Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-05-05
CREEK REFUGEES
IN SAL0N|k| ARE
A P|TIFU[ SIGHT
Suffefings at Hands of the
Turks Has Been IndeIioIy
Marked on the Face of the
Few Who Survived.

Saloniki March 9.--High uD on the
hills of this busting Macedonian city
Is a picturesque settlement where a.
600 Greek refugees, driven from Asia
Minor ny tire massacres of 1914, make
their homes. Hundreds of other
Greeks who were interned by the Bull
garians in Dobrudja during the war
have Joined them recently. The
houses in this refugee camp were con-
structed by the Greek government. A
space equivalent to large New York
furnished room is allotted to a family
of from five to eight.
The settlement has been given the
pretentious name of THE Quarter of
the Triumvrate" in honor of Greece's
three great modern patriots-Premier
Venizelos, Admiral Kountouriotis and
General Douglas, who. repudiating
King Constantine, espoused the cause
of the allies when Germany sought to
win over the Greek army. Many of
the people have been helped by the
American Red Cross and speak CRATE
fully of the United States and its
people.
AS the Associated Press correspond
ent was visiting the village two OK
carts loaded with Greek refugees who
had been driven by the Turks from
the villages along the Sea of Marpora
in 1913 and 1914 and who during the
present war were expelled from Mac
edonia by the Bulgars, made their way
slowly up the steep mountain road.
The refugees had just come from Do
brudja, to the south of Rumania,
where they were practically eXiled by
the Bulgars. They had been nearly
two months on the way, and virtually
all the food and aid they got came
from the American Red Cross. which
has relief posts along the line leading
from Bulgaria into Macedonia. Many
were little tots from l to years old.
The wonder was how these little ones,
sickly and undernourished. were able
to survive the long trip by train, mo-
tor truck and ox-cart
The faces of these returning refu-
gees wore an inexpressibly sad and
harassed look. For five years they
were driven hither and yon by Turk
and Bulgar and had never known
what it was during that time TO have
a roof and shelter. Under the Bull
CARS they We're forced to live in the
open fields or in dugouts or stables.
Eighteen hours day at hard labor
under constant intimidation was the
lot of some of them. Three-fifths of
pound of black bread a day was the
pitiful recompense they received from
the Bulgars. often those too weak to
work were beaten by their ruthless
masters.
One refugee declared to the corre-
spondent that at one time there were
more than sixty deaths day among
the refugee colony in Dobrudja from
malnutrition, exhaustion and expos
ure. In certain sections he said, the
Greeks were forced to live largely 81
the rinds of watermelons which the
Bulgarian soldiers threw in the streets.
The order residents of this refugee
suburb" of Saloniki, most of whom
had fled from different parts of Asia
Minor during the wholesale massacres
there in 1914 have bitter experiences
to relate about their treatment by the
Turks. Some of these people lived in
the city of Phocis. where the whole
Christian population either had been
driven out or were killed by the Turks.
The women wept as they told about
the outrages of the Moslems. The
worst story was that told by an intel
ligent peasant woman, who declared
that in butcher shop opposite her
home in Phocis she saw the Turks
take young girl, who was considered
the most attractive in town, and cut
her body into pieces. They hung the
pieces on meat hooks and offered
them for public sale. she said, to show
the Turks contempt for Greek Chris
tians.
What most impresses the eye of the
visitor in speaking with these unfor-
tunate people is their sad, wan and
furrowed faces. They have been
driven about by the invading foe until
they have reached the point almost Of
despair and distraction.