Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE MOST PATHETIC AMBASSADRESS IN HISTORY All the world outside of Turkey has sympathy and it has varying degrees' of wrath for one of the greatest crimes in history-the torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of! Armenians-yet the tragedy itself has remained remote. To bring nearer' a sense of its hor rors to arouse, not merely indignation but active sympathy, a girl came to America, a personification of the help lessbeaeuty and innocence upon which the brutal Turk has been inflicting the most terrible indignities, outrages, and suffering anywhere recorded in 1man annals. Her name is Aurora Marignanian. She is one of the Christian girls who survived the massacres of the Ar-. mver .Sil., r- she is the most pathetic am bassadress in history. This girl is 1.7, who pleads for a nartyre I people, will not go away empty-handed. Its benevolent activi ties will cover America. No "drive" ever more,thrillingly'touched the heart strings and the purse strings of a nation. Behind the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian relief Wvhich is conducting a nation-wide movement to raise a great fund are names of former President Taft, former am bassador to Turkey Morganthau, Chas. E. Huges, Cardinal Gibbons, Bishop Greer, Rabbi Wise, Cleveland H. i. Dodge, and many other prominent Americans. James L. Barton is chair man. The committee and its helpers are working in full reclization of the stupendous calamity which has occa sioned its labors and the dread dan-, ger that lurks in the situation it is seeking'to meet. mittee. A new and thrilling method of con-, y Adrora Mar digannian has been taken by the com mittee. Aurora's story, and that of the Ar-. menian massacres and deportations which she witnesser, have been elabor ately filmed and the tremendous spec-' tacle will soon, be presented in the leading cities of this country. It is the complete story of "Ravish ed Armenia." Linking the scenes of the stupend ous dramatization of a national tra-' gedy is.the personal narrative of the girl upon whose slendLA z:houlders has been thrust the tremendous re-ponsi bility of saving millions of her peo pile from starvation and death. Aurora Mardiganian lived through three years ofs Turkish enslavement-, s ew women 'lfthethis tioryf othe world have suffered. Death confronted her time and again-and in a dozen different forms. Only a *miracle could save her. And yet, each time, that miracle~ was wrought. It seems as if some h';her power had destined her to live so that she might come to America and make her -e markable appeael for help for theK people of her race. Aurora Mardiganian, the only wo *man~ who ever escaped from the clutch es of the Turks, same to this coun try not for the selfish purpose of es --caping further torture. Her visit was. a mission-perhaps the most respon sible a woman ever was a,sked to rep resent. This frail, delicate girl of 17, samae as the unofficial ambassadress of.: 4,000,000 people with this pathetic message: "Armenian needs your help as nev-. er before in all its tragic history." And then Aurora Mar iiganian told; the story of her life-an<d the story of1 Armenian; the nation that knows no' capital; that knows no flag;that knows no government other than that of Tur key, which, for centuries has tried to Sefface Armenians from the earth. The recital of Aurora Mardizanan of her own frightful experiences; of the pitiless massacres of Armienians men aund boys-of the ceremonies of apostasy by which~ the hst of Turkish1 officials was nermitted to fasten upon the flower of Armenian womanhood; of the slaughter trape set in Devil's Gorge: of the human 'lave market; of the pitiless plight oi Armenian refu gees lost in the trackless wastes of the Syrian desert-all has been chronicled: ! n the newspapers of this countri. When the final chapter of the piti igly frank story of this beautiful lit tIe Christian girl had been penned, j thousands of Americans, awakened to the plight of Armenia, insisted: "Aurora Mardiganian's story should not die; it is one that should live and] ,be told in pictures." The demand has been answered with "ravished Armenia: the Story of Au-; rora Mardiganian"-a masterpiece in film production. It is a photoplay that abounds with dramatic situation ; that pictures the Turks as hey never before have been pictured; that re-acts their murderous deeds; that shows harem scenes that Aurora Mardiganian saw with her own eyes; that shows slave markets where women were sold into; slavery for sums frequently far un-K der one dollar. -he auspices of the American Commit- r -ee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, t wvill soon make its appearance in all t he principal cities of the United c States. The showing of this marvelous film s in connection w9h the work of