The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1918-06-24
By Charles ". Duke

~
0NN Of tho Forty Martyrs" a thin
Ovratth Of an Armenian woman. has
arrived In tho United States from the
inferno OF Asia Minor. bringing q
w1etchod tale OF the terrible conoI-
ttoa, that maintain there now under
Moxiena rule. backed up by the pur-
veyors Of Hun frightfulness. now
recognized as every wiki as dark ara
hidcous as the barbaritieS practiced
these many years by the unspeaKao'e
Turk against the helpless Atmenians'
It was my privilege to hear her story.
The Forty Martyrs" were two score
talented young Armenian girls VINO
at the beginning OF the world war
were students at Anatolta College In
tho Armenian city Of Narsoran, and
who vowed among themselves In
secret paot. sworn to with all the pas
iea1ts ardor Of their race. that they
would each and every one submit 10
The most narrowing fortunes or cue
" nGr own hand rather than en-
brRes Mohammedanisrn.
So far as known. this young girl.
Auenuhe Danaer1tan. Is the only one
Of ths Forty Martyrs" who has
ss>Soed to America, although every
snoofn Q while tho Armenian colonies
IA o. various largo American metro
polaean ceuters welcome to their midst
With tpars Of Joy some emaciated tor
tufoA axiIs from the harens or prisons
Of ths Moslezn. Since the United
Snts0 entered the war against Ger
many few exiles from Asia Minor have
found their way into this country. AT
the present. time moro than half
milton Armenian exiles are wasting
away IN the Arabian deserts. Ameri-
can relief still reaches moro than $780,
600 refugees in the Russian Caucasus
and smaller colonies in Jerusalem and
Alexandria. IN Egypt. bu: this has
been jeopazdized by recent military
operations.
Girls Di.fgured Themselves
While the military operations IN
Palestine, Asia Minor and for that
matter virtually al Of eastern Europe
have been yelled lately behind a cur
tain of omlnous silence. it IS known
from meaxer cable reports that the
outrages In Armenia have been re-
sumed b. the Turks with all the hor'
ror and brutality that marked the
massacres Of 1895 and the equally
violent outrages Of 19I5-l6. Since the
conclusion Of the peace az Brest'
Li.ovsk between Germany and the
Bolshevik Government OF Russia it is
known tina, the territory taken by the
Russians earlier in the war. extend
icr from Treoizond through Erzerur
TO Lake Van. has been abandoned
to the Mosien1s. and Turkish tiendish
ness again holds diabollcal high carnl
val at the expense OF the Armenians
The story OF the Forty Martyrs
although not heretofore revealed K
the American public. is widely known
among Armenians in America. whc
hive watched from afar the unspeak
able cruelties heaped upon their com
patriots. and while waiting almost
hopclessly for some word Of the
famous Forty Martyrs" have laboret
necessarily 10 raise relief funds 70!
their own war chest. funds that have
been going forward by millions o.
dollars since the carnage began.
Armenian exiles arriving during thE
las, year or two had brought ,he
information .hac the most beautiful
among these forty girls dtst1guret
themselves. or helped 10 disfigure eacl
other. when the Turks first drove
them from their school. in order tina
they would not appear allurins victim
for Turkish debauchery. l; wa
known also that American mission
aries had succeeded III rallEinc all tn
girls at Constantinople before IN
United States went into the war. B's
after April Of last year the curtain
dropped on the Forty Martyrs
. In the meantime. there we're oni
the widest surmises here as TO N
fate Of ne girls. II was taken 70
granted that the most likely amon
them had been established in Turkis
harems. the plain types probably &c
ported along with the vast army %
Armenian womannood into the no
barren sands OF the Mesopotamia
deserts to wither and die. It VA
supposed. too. that some OF the for;
had died miserable deaths on the poin
a, the bloody Turkish knife. or be
fore machine guns turned upo'