The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1922-09-16
DIE
IN SACK Of SMYRNA
BYKENAL 8 HGHDE
Later Reports Tend to Magnify
Extent of Tragedy
CITY NEARLY DESTROYED
Christians Plunge into Sea to Es-
cape Death at Hands Of
Fanatical Turks

London, Sept l5.-(By the Assoc
ated Press)-Succeedng dispatches
from Constantnople, Athens, and
other centers OF information In the
kear East only tend to magnify the
tale of tragedy in Smyrna The great
er part OF the city was laid waste by
ncendiary fires and flames, according
TO the latest account reaching the
water front where quays We're crowd
ed with fear crazed Christian ref
ugees who had fled to the city IS the
nearest port of escape from the
Turks.
Many have thrown themselves into
the water rather than run the risk OF
being burned alive or facing Mustap-
Ipa Kemal Pashas soldiers drunk
18th victory and filed with religious
fanaticism
The estimated number of killed
varies greatly. The latest Athens
dispatches quoting an American relief
worker as declaring up to Thursday
I,morning there hal been a hundred
Sand twenty thousand victims. II is
thought this figure may include the
wounded as previous dispatches had
paced the number from l.OS0 to
1000
London. September 1G-The de
stluction of the great port OF Smyrna
by fire, accompanied by reports Of hor.
rible massacres perpetrated by the
Turkish Nationalist forces. the vic.
tins numbering betweeen 1000 and
1000 persons has still further compli-
Gated the already grave situation in
Asia Minor.
Reports of these massacres appear
to depend largely upon possibly ex.
aggerated statement of terrifsed ref.
ueees, but II seems impossible to
doubt. from information reaching
London that number Of lives have
been sacrificed, women outraged and
other atrocities committed. The de.
struction Of the greater part Of
Smyrna left some $4,000 Greeks and
Armenians homeless and destitute
and some II naturalized Americans
are missing
According to one report, the Turks
deliberately burned the city to hide
the evidences af their massacres and
pillagaings, but what appears more
probable from other reports was that
the Turks motive was to force the
allies to eyacuate the entire Chris
tian population and thereby settle the
problem of minorities in Auatol'a
The first reports came from Greek
sources and estimated the victims as
high as 1000 to 1000 Later reports
from Births witnesses and from
Americans arriving at Greek ports,
tended to confirm the massacres, and
save narrowing accounts of the eX.
tent of the devastation wrought
An English agency dispatch declared
! the British admiral had warned the
Turks at Smyrna that if the massa,
cres continued the Turkish quarter Of
the town would be bombarded.
A correspondent of Reuters arriv-
! ing at Malta, said hundreds Of bodies
of the victims were lying in the streets
of Smyrna when he left and that the
pilaging and massacr.ng were contin-
umg. The Greeks were not blameless,
he declared, as they had aroused the
Turks by setting fire to villages dur
ing the retreat of the Greek army.
A Greek semiotiicial dispatch from
Athens quoted an American investiga-
tor as estimating the number of vic
| tins up to the time of the fire in
Smyrna at 1000. The property loss
from the conflagration is estimated in
the Greek quarters at S75,OOO,OOO,
Only the Turkish quarter remains,
Kemalist officials assert that the
confagration resulted from the eX-
change of rifle shots between the in
vading Turkish army and the Greeks
and the Armenians, the latter Of whom
attacked the Turks from churches and
houses.
With the evacuation of the British
forces from the desolated city, Amer
lean bluejackets now are the dom
inant factor. They are being well
treated by the Kemalists, who have
earnestly urged them to remain and
assist In restoring order and in min
istering to the dying and dead. Capt
II. ]. Hepsburn, chef of. staff to Ad
miral Bristol, is directing the work OF
the American naval men and relief
workers.
Turkish court martials have passed
death sentences on 200 Greeks and
Armenians who were charged with be
ing implicated in the killing of TurkS
in 1919.
The Christian population Of Smyrna