The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, June 12, 1919, Page 6, Image 6
ARMENIAN WOMEN
VICTIMS OF TURKS
AMERICAN RELIEF COMMITTEE
MAKES STATEMENT.
r t
Individual Stories Told
Committee Placing Half-Crazed Sufferers
in Homes Established
for Them. j
i-A: 1
m ?
New York, May 31.?Stories told
by Christian women and girls of Armenia
who were deported from their
homes, led to virtual captivity or
slavery in the camps of the Turks,
Circassians and Arabs or held ca*
?.' tives in Turkish harems in Asia Minor
have been received here by the
American committee for Armenian
Bk- '
and Syrian relief. The statement issued
by the committee says that the j
women whose narratives are made,'
j
: * , public were released by their masters}
or rescued by allied troops.
x "After the signing of the armis-j
x tice," says the committee's statement, j
"many of the Turks, believing that I
by so doing they could escape pun-!
ishment, turned the women?many of;
them with babies?into the street, j
Cablegrams to the committee have!
reported that numbers of these worn- j
en were wandering about the country |
crazed by starvation and exposure.!
As fast as possible they are being |
gathered up by the committee's relief;
workers and placed in homes estab- j
* lished for their care. A late tele-1
gram said that 15 such homes have j
been established in Asia Minor.''
Affidavits Taken by Dr. Wirt.
Stories of these Armenian victims
of Turkish atrocity were obtained by
Dr. Loyal Y. Wirt, member of an expedition
sent to Turkey by the committee.
They are taken down as re-j
. lated by Dr. W. A. Kennedy, field;
director of the lord mayor's relief !
v.
fund of London. After taking them i
down, Dr. Kennedy assured Dr. Wirt,
he personally re-read the affidavits to
(tiie narrators and they signed them
pi"; in his presence.
TJ Together these tales constitute one
of the tragic chapters of the war:
They were not isolated cases but in
some instances the experiences of as
* many as 5,000 refugees who had been
fe driven from their homes and forced
on journeys of hundreds of miles
: from fertile Armenia into the borders
of the Syrian desert. On the way
hundreds at a time were separated
and massacred often in the most dia;
bolical way.
Hundreds of girls were torn from
the other members of their family
l..% ' and taken none knows where by the
? \ Turks, Kurds or Circassians. Scores
were compelled to live in captivity
naked for months and suffering from
sun-blisters and beatings. Armenian
girls who escaped death were barter-'
ed like cattle, after their father or
relatives had vainly paid ransom for
, . them. Some saw their fathers or j
friends murdered. In the tents of the j
Arabs in the Syrian desert many were I
bound and forcibly tatooed on the i
forehead, lips and chin to mark them
If, . as Moslem women.
Generally, the stories indicate that
the captives were moved sometimes
in large groups from Armenia southward
toward the desert of Syria. The
stories told by at least three Armenian
Christian girls deal with the
movement of one of these great
groups consisting of 2,000 families or
5,000 persons. One story of this
awful journey into the desert was
told by Takouhi Guezekucliukian, a
girl of 18 who with her father, mother,
four sisters, and a brother, was
deported from Hadjin, in Adana
province, in May, 1915. They were
moved southward to Aleppo and
thence further on toward the Syrian
desert until the party numbered
about 2,000 families. At Sivaria, she
: *.
said, they were told that on payment
of 5,000 Turkish liras they would be
allowed to return.
Killed \tith Clubs. x
"The refugees said they could not
give this amount," the Armenian girl
told Dr. Kennedy. vThen the Circassians
of the tribe of Chechens who
hart pnntrnl nf them separated out
1,100 of the poorer families and took
them away. The same evening some
of these people returned and said
they had escaped and that four hours
after they left, the Chechens had begun
to kill them with iron-studded
clubs. The remaining families raised
1,500 pounds and sent a deputation
of 52 men wnn ** to buy their security.
This amount was refused and
the men were beaten and sent back.
"They raised an additional 500
liars and took 2.000 Turkish pounds
in gold to the Circassian Beys who
took the money and tried to force
them to sign a paper saying the Armenians
had paid no money to them.
The deputation refused to do this and
the 52 men were bound and taken
away."
A few days later, according to the
girl's ' story, the remaining families
were deported from Sivaria and after
eight days arrived at Shenadieh, on
the river Habour east of Deir-EsZor.
"On the way," the girl's story went
on, "150 men were separated and
taken away and soon after* the Circassians
returned and divided among
themselves some of the clothing
which she recognized as belonging to
some of the men which they had taken
away. The next day 300 more
men were taken away and killed."
