Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-11-23

limited States mission to ArneA-
 ;o when they were attacked by
 hmards m of Turkish nomads i'll the
 gasart and mountain regions of
 aes auan;ar Turkey. Walter s.
 n;att Inf The Associated Press,
 'nns member of the Harbord
 nartv m" and has described the in
 ip;dent in the following graphic
 d;snatch just received by mail
 from Erivan, capital of the Ar
 menian republic.
 Erivan, Capital Armenian Repu5'
 lie Nov. 23. (By the Associate
 press 1.-The attack on and detention
 overnight of the Harbord mission tc
 Armenia by bands of Kurds, Tartars
 and Turks is illustrative of the law
 iess .,s condition existing throughout
 the Black Sea countries.
 While fraught with extreme dan ger the members of the, party were neither robbed, stripped of their clothes and turned adrift to make the i hest of their way to some friendly city. or even killed as happens to other caravans, because of the magic name of An1erlca.
 It was the mind of Shanil Beg, chieftian of the nomad band en- trenched against the Armenians at the village of Kulp, which saved the lesser members of the mission from the customary fate of captured cara vans.
 Shamil Beg came to the knowledge of tho mission members after this fashion. For three weeks they had been travelling from Constantinople, intent on really seeing the lands of Asia Minor as these lands have prob ably not yet been seen by outsiders. They had come up from dusty Alep- DO by train across the north strip of the shimmering Mesopotamian des- ert until reaching Mardin, the mag nificient stone city set upon a noun tain. There the seven automobiles of the party had been taken off the flat cars of the Bagdad railway and after countless adventures with inn passable roads, bridging the un- bridged Euphrates and the Tigris, climbing and descending the Taurus range of mountains which gradually climb thrice their height to the pla- teaus of Ararat, the party crossed the Turkish frontier into Russian Asia Minor, or Armenia as is now called parts of the country.
 Stop Harbord's Car.
 A few miles out of Kagizman, in the almost dry bed of the Araxes, General Harbord's car was stopped by humble patriarch offering mel ons carried by his son and the lat ter's strangely beautiful little girl. dressed in bundle of rags. Then the missions forward machines met wild old man on horseback, who talked volubly, possibly to disguise his spy character.
 Following the lonely valley, while "Billy" Poland. of the commission for Belgian relief, discoursed on it's mineral richness, next the mission rolled around gigantic bend of the road to behold the river bottom cov- cred with cattle and tents of some nomad tribe. Then Major H. w. Clark, of Boston, declared he heard shots from the mountain side or the right At the same time General Harbord's car was seen to stop, and the truck in the rear began to hasten its speed.
 The Harbord car had been stopped by much alarmed rifleman drop- ping to his knees and starting to fire polntblank. The rifleman's gun was showed aside by a grey-beard chief tain when he saw the American flag borne by the car. Directly the whole bottom was swarming with a motley thr'S1g of tribesmen dressed in sheepskin turbans, ragged white shirts over mantled by short jackets of dark cloth armed with long suuir- rel rifles and curionsly carved knives or short swords. In the background stood their women. all in a group.
 General Harbord left his machine ana walked over to the chieftain, an old man of scrawny beard who proud " gave his name as Abdi Beg. When ne learned the party was composed or Americans he told story of hav- ing been driven, together with his band. from their mountain homes Dy the Armenians, saying that now tney knew not what to do; that win t, ter was coming on and he fearel they would starve. He had appealed m m vain, he said. to the British and the Turks, and if he thought the Am- eerlcans would come to establish peace ne ne, would sacrifice the sheep of his Irloe in a grand feast of rejoicing. lie gladly offered to let pass the rear automobiles and took note which ne said he would deliver when they came.
 After warm leave-taking the au- proceeded to higher ground and wider valley, when the glisten- Ing snows of Ararat came suddenly m full sight. The party had come on Sattath, the first day of the week, near the place of fabled flood where the human race had been pre- s, served by Noah's Ark landing until the waters cleared.
 A Wild Adventure.
 Next the saddened ruins of Kulp were reached. As the party swung the picturesque spot, a short halt was made to speak to startled