed with food
altogether insufficient. Exposed to.
all the inclemencfes: sof the weather;
In summer to the torrid sun of the
desert, in winter to the rain and cold;
enfeebled already by privations and
long marches, the bad treatment, the
most severe tortures and the daily
bangs Of death, the less feeble have
succeeded in digging holes for them
selves on the banks Of the river
Those rare sindividuals WHO have
succeeded in saving from the flood
some clothing, some cloth for tents
and a little money to procure some
flour, If they can find It, areato be-
counted as lucky persons. Also for
tunate are those who can find water
melons from the peasants of the
or some sick goats from
the nomads at the price Of gold. Ev-
efywhere you see emaciated and wan
faces, wandering skeletons. lurking
Tor all kinds of diseases and victims
moreover to hunger.
The management which has been
entrusted to transport these people
through the desert has no intention
Of feeding them. Even it. appears to
be a governmental principle to allow
them to die of hunger. An organized
massacre, even in the times when lib
erty. equality and fraternity were not
by the Constitution would
have been more humane. 1t would
at least have spared these miserable
people the horrors of hunger and
death in small doses in the worst tor
lures. in refined methods of terments
worthy of Mongolians. But a mas
sacre would have been less Constitu-
tional! !! u! Civilization. lis safe.
The remainder Or the Armenian
nation disseminated on the border of
the Euphrates is composed of aged
people and Of women and children.
The middle aged and young men, who
have not yet been massacred, are
Rcattered on the roads Of the Empire
where they break stones rernistionn III
for the needs Of the army and are oc-
Eupied in works for the state
n The young girls. often very young
ones, have become the booty Ll :.
Mussulmans. They have been cap
gNEcu Ill dlOuS IAS ROAD OIL eml&ra-
Hon, occasionally violated and sold,
a not killed by the gendarmes who
conduct the sad caravans. Many have
been thrown into the harems or into
the domesticity Of their executioners.
H AS on the gate of HELL of Dante,
she following should be written at the
entrance Of these accused encamp-
nents. "You who enter, leave all
hopes" Mounted gendarmes make
s1e rounds with orders to arrest and
Elog fugiives. The roads are sweIl
guarded! And what roads! They lead
ID the desert, where death Is as sure
Is under the bastinade Of the guards
II the Ottoman convict gangs. I have
met in the desert at different places
NIX Of these fugitives dying, abandon
id by the gendarmes and surrounded
" hungry dogs waiting for their last
1iccups Of agony, to jump on and |,
east upon them.
81 In fact, all along the road from
Meskene to Der-f-Zor you come up
IN graves containing the remains Of |
unfortunate Armenians, abandoned |
Ind dead after atrocious sufferings /
i is by the hundreds that these I
are numbered where rest
in their last sleep these /
,xiles, these victims of barbarity
without qualifications.
Prevented on one hand, from going
way from the encampments to find
ssof subsistence. the deported
Armenians cannot on the other hand
exercise their faculty so natural to
men, and especially to the Armenian
H.