Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-11-23
How Harbord Mission Was Captured By Kurds; American Flag Is Magic Which
 Frees Men Who Otherwise Were Doomed

first carrying Generals Harbord and
 Moseley went twenty miles further.
 chmolng out upon the bare, homeless
 brown plaln above which Ararat now
 shone In sunset splendor, the creep
 ln gshadows of copper vaguely re-
 mlndful of the delicate beauties of
 Venlce's green church domes.
 AS this was again Armenian ter
 rltory, a cavalry squadron came out
 to greet General Harbord and then
 went away, finding he was strikinp
 camp beside the river instead of O.
 Ing to their village for the night. Af-
 ter waiting an hour without the truck
 arriving, General Harbord sent back : Tn thelr automobiles Major H. w | Clark, together with MT. Polarg Hussein Bey, Turkish interpreter ana professor of history at Roberts Col lege, Constantinople, and The Asso- clated Press correspondent to find it. When the machine returned to Kulp, it's streaming lights announced
 it's arrival. In moment the valley resounded with rifle shots, cries in the darkness from hundreds of men.
 and dozens of fierce figures leaned
 about the machine as it stopped. Hus- sem Bey, being the only one who spoke Turkish, sprang from the ma.
 chlne and walked courageouslv to- wards the tribesmen with his righ+ hand on his heart, shouting Peace We are friends"
 ! Soon came up a short, active Turk, afterward known as Riga. whin g., hand, driving back his fellows, lash lnp hano 1occ1,, x,,;4l. Whlp; next an old crippled chieftain, Alexander by name, and a quieter chleftain, Shamil Beg. It developed that the truck with it's three men, one of whom was the party's chef, Monsieur Lutard, formerly with Gen era! Petain in France, was being held i until the American general would re- turn and vouch for it as American. ! The members of the searching party were also informed that they too 1 must remain until the general had vouched for them. It was explained that the precarious military situa- ton of the band made this necessary, though 1t was suspected to be a sub- terfuge to get possession of the per- son of General Harbord.
 Neither Can Govern. l After much wrangling and argu- ment, with many differences of opin- ion. it was agreed that Chiefs Alex ander and Riza would return with the automobile to the camping place of , General Harbord and ascertain for themselves then that the party had come for the purpose of Investigating the political difficulties in Armenia and other neighboring countries. When they had gotten in the ma- chine, voice out of the darkness de- nounced Hussein Bey as an Armen ian, and the argument was begun anew. Finally the two leaders de- parted with him to have the Ameri- cans settle the troubles of the land, and left, promising to free the pris- oners and let pass the other four machines, which had as yet not ar rived.
 Meanwhile Shamil Beg took the prisoners to the center of his camp, had spread rugs for them to sit up- on, a fire hnilt. and a sheep killed in their honor Then he entertained them with stories of the life of his band, of the troubles growing out of the war. and declared the only way to bring peace to Asia Minor was through a strong foreign hand. More than this, he promised protection for the party, and volunteered to rescue the other machines from the Kurds. "We are all thieves. we must be to live" he said, with a sorrowful smile. "And remember this, neither we nor the Armenians are fit for government, and we won't be for many long years. Besides, we hate each other too much to rule togeth- er."
 Short, dark-eyed, determined, yet polite, Shamil Beg sat through the night, guarding the party against his own robbers. The party by the fire was broken up when the lights of the other four automobiles came in sight. The men of these machines had terrible story to tell. They had just missed death. Before com ing to the friendly Kurds, they had been suddenly attacked from all sides by rifle fire. Captain Loring's ma chine had run for it and escaped, Loring receiving a slight head wound. The machines behind had been stop ped by huge boulders across the road and all had received several volleys until the machines halted.
 Couldn't Control Men.
 When the chief of the tribe had fully persuaded himself that the au- tomobiles were American and not part of an Armenian attacking par ty, he restored their belongings and let them pass to the friendly Kurds who were beside themselves with rage at this treatment.
 The problem of getting away from Kulp was not easy. Shamil Beg said the party must spend the night or else be robbed of their rifles by his own uncomfortable men along the road after leaving the camp. But at dawn he gave the signal for the party to proceed. The automobiles started, Shamil Beg riding in the lead to guarantee safe passage. He had planned to ride to the camp of