the e ommittee and their attempt to save. rom starvation the 3,950,000 sufferers r n the Near East. It will visualize t For the people of America the story of s he tragic suffering of the people of a Armenia during these past years of,, :he war. The first release of the film xvill be made in connection with the: ;ommittee's drive for $30,000,000 Jan. t L2 to 19. "Ravished Armenia" is a film play hat was produced by masters in the c ;creen from a scenario by Nora Wain. I rhe cast includes some of the most t Famous stars. The staging was per iaps as elaborate as tha of any photo play in recent years. The story of 'Ravished Armenia" is bulit around :he story of Aurora Mardiganian, who lays a part-and plays it wonderful Ly well, because her role in his play s not acting; it is vividly re-living some of the tragic incidents of her ife. The story has its real opening in the Little Armenian town of T- hmesh jedzak, where Aurora MaLUganian Nas born and where she spent the irst fourteen years of her life in com .arative happiness. Her father was prosperous merchant in the little ity that had its origin 800 years be ore the Christian era. Aurora, a remarkably pretty child, ylossomed eaerly into girlhood, and, it the age of 14, was regarded as the c >elle of the village. To every girl ;uch a distinction usually brings hap iness and armiration. But to Au -ora Maridgination it brought misfor ;une and eventual suffering that al nost beggar description. Passet Pacha, ruler of Techmesh 3edzak, saw Aurora Mardiganian one lay in 1915-and at onse there came: :o him the desire to add this little 1hristian girl to his harem. He went ;o the father of Aurora and made mown his base desire. The father, I 'V ighast, refused. "I want your daughter-and I shall t iave her" was the parting remark of Paset Pacha. r Just about this time the official edict t vas published which ruled that evern Armenian on Turkish soil should be :t leported. It was an order that ev ry minor Turkish official proceeded 1 ;o obey with fiendish thoroughness. Itl :a neaent that there had come to all of hese officials governmental sanction 1 : kill all Armenians, loot their homes avage their towns and ravish theire avage their towns and ravish their women. And to no other Turkish ojcial didt he edict appeal as a greater source of oy than to Passet Pacha. Ordering t us soldiers t oseize the father and the b ldest brother of Aurora Mardiganian', ;his ojcial at once ordered them taken Lway. The parting of the Mardigan an family farms one of the most pa ~hetic scenes in "Ravished Armenia." ['he father and his oldest son are ruth essly taken from their families-and ;he parting perhaps is forever. It s more than three years since this in ~ident took place and Aurora has de-. ded every possible enerby in an ef- a *ort to get trace of her father and >lder brother.e No sooner had the father of Auroraa ardiganian been whisked away than he, her mother, her older sister and h ounger brothers were seized and nade a part of Passet Pacha's band. h rhe Turkish leader and his men, af :er looting and pillaging Techmesh edzak, murdered the men and s1any f the boys-and then marched away; :o loot and pillage other Armenian And they took with the mAurora 1ardiganian, her mother and sister, md all the other women andl girls of* 'he viilna-e. and were forced to sub it ot nmspeakable horrors at the lands of Passet Pacha and his fa -ored lieutenants. The woe and the rirls who refused were beaten and. im in"r taht long march mnany of them lied from their wounds. The whole al deportation of the Armenian peo-' le are vidily shown.e The scenes of "Ravished Armenia" :hen carry the auditor along with Au -ora Mardiganian to various Armen an c'ities where giginantic massacres : ook place.f Aurora Mardiganian was forced to a vitness all these inhuman acts and e vas herself a victim of their cruelty. a ler very beauty made her the object l* if Turkish passions and she was sing- r ed out to endure to the absolute limit >f human endurance. For sormething P ike a year this frail girl remained1 tcaptive, and finally, clad only in a C w rags, bruised and scarre:1. pale md wan from the privation that she F iad endured, was auctioned off for m5 cents. The scenes of "Ravished Armenia"~ b hen carry along the story of the uffri:g Armenian people and of Au- F -cra Marditanian to the time when ;he fell into the hands of Kehmal aarry her and make her her a legi imate wife, if she would renounce he Christian religion and adopt that f Mohammed. For a long time she eliberated, before answering. "I cannot decide until I have talk d to my mother. Bring her to me nd let me talk to her. If she tells ie it is right to renounce the Chris ian religion, I will do so. If she ays no, then I will not renounce it nd you may kill me as you threat n." The mother and the sister and