Evening star., 1925-08-11
BY JUNIUS Il. WOOD.
Correspondence Of The star and the Chicago
Daily News.

Correspondence Of The star and the Chicago
Daily News.
SVILENGRAD, Bulgaria, June a.
Among the emigrant refugees who
have Just arrived here is a group of
Macedonian villagers from Tarlis.
reimbursement of Drama. They
brought eyewitness stories of that
terrible Sunday in their village-July
27. 1924 on the previous evening
while q major and several other Greek
officers on a tour of the district sat
in front of the village cafe. several
shots were fired and four grenades
were thrown. Nobody was injured.
Subsequent investiga ton showed that
Greek soldiers had brought a supply
of grenadeS from the neighhorhood
village a few minutes before.
That night soldiers arrested seventy
or more men Of Tarlis and the neigh
boring villages of Karakeuy, LovtCha
and Vdovichta Sunday morning y
OF the villagers, one in the uniform
he had worn while fighting for Greece
in Asia Minor. were tied arm to arm
I'm pairs. the pairs being tied in
line by a long cord, the odd one,
man of more than 10 years, being
alone on the end. Though so cruelty
tied that they could hardly walk, they
were started under guard of lieu
tenant and 10 men over an unused
mountain path, ostensibly to another
village. Their families were not per
mitted to give them food or even look
out of the windows as they passed
Nearly Half Shot Down.
At the first clear space along the
path the bound prisoners We're or
dered to sit down. The officer and
guard Immediately opened fire on
them only few feet away. Thirteen
were speedily killed. but IL escaped,
four of them wounded. one of the
latter, four DAYS later. was recaptured
by Greek soldiers and died or was
killed.
This incident in the encoura cement
of voluntary" emigration of minor
ity'' residents from Greece was quickly
reported to the mixed commission. as
10 of those who escaped managed to
cross the nearby border into Bulgaria.
On account of this and other similar
complaints a neutral commission, con-
sisting of Maj. Marcel de ROover, Bel
eyian; Lieut. Col a. g. Corfe, Aus
tralian; J. +. Lagrange, Belgian, and
representatives of Greece and Bulga-
ria, arrived for an investigation, which
continued for several weeks.
The Greek authorities contended
that komitadjis had thrown the bombs
on Saturday night and on Sunday
morning had attempted to rescue the
prisoners, whom the guards were thus
justified in killing. After it's inveS-
tigation the commission reported as
TO the bomb throwing that mo evi-
dence has been presented proving
that komitadjis or Bulgarian villagers
were the authors. Nor, indeed, is
there any serious indication or any
e 60 go 10at Nr,-i-
ton"
AS to the Greek explanation for
the killings. the commission, having
inspected the place, says in its re-
port: I'VE are convinced that the con-
vov was not the object of an attack
and that the firing on the prisoners
by the officer and guard constitutes
a killing without justification or provo
cation
Reciting "VYeII Learned Lessons"
The Greek authorities defined a
komitadji as any Macedonian who had
relatives in Bulgaria or favored Mac
edonian independence. That was the
test used by Maj. Kalabalikis in Sc
lecting the q men for slaughter.
Ioannis DoXakis, a 50year-old lieu
tenant who conducted the killings,
was d former Greek red shirt" ban
dit.
While no proof was obtained that
the killings were sanctioned by the
Greek government, the attitude of the
Greek authorities during the investi-
cation caused the commission to be
lieve that it was not entirely the work
of a fanatical officer and guardsmen.
The commission characterized some
of the Greek testimony as the re
cital of a we'll learned lesson" One
Of the guards who forgot his lesson
when forced to admit that he was
wearing a pair of shoes he had taken
from one of the dead men, said when
the shooting began that the prisoners
merely cried, our children, do not
shoot usr'
Another guard testified that he had
heard no attack, but was told by the
officer that he was being attacked
and to shoot the prisoners. Another
witness testified that a guard re-
marked after returning from the kill