Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-01-12

any chance TO say goodDye TO my mother
and sisters, and $50 men, Armenians,
were thrown into a great dungeon. Men
in the Orient do not weep very much.
have seen fathers bury their daughters
and they did not weep, but in this dun
geon every Armenian man was weeping.
1 Wept, too, and 1 went into dark cor
ner, for if my father saw me weeping it
would make him more sad. All the men
their own lives, because it was better
for them to die than to go out into the
desert to starve; but they prayed for
these women and children, who had no
one to protect them or help them.
Finally a Turkish officer came and
looked at me in the corner and he said,
"Wouldn It you like to go to the prison
of the women2" said. eyes, 1 would. -
But then again I did not want to leave
my father, but my father was wise and
said, eyes, Mooshek, go to the prison
Of the women.'' And it was good for me
that 1 did, for in few hours that same
night at midnight the Turkish officers
and soldiers took those $40 Armenians
out to the nearby mountains and killed
them all, one by one, with axes and
knives. One of the Turkish soldiers
laughed and told me that they did not
use guns because cartridges cost -four
cents each.
When 1 reached the prison of the
women, only one boy of fifteen years
of age among $500 women and children
and girls, it was sad sight. Mothers
were asking me about their sons and
about their husbands. Sisters wanted to
know about their brothers, but l could
only say, "They will see you all again,
though of course not in this world. "
That same night the officer who had
asked for my sister from my father
came and took her away. She was weep
ing. but there was no one to help, only
a boy of fifteen years of age who could
do nothing. She wept and pleaded with
the officer for her family, so we were
allowed to go back to our city, my
mother, my little sister and brother and
|. But what happened to those $500
women and children and girls9 know
YOU will ask. First they took their
money, their carts, their goods, and
then their clothes. Our Armenian ladies
could not bear to live without clothes
and they threw themselves into the
rivers.
We went back to our city, but we
had no home. The Turkish government
had confiscated out home, our garden,
our goods and all that we had. My Ut
tie brother was not strong enough to
stand such sufferings, so he died. he
would wake up in the night and call,
% Brother, do you not see there In that
corner they are killing my father, just
there in that cornerl"
For months we lived under the pro-
lection of the American Consul and
the American missionaries. But 1t was
the intention of the Turkish government
TO kill every Armenian student. Of the
500 boy students in the American col
'lepe where 1 studied, only five escaped
and it became impossible for me to 1--we
there any longer. We planned to escape
over the mountains to the Russian army.
One night in September, 1916, with four
other Armenian villagers, bade good
bye to my mother and little sister and
we began our journey. 1t is hard TO
make an almost hopeless flight over
rough mountains. sometimes covered
with the snow. We slept on the hard
Ground. sometimes with rock for
Elbow. Many times we did not have
bread to eat. Tive times we were cap
tured by Turkish soldiers, and they
uould have taken our lives but we gave
them money and Lought our freedom.
Finally we came to the Russian army
T saw a Rlissian soldier standing on
the hilltop and we ran to him and l
was glad, but 1 was not glad for mueh
longer. for when reached the Russian
army. there in that Christian land. L
fo1nd Armenians starving, in Russia,
+bat Christian land. Armenians who mad
eseaned the sword of the Turk were
starving day by day. Students like me
who had eseared over the mountains
were starving. Armenian girls who had
eseaped from Turkish harems were
starving there in Russia and they couid
not find a blade Of grass to eat. Ihey
boricd Armenian children alive IN Tur-
kev. I know a place where scores OF
Armenian children were buried alive,
and those children who had escaped be-
ing buried alive were starving IN Rus
sia. The Russians were kind to them
Tut they did not have food enOugh for
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