Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-12-05
SMYRNA'S REIGN OF TERROR
EcIipSeS Horrors Of French ReYOIu-
tiOa, Says Eye Witness:
re LOST HIS BUSINESS IN The FIRE
Saw Mother Shot Down, Brother Tor
tured and Sisters Take Own Lives
Up to America to Save Christians of
Near East, Says Young Refugee.

manufacturer from Smyrna, brings to
America the story Of reign of ter
-or which in it's gruesomeness com
pletely overshadows the horrors of
the long days and nights during the
period of French Revolution, writes
Dorothy Craigie in the New York
Evening Telegram.
To see his mother shot down by
Turkish soldiers; his two sisters COM
nit suicide to save themselves from
outrage by the Moslemites; his only
brother tortured to insanity; his bus
mess swept away by fire; and thou
sands of his countrymen and women
killed like cattle to satisfy Moslem
vengeance was the experience which
Bartoli underwent before escaping.
He has come to America to become
an American citizen and TO plead with
congress 10 pass a bill permitting
thousands Of the Armenian refugees
now located in Greece, who are now
dying of exposure and starvation at
the rate of 800 a day, TO come to
America, where they have relatives
who will care. for them.
If it had not been for the United
States there would not be Chris
tian left in Smyrna today, nor would
there be a single refugee in Greece
either, says Bartoli.
Well educated, a master of seven
languages and of gentlemanly bear
ing. he still shows the unerasable signs
of suffering in his weary eyes and
drawn face. E.
Greece Next, He Says.
What 1 have been through and
seen makes me doubt if there is
Cod he said, as he sat in the recep-
ton room Of the Y. ". C. A. and told
of his experiences. "I have this to
saw of America and other Christian
nations:-The question OF Christian
or Moslem supremacy must be decided
now, once and for ALL Either the
United States must say to Turkey get
out Of Europe and stay out or we Will
make you get out and be ready to
back up her command with warships,
or there will not be n Christian left in
Europe in ten years.
"The Turks have sworn that they
will wipe out Christianity. For each
Christian Turk kills he is taught he
has that much easier access to heaven.
Greece will come next. The Greeks
know 1t. as do the $4,000 of our refu-
gees now quartered there. 1t is i'm
possible to feed them all. America has
done wonders, but she must do still
more if wholesale slaughter is to be
prevented"
Bartoli told the story of the down.
fall OF his home in halted language.
THE Turks entered Smyrna on the
eleventh" he said '"and they assured
the people that there would no harm
come to them. We believed it. Every
thing seemed so peaceful and quiet,
but two days later we learned to our
sorrow never to take the word of a
Turk. They began burning and kill
ing. More than sixty Of our people
fled to the little church Of st. Stefano.
The Turks poured petroleum on 1t and
, burned it, number Of Greeks fed
to their church and barred the doors.
The Turks could not enter so they
burned it down, bnt the tower remain
ed and in it's shelter were number
of Christians, so the Turkish soldiers
blew up the tower. The debris buried
the Greeks alive.
American Aid in Rescue
at was on the thirteenth that Mr..
Horton, the American Consul, on hear
ing that the Turks had given the ma
tives five days to evacuate Smyrna,
prevailed upon them to increase it TO
ten days and he then started getting
the refugees out of seventeen Greek
ships which were harbored there. Five
hundred thousand Of us there were
waiting for the ships.
1T was wonderful to see those
American sailors and marines, officers
and men, carrying the luggage of
HELPLESS women and men, like porters
in order to facilitate transportation.
On the tOurleenln lne HIe SldlI'u' ''''
Kemalists having begun their work Of
arson in several parts of the province.
81 stood by my mother and saw her
shot in the forehead by q bullet which
l think was intended for me. She died
instantly. / went home to my villa
and saw that the door had been broken
in. Entering, I found my sisters on
the floor. a revolver near by. A
frightened servant who had hidden,
supplied me with the information that
Turkish soldiers had attempted to
outrage them and they killed them
selves TO save their honor. l had to
nay fifteen pounds apiece to two Turk
ish soldiers for protection while [
could take their dead bodies TO the
cemetery for burial. There were hun
dreds of refugees hiding in the ceme-
terry. for they knew the Turks would
not dare TO modest them there. They
opened up the tombs in some cases
and crept inside,
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