September 5, 1895 September 10, 1895

RUSTEM PASHA MOVED TO TEARS ANOTHER ARMENIAN HOLOCAUST

Salisbury Said that Would Yield Five Villages Burned, Five Thousand To the Demand of the Powers or Persons Made Homeless, and Anti- Would Be Dismembered. Christians Organized. LONDON, Sept. 4,? The Post will to-morrow publish a dispatch from Paris saying that a LONDON, Sept. 9, ? The Daily News will Constantinople letter is published in Paris containing tomorrow publish a dispatch from Kars, stating what purports to be the text of a dispatch sent by that fresh outrages have been perpetrated in the Rustem Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador to Great Erzinslan district. Britain, to the Turkish Foreign Minister, giving an account of an interview the Ambassador lately had A band of brigands attacked a company of with Prime Minister Salisbury. The letter says: Turkish gendarmes on Aug. 12, killing a Sergeant. “I began telling Lord Salisbury that the Ottoman Therefore, the Turkish authorities, without making Government did not oppose the execution of Article 61 any inquiry, decided that the assailants were of the treaty of Berlin, and that it was in perfect agreement with the signatory powers, but that it could Armenian revolutionaries from Kemakh, who not admit control by an international commission. intended to release exalted Armenians who are still “Lord Salisbury interrupted me, saying: in the prison at Kars. “I have only to repeat to you what I have said, namely, if your Government refuse, we shall appeal to A force of 1, 000 Turkish troops was sent to the powers. We shall demand the assembling of a Kemakh, and five villages were pillaged. Five congress and apply Article 61, with an international thousand persons were rendered homeless. Men, commission. Now, I beg you to understand that if your women, and children were tortured. Four Government continue further opposition, this will be monasteries were sacked. the signal for the dismemberment of Turkey.” It is reported that the Turkish minor officials “Tears come to my eyes, and I feel overcome. I am telegraphing to you an account of this painful have formed an anti-Christian society to slaughter interview.” — “RUSTEM PASHA.” Christians if the Porte accepts the scheme of

The Post will also publish a dispatch from reforms the powers insist upon. Constantinople saying that the demand of Great Britain, France, and Russia that they be represented on the permanent committee controlling the execution of reforms in causes the Sultan much concern. He prefers to accept the original scheme of reforms proposed by the powers. He has given greater latitude to the Grand Vizier in order to facilitate his efforts to arrive at a settlement of the pending questions.

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

WEDNESDAY APRIL 21, 1909

MOSLEM MASSACRES TAKE 5,000 LIVES The commander of the vessel applied to the

Governor of the district for permission to land a Fresh Outbreaks Reported at relief party, but the permission was refused. There appears to have been a preconceived Marash and Hadjin, and in Vicinity plan for the extermination of the Armenians of Alexandretta throughout , directed by some occult influence in the capital. People of position here, says the dispatch, were duly forewarned weeks ago, and TURKS BLAME ARMENIANS great indignation is expressed at the callousness and incredulity of Europe. The Foreign Office, replying to an inquiry Turkish Governor Refuses to Allow Party made by Ambassador Laishman regarding the to Land from British Warship to Relieve killing at of the American missionaries Armenian Village. Rogers and Maurer, says it appears that the two men came to their death at the hands of Armenians who were firing from their dwellings near where Foreign Office Says They Killed Rogers and the missionaries were he lping to put out a fire in the Maurer While the American Missionaries house of a Turkish widow. The foreign Office puts the entire blame for the killing of the missionaries Were Fighting a Fire . on the Armenians.

