Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-01-30
"Ameyica: American" the 1fiIIiors Cry
In Sad Armenia. Land OF Stalking Deaf
Melville Chatter, horne from
Near East, Tells Narrowing
Story OF Human Misery
There-Beetles ard Straw
for Food.

OC ROUCHiNG by herself IN a
~ corner. 4 little seven-ycat-
old girl was cracking something be-
tween two stones, SAYS Melville
Chatter in an article. The Land OF
Stalking Death, - IN the National
Geographic Magazine describing
conditions in Armenia i looked
closer and found the child was eat
ing the marrow from a bone"
Where did She get IL" asked
the interpreter who accompanied
me.
Wonder in the grave yard" he
replied, alter questioning the girl.
This child. according TO Mr.
Chatter. was subsisling solely oa
small dole Of rice furnished daily
By the Near East Relief represent
atiyes in her na,ir~ city, lg3ir
There was not efficient food N Tie
town To- even give one meal a Aay
10 all Of the children ara shortly
after they had received this hare
pittance OF food ali were searching
for any bit on which tley might
chew to appeasc their hunger They
picked up beetles. s;raws. and one
. piece OF a horses hooi. says Mr..
Chatter.
< Root and Grass Diet.
Conditions at lgdir are horrible
almost beyond belief. People live
chiefly on roots and grass. but oc-
casionally the diet is varied By the
killing OF dog or cat Workers
sent ont BY Near East Relief. The
former Committee for Armenian
and Syrian Relief who are furnish
ing the only susteuance to these
people, told Mr. Chatter that il was
impossible to remove at once the
bodies of those who had died from
starvation. and when they were
taken out for burial, an arm or a
leg Of the body had been eaten by
the famished survivors
Mr.. Chatter tells of visit to the
burying grouna when graves were
torn open ard Bodies exhumed by
the famishcd Inhabitants I'VE had
taken short cut" he says, to
ward where orr car waited and by
chance we were skirting the Gene
terry. Our guide pointed thither
and said:
1T is not a pleasant sight. You
must understand that the Turks
left this country so bare that there
were not even spades, Graves must
be dug with any available thing,
even with human bones. If the
dead has a relative strong enough
to carry a wcight-big stones arc
placed on the grave but if not
he shrugged Significantly.
Il asked, hardly knowing how to
frame my question. Exactly what
exactly whom do you mean
Men Stalk Dogs.
al mean. he answered, the
pariah dogs by day and under
cover of night-well. come and sec
for yourselves.
II will never forget that terrible
acre of earth--thc low boulder
heaped- mounds. and those others,
the unprotected graves. now re-
vealed as empty, scooped-out holes
whose Drinks were strewn about
with remnants of torn-off gar
ments, among which lay blackcned
semblances Of humanity. AS we
turned away the apparition of a
great. yellow pariah dog, paving
among the graves, drew from lis a
volley of stones. Then as he skunk
off. a skeleton-like man sprang up
from behind the wall (under cover
OF which he had been stalking his
prey) and. Draining the beast with
club, disappeared, carrying its
carcass with him.
G"Our fareweils and thanks to the
american Committees manager
seemed an endless proceeding and