As the refugees resumed their journey
on the following morning she saw
the bodies of some of the men she
knew. They had been clubbed to
death.
"A few days after this," reads the
narrative, "they were told that for
safety each family of women and
children was to go to the house of an
Arab. The Arabs robbed them and
stripped them of their clothing and
sent them back to the Circassians
who commenced at once to kill them
with knives, women and children,
about 150 in all. Twenty-two boys
.1 1 -i ?--1^ r-. rs icr\A n n ^ f O lr f\v\ + r\
ana 11 gu ts weie satcu auu lantu
the tents of the Circassians and she
was taken with her sisters to the village
of Gerbelleh where she was beaten
because she did not give them gold
they believed she had."
After having been kept a while by
a Circassian she and her sister were
sent to another Chechen and then to
the house of another Circassian in
Shegrush. She is. now in the orphanage
at Aleppo and her sister is in an
Armenian house in Xusebin.
Other Incidents.
Other incidents evidently dealing
with this terrible journey of the Armenians
to Shedadieh were related
to Dr. Kennedy by Araxa Barutjian,
a girl of 17- who was a pupil in the
American girl's school at Ada-Bazaar,
in the western portion of Asia Minor
near Constantinople. She spoke English.
"At Shedadieh," the narrative
says, "she saw a party of 300 men,
women and children all naked. It
was in July and their backs had been
blistered bv the sun and many of
them had bruises all over their limbs
and bodies and sores caused by the
beatings they had received. During
the heat of the day they would lie
covered in the water as the pain in
the sun was unbearable.
"Before she arrived at Shedadieh,
two of her brothers died at Bad and
her father.at another place. As the
Arabs were taking only unmarried
girls from among the refugees, her
mother told them she was married.
At Shedadieh her mother was sold to
one Arab and she to another and the
girl lived in his house for a year.
"She ran away and an Arab girl
took her into a tent where she stayed
for 18 months when she again ran
away and finally reached Nusebin."
This journey from Ada Bazaar
across Asia Minor to Deir-Es-Zor occupied
a year and a half, according
to the story told by another girl of
17 years, Arpeneh Der Harutunian,
daughter of a teacher in a high school
at Bardizag, a bright, intelligent girl
whose family was known to Dr. Kennedy.
Reporting her story of the
journey Dr. Kennedy wrote:
"Her grandfather was killed before
her eyes and she saw between 200
and 300 men shot and cut down by
the sword. These men were bound in
groups of 10, arm to arm. She saw
at the same place women and children
killed with iron-studded clubs
or knives. The bodies were afterward
soaked with paraffin and set on fire.
This was done by Chechen Circassians
on the side of a hill near Shedadieh.
"About 100 young Armenian men
who dressed as girls were discovered j
and put to death by the Chechens. I
One of these was flayed alive and
thrown into the river Habour.
"After this the Circassians would
not allow them fo get food and two
weeks later they were sent to Sivaria.
Mariam Gumuslijian bribed the
Chechens not to send them further
intn thp rtp.cprf Arnpneh was taken
to the tent of an Arab and kept for
eight months when khe escaped with
the assistance of her younger brother.
During her stay, Arpeneh moved from
place to place as the Arabs changed
the tents for better pasturage for
their camels. She was firmly bound
and held to the ground by Turkish
soldiers while her face was being
tatooed. The family was united afterward
with the exception of the
father who disappeared at Deir-EsZor."
He Raised Cayne!
A fisherman whom they called Pay.ie
Would never get out of the rayne;
Some said he was dumb,
And then there were sumb
Who said he was surely insayne.
One day, with some bait and champaigne,
He sailed away out on the maigne;
With the aid of a saigne,
They found him agaigne,
Nevermore insaigne,
Poor Paigne!
?Cartoons Magazine.
DELICIOUS DESERT MADE FROM
Stone's Cake
Two slices of Stone's Spanish Cake
with caramel filling' between the slices.
Make the caramel filling as follows: 1
cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of granulated
sugar, 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of
butter. Let this boil a few minutes, then
add 7 heaping teaspoons of corn starch,
4 tablespoons of vinegar, and 1-4 teaspoon
of salt.
W"E TTAVE TT TTTTS WETHTC
PHONE 15
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BAMBERG, S. C.
" Nifty ggg)
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?Dd Gomfortabie Mlm
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H. C. Folk Co.
BAMBERG, S. C.
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We have Just received three carloads
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Jones Bros.
RAILROAD AVENUE BAMBERG, S. C.
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We are proud of the confidence j Waterman Fountain Pens always
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dWd!
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