New Ulm review., 1922-03-22
ELOQUENT SPEAKER HOLDS
AUDIENCE BREATHLEss
WITH SYMPATHY.
AWFUL TALE OF sUFFERINGs
AMONG THE CHRISTIANS
OF PERSIA.


when Mr.. Y. H. Shahbaz Of the former
city of Urmia, Persia, told a large
audience, of the sufferings of the
Persian Christians in the part of the
world he comes from, when they were
attacked by the Mongolian Kurds and
massacred or driven from their homes
by the thousands. The church was
packed to the doors and so great was
the interest manifested that whenever
the speaker paused for moment, the
ticking Of the clock could be, plainly
heard all thru the room as people held
their breaths in the eagerness of their
interest and suspense.
An Eloquen Speaker.
Mr.. Shahbaz is wonderfully elo-
quent speaker, dramatic, forceful, con-
vincing, and nothing that he said ap-
peared to be exaggerated altho it was
hard to realize that some of the things
he told could be truths in this day OF
Notwithstanding civilizations. In
fact, he left the impression that he had
not told the half of what might be re-
lated Of the sufferings of his people at
the hands of the unspeakable Turks.
The speaker was educated at Col
gate College, Maryland, and went back
to his native land years ago as Bap-
tist missionary and teacher. He had
married a young lady from New York
and together they were giving their
lives to the work Of Christianizing the
Persians. They were apparently IN
good circumstances, living in the midst
Of plenty, with good home and fair
comforts. Two Of their sons were sent
to the United States to go to school
and there were four younger children
still at home when the trouble with
the Kurds began.
The Attack Of the kurds.
Mr.. Shahbaz described the early
morning attack of the Kurds upon the
city Of Urmia, telling how suddenly the
firing from thousands Of guns broke
the early morning stiffness with fright
full alarum. The Christians had been
fearing an attack of the Kurds because
they knew that the Turks were muir
dering and burning and pillaging all
over the lands occupied by those who
had repudiated the Moslem faith. The
Christians came running by the
thousands to the Mission for protection
and it was at first thought that the
American flag which flew, over the
mission might save them but Mr..
Shahbaz persuaded them to leave,
feeling that the Turks would simply
find it the easier to massacre the
Christians wholesale if they were
gathered together in such masses in a
place with no possible means of de-
fense. He told of the separation Of
families in the crush, the fears, the
tears, the prayers and wailings, the i'm
ploring supplications Of the women and
children who besought Mrs. Shahbaz
to speak as an American woman to the
Turks, thinking she could thus save
their lives. The youngest boy, Of the
I,Shahbaz family, child Of less than
three years, was lost and was not
found for two days, and in all that time
he had had ofood and as a result died
shortly afterwards in his mothers
arms.
Leave Their Homes.
The people left their city when they
saw no hope of saving their lives, going
northward, most of them being clothed
only in their thin nightclothes, as they
had been foused from sleep, having NJ
food, struggling along, falling ane
struggling on again, only to fall, fnall,
exhausted. A number Of the mother.
! with children and the old men VIII,
were not strong enuf to go, stayed
behind, taking refuge in a church
There they were later cut to pieces b!
i the Kurds when they were found every
L y z VI 80. IL = q .t - ia
man, woman and child. III .5#
Thos who went on found that ther,
was no safety in the next village ant
that in turn was left behind, and .,
and on they went, until after havin,
left score or more such cities an,
4 villages behind them they came t,
j Tabriz, Persia. There was a. larg
i Mission house with grounds enclose,
\ by a twenty-foo oot wall The space in
I. closed within the walls was the size 9
i a city block. Into this enclosure
4 twenty thousand miserable refugee
crowded, hoping against hope tha
safety might be found there. Eacl
/ day their supply Of food consisted Of !.
4 little bread and water, nothing else
\. and as the bakers who supplied th
thread were all Mohammedans. oftel