The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-11-21
AMERICAN MONEY HAS SAVED LIVES pr COUNTLESS NUMBERS
 OF SERBlANS, MINISTER SAYS
Dr. Nntchitch Minister of Public Works Tells of Some of the sufferings of People of That Unhappy Coun- try In the War.

Corfu. Island of Corfu, Nov. 21- (Staff Correspondence of the Asso- ciated Press) )-tThe funds advanced to Serbia by the United States gov ernment are saving the lives of the Serbian people, said the Serbian Minister of Public Works, pr. Mont chilo Nintchitch, who has been charged with the expenditure of the advances from the American gov ernment.
 Dr. Nintchitch had been telling of the various uses the American money was put to, for the 136,000 Serbian prisoners in Germany and for intern ed civilians. refugees. and pensions. But now he turned to a story of the cruelty and butchery which the Bull gars are still prosecuting against the Serbs.
 Serbia has suffered more than any other country" said Dr. Nintchitch flor not even the ruin of Belgium and the devastated regions of France can compare with what Serbia |, has suffered. The people of Belgium and France had seaports to go to and es- cape in ships, and they had railways. But the Serbian people they had no railway. So they were literally caught in trap, with no means of egress, and except for those who made the exodus across the mountains, the whole peasant population has come under the control of the Bulgar in- vadens Moreover Belgium and France have been under the eyes of England and America, while Serbia is cut off from the world, with no Knowledge of what goes on there, and no mail from there for two years
 ''The Serbian peasants have been stripped of everything. All their horses, cattle and live stock has been taken, and their farm machinery has been destroyed. Men, women and children have been killed in the most revolting manner, and on the most flimsy pretext. In this the Bulgars In this the Bulgars go far beyond the Austrians, for the Austrians have a formal condemnation to death. But the Bulgars have no trial or con- demnation. The order to kill is given, and the soldiers are practi- cally free to take life on their own Judgment without any order.''
 As documentary evidence of this killing, the Serbian Ministry of For eign Affairs have had photographs, copies of which were given to the correspondent, showing six Serb peasant strung up side by side from rough stakes driven in the ground, moose, while groups of soldiers and officers are gathered about, laughing oyer the contortions of tha victims.
 ''The Bu1gar policy is to consider Serbia and the Serbian people as an- nihilated,' Dr. Nintchiteh went on. 'To this end they hold that the Serbs no longer exist, and every Serb must become Bulgar. take a Bulgar name and become Bulgar citizen
 "Our Minister of War, ! General Terzitch. has just gone through a trying family experience of this kind. His aged mother, over 70 years old, remained in Serbia after the exodus, las she was too told and feeble to make the journey. All trace of her had been lost, but when she was finally located, General Terzitch ap- piled through the relief authorities for her transfer. But to this applt- cation the reply has now come back i from the Bulgar authorities that Mme Terzitch cannot leave the coun- try as she had become a Bulgar citt zen.
 .<The drafting of Serb peasants as oNAO of the worst forms of cruelty being practiced. This is systematically car ried out, with notices posted lin all ! public places telling all men over IT years of age to report for military 1 duty. This placing of whole popula- ton in the military service of the enemy is an unheard of cruelty, and
 contrary to every rule of interna- 1 national dealing in time of war. But it is justified by the Bulgar on the | theory that Serbia does not exist and | that the Serbs are Bulgar5.
 "A member of the Serbian Cham | ber of Deputies was here yesterday and gave me a narrowing report of | his family still in Serbia. One of the 1 boys had already been killed. The second boy had been ordered to become Bulgar soldier. The mother protested, whereupon she was sent to Nish and put in prison, where she vent crazy. Meantime the boy or