The Washington times., 1920-09-05
y Armenian
Massacres, Is
freed of Her
! Hfdeous
by American
Surgeons

0IFTY thousand Christian girls, held
captive now in Moslem harems In
Asiatc Turkey and in the desert
tents of Arabs and Circassians in the
Syrian desert, suddenly have been given
hopes of freedom and happiness by the
success Of a remarkable scientific expert.
nnent Just concluded in this country.
These young women, nearly all Of them
between the ages OF fifteen and twenty
years, were captured by the Turks, Arabs,
Circassians and Kurds during the Armen-
ian massacres. The majority of them are
Armenian girls and were the most beauti-
full of their people. Kept by the tribal
chiefs who captured them because Of their
exceptional beauty, for their own harems,
they were branded, according to Arab and
Kurd custom, by the terrible practice Of
tattooing which these tribes have employed
upon their Christian concubines for time
immemorial.
50 Imbedded in flesh and skin with secret
inks made from Oriental herbs, these
! dread tattoo marks always have been in
dellible-none OF the usual methods en-
s
: have been successful in erasing these
marks of shame. The young girl thus
marked has been doomed to go through
life branded as the property OF her master,
~or her masters tribe, much the same as
the horses on the western plains are
branded with the marks Of the ranch to
which they belong.
AS a result of the Armenian massacres
so many young women were marked with
the tattooed brands Of their owners that
science throughout the Christian world
found itself confronted with the humani-
tartan task of discovering some way these
unknown Oriental inks, used for centuries
by the desert tribesmen, might be removed
from the tender faces disfgured by them.
Otherwise there remained no hope that
these young women, stolen from their fam
lilies, might escape some day from their
cruel bondage. For should they attempt
escape, and even get beyond the clutches
OF their masters, their horrid markings
would bar them from all happiness In the
world at large.
Since long before the armistice scien.
lists in America, spurred by the plight Of
these Christian girls, sought the hitherto
unknown method Of eradicating the tatooed
brands. Harvard University was the leader
among the great institutions which con-
Quoted experiments and Investigations. At
last success seemed to be promised the
board of scientists employed by the uni
yersity to solve the humanitarian prob
lem, and a commission Of these scientists
was sent to Asia, seeking there subject
upon whom their new discoveries might
be practiced.
Even this preliminary task was hard,
however as no young woman thus branded
had succeeded in making her way across
the desert or through the Moslem cities
along the highways, after escaping from
the harem where she had been imprisoned,
without being caught, her ownership rec
ognized by her brands, and sent back to
be punished-scourged to death, perhaps.
Strange as II may seem, the subject
needed for a scientific demonstration Of
what the scientists believed would save
these Christian girls from the scars Of
their unavoidable shame, eventually was
discovered, not in her native land, but In
New York City.
This was little Nargig Avakian, eighteen
years old, the beautiful daughter OF rich
Armenian family OF Sivas, who had been
driven from her home when the Turks de-
ported her people in 1915, and sent with
A. L.AA AAA. ..I