The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1921-09-28
TELLS OF HORRORS
IN THE NEAR EAST
Relief Secretary Says Fa-
mine and Massacre Have
Depleted Russia and Ar
menia.

Vickrey, general secretary of the Near
East Relief. returned on the Red Star
liner Finland after three months in
and the Straits area; Batum, Tifis,
Karaklis, AtenndropoI, EriYan,
Etchmiadzin and surrounding villages
of the Transcaucasia area; Beirut, ST.
don, CHAIR. JaEoad1 Jafa, Ram1eh
and Jerusalem of the Syria-Palestine
area He also received reports from
representatives from Angora, Har-
poot, Sansoun, Ceasarea, Sivas, Ada
ma, A1eppo, Afntab ana Urga, and he
attended conferences in Cairo with
the Armenian Benevolent Union off,
GERS and at Geneva he had met, Dr..
Na,nsen, Arthur Ba1four and Lord
Robert Cecil and the Lord Mayors
Committee on American Refugees
Fund of London
Mr.. Vic1rey said Kemd Pasha told
his representative from Angora that
fall back upon Ceasarea for the win
ter, thereby 1engtheuing the Greek
lines: Of the Armenian massacres he
| said:
-tAlexandropo1 was in +fhe hands of
| the Turks until April Il, and there
! I saw the bones of 500 slaughtered
| victims. was informed that there
was not one man among them All
were women and children. Good
work has been done by the medical
branch Of the Near East Relief. and
in regard to tachoma 5000 cases
among the orphans were being cared
| for at Alexandropol.
| In Jerusalem in September I foun d
much discomfort among the Mos1ems
| and Christians. There was not
much business there but I think con
dftions will improve in time. There
is an outbreak against the Zionists
every now and then but it dies away
| Samuel the high commissioner, Zion
ism seems to have planted itself
firmly in the country"
Regarding the Near East Relief
| work H1r- Vickrey said:
| There are two distinct large areas
| involved in the Russian famine prob
| lem-the Volga region and Southern
Russna or Transcaucasia, including
| Georgia and Russian Armenia to the
west of the Caspian In Russian Ar
menia I found the dead lying in the
streets. The death wagon had begun
| its daily rounds in A1exandropol in
| August instead of in January, Febru-
| airy and March as in previous years.
| In Erivan, the capital of Armenia,
found only hopeless women and chill
dren wandering about. trying to ex-
change a secondhand garment or
other. personal property for food. This
was in August. Ones imagination
recoils before fhe picture of March
"A full record of the causes of this
| recurring famine in Southern Russia
and Armenia could fill a volume and
might touch some very sensitive spots
IN the capitals OF practically all o.
the allied and associated powers
War has not ceased for Armenia
Conditions are probably worse today
than they were at the signing of the
arnfstice.
In addition to the drought, and
without enumerating other cataStro
phies and disappointmentS that have
Tbefallen the Armenian people, on
immediate and Sufficient cause fol
the present famine is the fact tina.
their territory was again overrun las
fall and occupied by the Turkish mil
itary forces. When these force
withdrew, fhey took with them al
transportable food supplies. Thu
Arm enfans began Immediately tt
plant and secure a crop. but with tn,
season already far advanced, it wa.
impracticable The result is newt
able starvation.
THE Near East Relief now ha-
more than so American experienced
relief workers in this area, who il