Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-05-04
GREEK REFUGEES
FLEE TO HILLS
OF SoL0N|K|
Quarter of Triumvirate is
Harbor of Refuge from
Turk TormenterS.

u1 n VI lllCuUCIO.
ASSOCIATED Press Correspondence
Saloniki, May 2.-High up on the
hills of this bustling Macedonian city
is picturesque settlement where
5000 Greek refugees, driven from
Asia Minor by the massacres of
1914, make their home. Hundreds of
other Greeks who were informed by
the Bulgarians in Dobrudja during the
war have joined them recently. The
houses in this refugee camp were
constructed by the Greek government.
IA 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 1.-THE Quarter of
the Triumvirate" in honor of Greece's
three great modern patriots-Prem-
Ter Venizelos, Admiral Kountouriotis
and General Danglais who, repudiat-
/ ing King Constantine, espoused the
cause of the allies when Germany
sougth to win over the Greek army.
Many of the people have been helped
by the American Red Cross and speak
gratefully of the United States and
it's people.
AS the Associated Press CORES
pondent was visiting the village, two
ox-carts loaded with Greek refugees
who had been driven by the Turks
from the villages along the Sea Of
Marmora in 1913 and 1914 and who
during the present. war were expelled
from Macedonia by the Bulgars, made
their way slowly up the steep noun
tain road. The refugees had just
come from Dobrudja, to the south of
Rumania, where they were practical
ly 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 one to five 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.
Harassed BY Turks.
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 Bulgars
they were forced to live in the open
fields or in dugouts or stables.
Eighteen hours a day at hard labor
under constant intimidation was the
lot of some of them. Three-fifths of
a pound of black bread day was the
pitiful recompense they received from
the Bulgars. Otter those too weak to
work were beaten by their ruthless
masters. ~
One refugee declared to the cor
respondent that at =, one time there
were more than 60 deaths day
among the refugee colony in Dobrud-
ia from mal-nutrition, exhaustion and
exposure. In certain sections, he Said,
the Greeks were forced to live large
ly on the rinds of watermelons which
the Bulgarian soldiers threw in the
streets.
The older resident of this refugee
Suburb" of Saloniki, most of whom
had fled from different parts of Asia
Minor during the wholesale massa-
ores there in 1914, have bitter ex-
periences to relate, about their treat
ment 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 intelligent peasant woman,
who declared that in butcher-shop
opposite her home in Phocis, she saw
the Turks take young girl who was
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 Christians.
What most impresses the eye of
the visitor in speaking with the UNI
fortunate people is their sad, wan and
furrowed faces. They have been driv-
en- about by the invading foe until
they have reached the point almost of
despair and distraction.