The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-02-06
Massacre of the Armenians
Related BY Speaker
HELP NOW FOR LIVING
Dr.. Crawford Greys Delivers An
Address At the Mankato
Theatre

man torches in Neros gardens, while
he fiddled away and let Rome burn.
form spectacle which is mere
mosquito compared with the horrible
atrocities and the terrible massacres
which have been carried out in bleed
ing, starving Armenia declared DR..
Crawford Greys in a speech in behalf
Of the Near East relief at the Man
kato theatre last evening.
Il have the. saddest subject in the
world to discuss tonight" he stated,
opening his address. There are 3
100000 people who will starve but
for u.s."
The Near East relief movement, its
purpose and need and the manner in
which it was formed were all out
lined by DR.. Greys. The movement is
fostered by the government, the same
as the Red Cross and the Y. NJ. c. A.
drives, and an accounting must be
made to congress for all activities
and for the disbursement of funds re-
ceiVed. DR.. Greys also pointed out the
fact that the peace conference took a
great interest in the need for relief
in the Near East:
Relief Is Needed.
Relief, he declared, is needed by
the Persians, Greeks, Assyrians, Jews
and the Armenians, but more particu-
larily by the IArmenians, who have
suffered most from the atrocities of
the unspeakable Turk. Tracing back
to ancient history, DR.. Greys review
ed the great part which Armenia has
played in the history of modern
Europe. He lauded these people as
the first to accept Christianity as a
state religion and declared they had
stood as the rear guard for Chris
tianity," through the centuries past,
saving Europe from the ever threat
ening food of Monammadism
DR.. GreyS told of the horrible tor
lures and maSsacres to which these
people had been subjected, always be-
cause they refused to give up their
Christian faith. He told of the mas
sacres of 1893, "a, '95 and SO, when
the Turks wiped out entire cities of
5000 and 5000 people. These afro
cities were nothing, he declared to the
treatment of recent years, carried out
during the war by the Turks.
Turks Should BE Powerless.
The Turks should be shorn OF
their power" he declared. 81 hey
should never again be allowed to have
any people under their control
There were $4,000 young Armen
ians who sacrificed their lives fight
ing for the allied cause" DR.. Greys
asserted. What other nation gave in
like proportion, that liberty and
righteousness might not perish? Be-
cause Of this stalwart support of the
allied cause the young Turks decided
upon the most brutal and hideous
forms of deportations and atrocities
against these people"
The speaker then related how the
Armenian men were called to meet al
the Turkish government buildings il
every village and hamlet. In bat
talions they were marched away anC
at the first lonely spot thousand:
were murdered in cold blood. No
content with this, he declared, the
women We're next called to gather to.
gether and in huge bands, without
drink, food or uprotection they were
marched away Across the hot sand:
Of Mesopotamia, into the wilds of the
mountainous retreats Of the Kurd!
they were taken, to starye, die of eX.
posture or worse get the youngest ant
rairest, TO become the toys of thu
cruel Kurds and Arabian tribesmen.
Thousands Took Poison.
Thousands of women took poison
thousands made away with them
selves" he said,' to avoid a fate
million times worse, to be subject t
the ravages of the cruelest of al
races"
In all, more than 100000 Armen
fans were wiped from the face of tn,
earth, DR.. Greys stated. A mere rem,
nant of this race, some 100000 nov
remain of these there are 250,00'
orphans, without father or mother
left destitute to be cared for by some
one. Slowly the remnants of wrecked
families are drifting back to thei
former homes, slowly the country
again turning to Industrial pursuits
in which it led all the Near East be
fore the war.
Today, however, the speaker stated
without crops, without food and with
out the means to cultivate their land
or carry on their industries these re
manning remnants of the Armenian
race are facing starvation and tota
extinction. He appealed to American
to come to the rescue of this perse
cuted race, reviewing the great goo
which the last funds contributed t
this fund did. The drive now is TO
$3,000,O00. More than 100000 month
ly is needed in Armenia alone t
carry out the relief work, DIR. Grey
declared.
Closing he made an eloquent appea
: for Americans to put aside selfishnes
, and greed, which is creeping into ma
tional life and to give wholeheartedl
to causes worthy of support III
spoke strongly for the League of Ma
tions, and arraigned those who op
pose it.
II There Had Been League.
IF there had been a League of Ma
tions there could have been no mas
sacres in Armenia in 1894, '95 an
&c." he said. "If there had been
League of Nations we would neve
have been subjected to the horrors G
che last four years of war. The me
who opposed it then, are the men VIII
jeyiied this disaster upon the worl(
The pen who oppose itJnow will g
down in history in shame and dis
grace. God hasten the day, when LII
p United States senate will ratify tn
peace treaty and the League Of ma
/. tions- and drive oaway forever tn
.sssvTrysl 5zsya, n, l-.ssrF'e