The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-06-12

the river HabOur east or Delr-Es'
Zor.
! ION the way the girls story went
on, $50 men were separated and
i taken away and soon after the Cir
cassians returned and divided among
themselves some of the clothing
which she recognized as belonging to
some of the men which they had TAX
en- away. The next day 800 more
men were taken away and killed. -
AS the refugees resumed their jour
ney on the following morning she saw
the bodies of some of the men she
knew. They had been dubbed to
death.
"a few days after this reads the
narrative, ''they were told that for
safety each family of women and
children was to go to the house of an
| Arab. The Arabs robbed them and
stripped them of their clothing and
sent them back to the Circassians
who commenced at once to kill them
with knives, women and children,
about $50 in all. twenty-five boys
and II girls were saved and taken to
| the tents of the Circassians and she
was taken with her sisters to the vii
! lage of Gerbelleh where she was beat
en- because she did not give them gold
| they believed she had"
After having been kept while by
! a Circassian she and her sister were
| sent to another Chechen and then to
| the house of another Circassian in
| Shegrush. She is. now in the orphan
age at Aleppo and her sister is in an
| Armenian house in Nusebin.
Other Incidents.
Other incidents evidently dealing
! with this terrible journey of the Ar
| menians to Shedadieh we're related
to DR.. Kennedy by Araxa Barutjian,
a girl of II, who was pupil in the
American girls school at Ada-Bazaar,
in the western portion of Asia Minor
near Constantinople. She spoke Eng
lish. cat Shedadieh,' the narrative
SAYS, "she saw party OF 800 men,
| women and children all naked. 1t
was in July and their backs had been
blistered by. the sun and many OF
them had bruises all over their limbs
and bodies and sores caused by the
beatings they had received. During
the heat of the day they would lie
covered in the water as the pain in
the sun was unbearable.
Before she arrived at Shedadieh,
two of her brothers died at Bad and
her father at another place. AS the
Arabs were taking only unmarried
girls from among the refugees, her
mother told them she was married.
At Shedadieh her mother was sold to
one Arab and she to another and the
girl lived in his house for year.
s'She ran away and an Arab girl
took her into a tent where she stayed
for IS months when she again ran
away and finally reached Nusebin."
This journey from Ada Bazaar
across Asia Minor to Deir-Es-Zor oc-
cupied a year and half, according
to the story told by another girl of
II years, Arpeneh Der Harutunian,
daughter of a teacher in high school
at Bardizag, a bright, intelligent girl
whose family was known to DR.. Ken
nedy. Reporting her story of the
Journey DR.. Kennedy wrote:
'Her grandfather was killed before
her eyes and she saw between 200
and 800 men shot and cut down by
the sword. These men were bound in
groups of 10, arm to arm. She saw
at the same place women and chill
dren killed with iron-studded clubs
or knives. The bodies were afterward
soaked with paraffin and set on fire.
This was done by Chechen Circas-
SLAMS on the side Of a hill near She
dadieh.
about 100 young Armenian men
who dressed as girls were discovered
and put to death by the Chechens.
One of these was fayed alive and
thrown into the river Habour.
"After this the Circassians would
not allow them to get food and two
weeks later they were sent to silva
ria. Marian Gumushjian bribed the
Chechens not to send them further
into the desert Arpeneh was taken
to the tent of an Arab and kept for
eight months when She escaped with
the assistance Of her younger brother.
During her stay, Arpeneh moved from
place to place as the Arabs changed
Lo{