CONSTANTINOPLE, April 20.-No less than 5,000 BEIRUT, Syria, April 20. - Moslem fanaticism persons lost their lives in the massacres that have been has broken out in the immediate vicinity of going on in the of Adana during the last eight days Alexandretta, and great excitement prevails in that as a result of the outbreak of Moslem fanaticism. Of the district. total 2,000 were killed in the City of Adana, and of this Houses in flames can be seen from the streets number more than 200 were Moslems. This information of Alexandretta. was received in Constantinople this morning through Consular channels. LARNACA, Cyprus, April 20.- Advices received Adana at present is quiet, but there have been renewed here from Adana by way of Latakia, Syria, state attacks on Christians at Marash in the vilayet of Aleppo, that massacres began in the markets at Adana on about eighty miles northeast of Alexandretta. The Wednesday morning. The Armenians retired to Consular advices describe the situation as extremely their own quarters and resisted for forty-eight precarious. The excitement at the port of Alexandretta is hours. The Christian bazaars were looted and intense, although the presence of the British cruiser Diana burned. For several days the villagers came in from at that port is expected to have a tranquilizing effect.. the surrounding country in hordes. They were Disturbances are reported from Hadjin, in the armed by the authoritie s, who pretend to regard northern extremity of the Adana vilayet, where a large them as military reserves. Armenian community is counted upon to defend itself Women and children were horribly mutilated. vigorously. The missionaries, Rogers and Mauer, were shot A special dispatch from Mersina says that massacre dead while fighting the fire. The massacres then and pillage continue in the interior, and that the spread to Tarsus and other places. The whole authorities are either indifferent or are conniving in the district is in a shocking condition. Thousands are slaughter. The British warship which sailed to relieve homeless and famine is imminent. The 4,000 Deurtyul, an Armenian village on the coast, returned to refugees in the yard of the American College are in Alexandretta to-day without having accomplished a pitiable condition. Provision, clothing, and anything. physicians are urgently needed.

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1909

Arab lines at night and made his way to Aleppo for help, the situation there is hopeless. The AMERICAN WOMEN buildings on the edge of the town already were in flames when he escaped. There have been IN PERIL AT HADJIN massacre and pillage at Antioch, and rioting at Birejik. Aleppo is in a state of panic. There are only 400 soldiers in the city. Five Missionaries, Entirely Business is at a standstill, and there is every reason to fear a serious outbreak. The city is full Defenseless, Send Out Appeal of Bedouin Arabs, Kurds, and Circassians.

for Immediate Aid. Released Murderers Join Mob.

At Ayas, on the west coast of the Gulf of Alexandretta, 418 murderers have been released ANOTHER TOWN WIPED OUT from prison. They at once joined the mob and

began committing depredations. Entire Population of Kirikan Massacred. At Tarsus 100 persons have been killed, 800 Fire and Pillage Throughout District houses have been burned, and there are today Outbreak Due to Fall of Young Turks. 5,000 persons without homes.

Several native pastors from Aintab were killed while on their way to attend the district BEIRUT, April 22.- Five American women 1 missionary meeting at Adana. missionaries are in danger at Hadjin, in the vilayet of The massacres are being carried out with Adana, Asiatic Turkey. One of them, Miss Lambert, ferocity. Neither women nor children are spared. has sent a message down to the coast asking for The motto of the Moslems is, “No twig of the immediate help. The message is dated April 22, and accursed race shall be suffered to live.” says: The Armenians, recognizing that the “Hadjin has been surrounded for a week by the massacres have been organized and carried out villagers of this district, who are awaiting the by adherents of the Old Turkish regime are opportunity to storm the place. All roads are closed, looking to the Young Turks for future protection. and shots are being fired into the town irregularly. The The Turkish Government officials at Mersina dwellings on the outskirts have been burned. The have done everything possible to check the authorities at Adana have been appealed to for aid, trouble. The result of their efforts has been very which has not been sent. A rumor from the outside says limited, but in spite of this they deserve praise for that an assault will be made on this place to-night”. their work. The women are entirely alone and defenseless. The villages surrounding Hadjin are in flames, and Hadjin itself is invested by nomad tribesmen. Messages from the interior are being suppressed by the authorities. 1 The situation in the country north, east, and west Among these five women missionaries was of Alexandretta, arising from the anti-Christian Rose Lambert, an American missionary with outbreaks, is most serious. The entire population of the United Orphanage and Mission Society, Kirikan, between Aleppo and Alexandretta, stationed in Hadjin. For an extensive eyewitness massacred, not even young babies being spared. account of the massacre of the Hadjin The French mission at Ekbaz is besieged by Armenians see her book “Hadjin and the fanatical Moslems. Armenian Massacres,” Fleming H. Revell The Armenian village of Deurtyul is surrounded, Company, Pub. London. 1911. and according to a messenger who crawled through the

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian, 2005

MARCH 20, 1915 (4:3) WHOLE PLAIN STREWN BY ARMENIAN BODIES

Turks and Kurds Reported to have Massacred Men, Women and Children.

London, March 19. — Appalling accounts of conditions in Armenia have reached the officials in London of the Armenian Red Cross Fund and have been given out by them. The latest recital is from an Armenian doctor named Derderian, who says that the whole plain of Alashgerd is virtually covered with the bodies of men, women, and children. When the Russian forces retreated from this district the Kurds fell upon the helpless people and shut them up in mosques. The men were killed and the women were carried away to the mountains. The organizers of the Red Cross Fund say there are 120,000 destitute Armenians now in the Caucasus.

