The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1919-05-29
TELLS STORY OF
| Joy And HORROR
Letter Received BY Mr.. and
Mrs. Apyan Brings News
of Relatives Mourned
As Dead.
DEATH RULES IN ARMENIA
One Sister and Brother Are Safe But
Wretched Others Died In the
Desert Maddened victirus De-
vour Tibet Dead.
DEATH RULES IN ARMENIA

Today at the home of Mr.. and Mrs.
M. Apyan, sos Prairie avenue, there
has been strange commingling of
smiles and tears. The smiles have been
for a brother and sister in Turkey,
long mourned as victims of the Ar
menian massacres but now known to
be alive if most unhappy and most
wretched beneath the domination of
merciless Turks. The tears have been
for another sister who was driven to
the desert and came not back.
News of the fate Of the Apyans came
to Kenosha on Monday after silence
of more than four years duration.
With it came other stories Of atroci-
ties in Armenia unmatched by the
most hideous crimes of the Huns in
Belgium, Serbia or Poland
Years ago the Apyan brothers were
scions of wealthy Armenian family
in the city Of Aintab, Turkey. Equally
prominent was the Borsian family, who
were neighbors of the Apyans. 1t was
only natural that the Apyan brothers
should marry the Borsian sisters,
thing which happened several years ago
before Germany dreamed Of an oriental
province along the Murad. Mr. Apyan
and his wife left Aintab, came to the
States, and settled in Kenosha. Ypros
Apyan and his wife chose to re-
main in their native city, where they
prospered and were happy until the
war came in 1914.
From 1915 until Monday morning the
Apyans in Kenosha heard nothing of
the brother and sister back in Aintab.
The news from Armenia, however, was
all Of massacres and no news in this
instance seemed bad news.
Accordingly Mr.. and Mrs. Apyan
despaired of the lives Of their rela-
tives some two years ago when all at
tempts at investigation brought no
word from Armenia other than the
general accounts of atrocities published
in Turkishly censored papers. Then
on Monday the long awaited but unex-
pected letter came bringing the word
that the Apyans out there were still
alive even if their prosperity and hap
piness seemed to have been lost forever.
Other Sister Drowned Herself.
This much of the sisters note was
most encouraging. The rest was very
tragic. It told Of another sister of the
Borsian house who with her whole
family had been sacrificed to Turkish
ruthlessness in the desert that bor-
ders Aintab.
Like most of the Apyans and Bor-
slams Mrs. Turvanda Cazangian was
living luxuriously in Aintab when the
war came. One day, she, her husband,
and her four sons, were ordered to the
desert. The husband was taken first.
She did not see him again until few
hours later she passed with her sons
among a mass of corpses that lay on
the road across the desert, Among the
dead was Cazangian, her husband.
A few miles further on her sons were
taken from her. She did not see the
end, but she learned from her brutal
guards that they had faced a firing
squad and that she was now alone in
the desert with only death or shame at
the end Of the grinding trail
A few miles further on the strange
professionalism were only the women
left-came to the Murad river. While
The Turks were enjoying themselves
with the younger women of the party
Mrs. Cazangian slipped quietly away
and drowned herself in the turbulent
waters of the stream.
The suicide was witnessed by neigh
Dor woman, who had contemplated the
same death, but who lost courage at
the last moment. She later escaped,
returned to Aintab and told the
story Of Mrs. Cazangian s death to
Mrs. Ypros Apyan.
Poverty Stalks in Aintab.
When Mr.. and Mrs NJ. Apyang left
their native city it was prosperous
metropolis teeming with industry and
happiness. There were four Christian
churches in Aintab and they were
crowded on. every Sunday or holy day.
In her letter Mrs. Y..Apyan tells how
the best people Of the cityswork. from
five 0 clock in the morning until eight
clock at night at the most mental
tasks to get loaf Of bread day. 1t
is dry and stale, but it is eaten raven
ously by people who were once accus-
toned to the choicest foods of the orr.
ent. Soup made from roots and grasses
is cnsidered delicacy. Clothesa a
bare covering is all that is left to them.
Silks, woods, everything else have been
confscated by the Turks, who, at the
instipation Of the Germans. have de-