Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-01-02

came the arrest of all the men of
standing.
'They were sent out on the road
tied together in groups of two to
five" he said, driven and beaten by
1.-THE gendarmes OF the first party
500, one young man survived to tell
the story of what happened The par
ty was taken into ravine and ordered
to sit down, he told me. Then the gen
darmes climbed upon the surround
! ing rocks and fired with rifles into
the crowd of bound prisoners as
long as they showed signs of life
THE man who told me the story
succeeded in getting his knife and
cutting himself loose. AS he made
his dash for liberty he was followed
by volley Of shots but got away I'M
scathed. All the other men of that
and similar parties were ruthlessly
| butchered.
THE women and children were
then started on the road toward Mes
opotamia in companies of two or
three thousand. BY indirect routes
they were forced to wander about un-
| til the summer heat and disease
wasted away the majority No trans
portation was provided. I saw one old
man, who had travelled 200 mildh,
started out to go the remaining $50
miles carrying on his back his pack
of quilts and clothes and on top of
that HIS aged palsied wife, who could
not walk.
often the routes chosen took the
people over waterless deserts where
thousands persisted from thirst. /
passed through such a region where
thousands of bleached skeletons each
side of the way told the story of a
waterless journey across the plains
in August.
The people who passed through
Tarput from the north usually spent
two or three days in camp within
sight of my home. The sights we saw
there can never be forgotten. They
were absolutely without shelter, day
or night, from heat or cold. The air
was unspeakaBly foul from dead bo
dies lying near. AS we approached the
women and children came around us
like hungry wolves, all restraint lost
in the one desire for piece of bread.
"The sick and dying lay around UNI
| der the blazing sun Win no one 10
care for them, waiting for the end.
One place | saw row of twelve dead
women and children who had been
lying in the shade of trees. With
them was one little baby still alive.
| The shade had shifted and the burn
| ing August sun had fallen on them
and killed them. A long trench was
dug beside the field where these peo-
pie were encamped. The people them
selves were obliged to dig and fill it.
AS soon as one died she was dragged
to the trench.
In January, 1916. DR.. Riggs said
there was 4S5,OO0 deported Armen-
ians in Mesopotamia, while in May
1917, the most careful investigation
showed only 10000 survivors, more
than three-quarters having persisted
from famine, pestilence and massacre
in fifteen months.
THE only bright feature Of this
terrible picture is the help that has
actually reached a fraction of these
people through relief funds from
Americas ever-ready generosity,
Dr. Riggs said. I'm Harput we were
able to give daily rations of bread to
nearly 5000 widows and orphans. If
more money had come there were
10000 within reach of diplomatic re-
| lations, the Turkish government con-
| fscated our food supplies and many
of these people persisted Of hunger
Since then, however, DR.. Riggs con-
! tinued, arrangements have been made
to continue the relief work through
neutral agents who are disbursing the
funds and supplies gathered through
the American committee for Armen-
ian and Syrian relief in New York
City. The question of saving the rem
nant of the Armenian race, he said,
can be solved only by American gem
crosby.
''The Armenian men are dead" he
said land the women have been
crushed and cannot long survive the
terrible experiences through which
they passed. But there are 100000
orphan children, most of whom are
begging their bread today. The hope
of the future is in gathering together
these remnants and saving them for
the seed Of the future Armenian
race. These children look to us to-
day. If they can be fed, housed, and
educated for the next ten years they