the rothers of Aurora Mardiganian, with h excection of the older brother ere brought to the little town where .urora was a captive. The scene that epicts the temporary uniting of this art of the Mardiganian family is one ense with emotion. When Aurora told her mother the roposition, of Kehmal Effendi, the iother shrieked her -answer: "No! No! Do not give up your eligion." The words hardly had come from er mouth when the Turkish murder s, acting under orders from Kehmel fendi, beat the mother to death be ore Aurora's eyes. A younger broth r of Aurora, witnessing the scene nd made hysterical by the horror of , started to run away. A Turk with long bull whip swung it at the boy rith merciless precision. The huge, harp lash cracked around the .head f the boy and fractured his skull. He Attered-then fell dead. The older sister of Aurora Mardi anian incurred the displeaesure of he Turks and was thrown over a liff and impaled on bayonets. That ras a form of death-dealing torture rhich the Turks indulged in when andling "stubborn women-" a bit f fiendishness that seemed to give iem extreme pleasure. "Ravished Armenian" then carries n to the time when Aurora Mardiga ian was placed in prison. A shep erd who came along discovered her light and at the risk of his own life, berated her. Freed at last, Aurora ttempted to escape from Turkey,but -here could she go? The cities were peopled by Turks; iey ruled in the villages; the Turks ere e'verywhere-but in the vast Sy ian desert. And into this arid waste is little Christian girl wandered, ,ere to live for nearly a year, sus ining life by eating shrubs, grass nd roots. She walked more than 400 miles in her wanderings and,when t last she emerged from the desert, ate ruled that it was to be at a point 'here an army of Russian troops were ncampjed. Practicallyinaked, emact de point of death from her suffer 1g, Aurora Mardiganian stumbled in > camp-and there fell exhausted. indly Russians cared for her and ae commander of the army, a mem er of the Imperial House of Rus ia, listened to her story. Soon af rward Aurora, through the kindly ifluence of the Russians, was brought ito contact with Gen. Andranik, the reat Armenian patriot. When General Andranik had lis ned to the full recital of Aurora [ardiganian's story, he said to her: "My little girl, you, among all the 'omen of Armenian are destined to ct as its savior. You have lived thro' xperiences such as no women has ver endured before. Go to America nd tell them there how we have suf red. Tell them your story and per aps the generous hearts of Ameri ins will open and they will send us elp before our race is completely ef iced from the earth." And so Aurora Mardiganian came to merica to mnake her appeal. Her :ory is graphically depicted in "Ray hed Armenia" a photoplay the like E which never has been screened be THOROUGH WQRK [ow a Winnsboro Ciien Found' Fr.e dom from Kidney Trouibles. If you suffer from backache From urinary disorders Anyi curable disease..of the kidneys Use' a tested kidney remedy. Dons Kidney Pills have been tes I by thousands. Winnsboro people testify. Can you ask more convincing proof Emert? Mrs. D. H. Robertson, Main, St., innsboro, says: "I have used Doan' idney Pills for a good many year r attacks of kidney trouble and they re the best kidney medicine I have er used. Whenever my kidneys ren't acting right I take a few doses Doan's Kidney Pills and they work ke magic. It gives me pleasure to commend Doan's Kidney Pills." Price 60c, ac all dealers. Don't sim ly sak for a kidney remedy-get; oan's Kidney Pills-the same that [rs. Robertson had. Foster-Milburn, o., Mfgrs, Buffalo, N. Y. OR SALE-2 acre lot and out build ings near Rion, S. C., on public high ay, apply to Mrs. Ella Walling, El rton, Ga. OR SALE,-One Dodge touring car at a bargain. Looks good and runs well. The first check for $650 gets t ar. M. Hok, Rockton. S. C. MAKING STYLE PRACI N Kirschbaum styles,there has been a willing observance of our govern ment's rules for saving wool.... But while the yardage is kept to a minimum, there is not the slightest hint of skimping or pinching.... The fine talent of Kirschbaum de signers has been employed to do a patriotic and essential thing-to do it in a graceful and becoming way. g(Irschhaum lothes $1541750-3Q UP TO $5O D.V.WALKER & CO Coyriht, 1918, A. B. irschbaum Co PCIA NOTICE On and after Jan.1,1919, we postively will not sen out on approva. any Ready4 ier_ ments. WALKER' S A N N OlC E M EN T We have just moved into our new building across the street from our old stand. We will be glad to have our friends make our new place their headquarters. We will be in position to better ssrve our cus torners than ever before. SPECIALS FOR THE SEASON Chattanooga, Plows and Repairs for every farmer-=Martin Ditchers, Wagons and Gen= eral Farm Supplies. J. F Davs &Bro.