St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1919-08-02

for his brutal soldiers. Next morn.
ing, while the children were being fed,
the Mission House was surrounded by
soldiers, and two officers forced their
way in. The Americans protested
against the entry, but it was use.
less. We have come for the Armen.
ian pigs they declared. The Wallis
paper was produced, but this the of,
ficers ignored. 1T is of no account.
they declared, producing other papers.
The Vail has instructed us to seize
all the children here, and to thank
you for gathering them together
"Of those mites only one is alive
It was then a babe of some twelve
month.
cat that time Greece had not come
into the war, and as my husband was
a Greek merchant | claimed Greek
citizenship, and in consequence was
for a time left unmolested.
after the slaughter of the young
the adults were seized and carried
away in bands numbering between
200 and 800. Women were separated
from the men, the men invariably be-
ing slaughtered, Often they were
marched outside the city and made to
dig deep holes in the soft earth. Then
with Turkish rifles pointed at them,
they were made to stand in the holes
only their heads above the ground.
The Turks would themselves fill the
earth in, and after stamping it down
would collect large stones, and stand.
ing a few PAGES distant from their
helpless victims, threw the stones at
their heads. Children were served in
exactly the ame manner
zone of the most brutal men in
Trebizond was Asian Bey, who came
as a refugee from Constantinople.
For years the Greek population had
helped him to hide from the ven
geance of the Turks, but when the
wal broke out he went back to the
Turks, and was an organizer of mas
saere for them. Asian Bey was en-
trusted with the massacre of a thous-
and or more men and youths. They
were chained together, and, with no
clothing, marched through the city
and into the wild mountains coun-
try for three days, none of them re-
ceiving any food or water. AS men
dropped from exhaustion Asian Bey
ordered the Turkish soldiers to flog
them and wound them with bayonets.
Many we're dubbed to death or ston-
ed.
"At the end of the third day those
those who were able to move were
made to dig a pit, and, having com
pleted the work, half their number
was ordered to lie in it, while the 9TH
er half buried them alive. OF the re-
mainder; some were murdered, and
others left to starve, while the Turk
ish soldiers mounted guard to see that
none escaped.
Mad from want of water, the Ar
menians begged the soldiers to shoot
them, and so end their miseries, but
the Turks jeered at them.
my husband, fearing l should be
arrested, entreated me to leave the
city with a number of women who
were undertaking the, dangerous en-
terprise, but I refused to leave while
he remained. It was fortunate I did
not listen to his pleadfngs, for the
girls who attempted to escape were
seized by a band of moslems, brought
back to Trebizond, and sold to the
Turks.
This selling Of the girls seemed to
put a new idea into the heads of the
Turks, who Immediately afterwards
rounded UP all the young Armenian
women. No longer was my claim to
Greek citizenship of any avail, / too,
was arrested, being seized one even
ing in my house with some so other
Armenian women.
II was taken to the Hotel Bristol,
then the Turkish headquarters, and
there we were subjected to the most
degrading treatment. On the next
day we were marched into the mar
ket place, where we were sold by
auction. The auctioneer was a Turk
who had been a trader in Trebizond
for a number of years, and he an
nounced that the were to be
sold to the highest bidder to become
absolute property.
when / was forced upon the dais,
l glanced at the crowd which swarm
ed round, and there saw my husband
He at once bid the equivalent of $50
for me, but a wicked old Turk more /
than doubled the bid. My husband
bid again, and the Turk increased his
price. Some one whispered to the
auctioneer, who turned upon my hus-
band and said he had no right to bid
for me, since he was not a Turkish
subject. He ruled my husbands bids
out, and informed the Turk that his !,
bid of $75 was the only one. I was
trembling with fear when l heard my
husband expostulating with the auc-
But it was useless for him
to argue, the auctioneer's word was
law, and the last I saw of my hus-