Bisbee daily review., 1919-02-23
PRIEST DESCRIBES
 MASSACRE OF 20 Serbian Witnesses Staying of Others From Hiding Place
 Behind Rock

PROT, Serbia, Jan. 1O-(COrre- SpOndence of The Associated Press. )- ConfirmatOry evidence of the slaugh- ter of Serbian priests by Bulgarians during the war was given to a repre- sentative of The Associated Press to- day by the Rev. Niliya Yontschitch. pastor of one of the churches here, who personally witnessed the massa- ere of % of his colleagues and one Serbian officer. All. he says, were shot and many were burned alive.
 Father YOntschitch escaped a simi- liar fate only by feigning death after he had been shot He exhibited to the Associated Press Correspondent two. bullet wounds in his left shoulder. Another priest, the Rev. Thomas Pop ovitch of Pirot. escaped by fleeing across the mountain road
 Priest Tells of Murder
 The murder of the priests took place November 35, 1915. in the viii iage of Kremaencia, about S5 miles east Of Nish. according to the story O.
 ather YOntschitch, which follows:
 Father Yontsehitch in company with 2 other Serbian priests were taken by Bulsarians rom PirOt to NiSh, where they were thrown into a cell and fore ed to live for five days without food or water. After his release he and his companions, who included Lieut.. Tasa GCrgevitch of the Serbian army, were marched by their captors for 1S hours UO Bela Palanka, so miles east of Nish. an armed guard walking behind each.
 About two hours walk from Bella Palank, the priests came to a halt and were ordered to turn off the road into very small valley to the right. IL was after midnight and half a moon gave teh only illumination to the lone ly mountain roads and valley. The priests had not gone far when the guards shot them in their backs.
 Hides Behind Rock
 Father Yontschitch dragged himself in the darkness behind a large rock. whence he could see the whole scene of murder being enacted by the Bul- gars.
 He saw his colleagues dragged. some dead, some alive, to pyres which had been prepared for them, and their bodies thrown to the flames.
 Many of the men, said Father YOntschitch, were still alive when the BulssrS saturated their bodies with gasoline and set them afire. Flames spread about them and they pleaded piteOusly for mercy, but their pleas were met with SneerS. After the flames had spent themselves, said Father Father Yontschitch. the charred bodies of q victims were thrown into two holes Arms. legs. heads. he said. rfnr loft ,rr-rrrf -Q ravaSeS of dogs and wolves that in vest mountains in the neighbOThOod.
 Concealed 21 Months
 The BulsaTs left the scene before csybTeak- Father YOntschitch made his way on foot 10 the village of Pom CT. and eventually to Pirot. his home. from that time, 2 months, he con cealed himself from the Bulgars un- der the floor of the house. He lived almost like rat food being lowered 70 him through a hole in the floor. The Associated Press correSpondent visited this place and saw the wretch ed conditions under which Yontschitch lived When the priest emerged from his self-lmpOsed confinement, his ap- pearance had so changed that his friends failed to recognize him. He Was later seized by the Rulsars and sent to q prison camp at Eski Djuma. near the Rumanian frontier. where for three months his only food was a slice Of bread and a few pieces of leek each day When the war ceased. Father NOntscitch and 1SO other Serbian priests were returned home.
 To confirm the priests story. the correspondent visited the spot where the victims of tine massacre were bur led The place is Obscured on all sides by mountains, Many bones, skulls and parts of the priests vestments