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

April 28, 1915 (2:1)

presence of Russian troops in Persia was APPEAL TO TURKEY explained. The Foreign Minister said:

TO STOP MASSACRES “The presence of our troops in Persian territory by no means involves a violation of Persian

neutrality. Our detachments were sent to that Ambassador Morgenthau In- country some years ago for the definite purpose of establishing and maintaining order in structed to Make Representa- districts contiguous to our possessions, of high economic importance to us, also to prevent the tions on Request of Russia. seizure of some of these districts by the Turks, who openly strove to create for themselves

there, especially in the district of Urumiah, a WASHINGTON, APRIL 27. — An appeal for convenient base for military operations against relief of Armenian Christians in Turkey, following the Caucasus. The Persian Government, not reported massacres and threatened further having the actual power to maintain its outrages, was made to the Turkish Government neutrality, met the Turkish violation of the today by the United States. latter with protests, which, however, had no e Russian Acting upon the request of th results. Government, submitted through Ambassador Bakhmeteff, Secretary Bryan cabled to Ambassador Morgenthau at Constantinople to make representations to the Turkish authorities asking that steps be taken for the protection of imperiled Armenians and to prevent the recurrence of religious outbreaks. Ambassador Bakhmeteff Called at the State Department late today with a dispatch from his Government, which included an appeal to the President of the United States for aid, forwarded through the Russian Government from the Catholicos of the Armenian Church at Etchmiadzin, in the Caucasus. “The request from the head of the Armenian Church to this Government, forwarded through the Russian Ambassador,” said Secretary Bryan, “is the first official notice the department has received of the reported Armenian massacres. Our action was taken as a matter of humanity.” The Russian Embassy today gave out a translation of a recent speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Duma, in which the

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian, 2005

SEPTEMBER 24, 1915 (2:3)

deportation of all Armenians, but some time ago, after representations had been made 500,000 ARMENIANS by Morgenthau, the Ottoman Government gave assurances that the order would be modified so as not to embrace Catholic and Protestant Armenians. SAID TO HAVE PERISHED Reports reaching Washington indicate that about 500,000 Armenians have been slaughtered or lost their lives as a result of the Turkish deportation order and the resulting war of extinction. Turkish Washington Asked to Stop authorities drove the Gregorian Armenians out of their homes, ordered them to proceed to distant Slaughter of Christians by towns in the direction of Bagdad, which could only be reached by crossing long stretches of desert. Turks and Kurds. During the exodus of Armenians across the deserts

they have been fallen upon by Kurds and Special to The New York Times. slaughtered, but some of the Armenian women and girls, in considerable numbers, have been carried WASHINGTON, Sept.23.¾Charles R. Crane off into captivity by the Kurds. The reports that of Chicago, a Director of Roberts College, have been sent to the State Department by its Constantinople, and James L. Burton of Boston, agents in Asia Minor fully confirm these statements Foreign Secretary of the American Board of made in the appeal sent to this country by Viscount Commissioners for Foreign Missions, visited the Bryce, formerly the British Ambassador to the State Department today and conferred with Acting United States, to try to stop the slaughter of the Secretary of State Polk and other officials Armenians. Viscount Bryce stated that the horrors regarding the slaughter of Armenians by Turks through which the Armenians have passed have and Kurds in Asia Minor. They will attend a been unparalleled in modern times. meeting of a general committee, to be held in New York within a few days, to devise a plan for Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES appealing to the American people for funds and aid for as many of the unfortunate Armenians as can ALEXANDRIA, Sept. 23, (Dispatch to The be helped. London Morning Post.) ¾ British refugees from

It was learned, in connection with the Urfa, who arrived in Alexandria yesterday, conferences held here today, that general brought terrible tales of sufferings of interned representations have from time to time been made allied subjects. They were not supplied with food, to the Ottoman Government by Ambassador furniture, or servants, and were housed in an Morgenthau for humane treatment of Armenians. Armenian monastery the monks in which had Despite these representations, the slaughter of been massacred. Armenians has continued. They witnessed the Armenian massacres of The records of the State Department are replete Aug. 19. Urfa was the centre of ghastly scenes. with detailed reports from American Consular The Turks systematically murdered men and officers in Asia Minor, which give harrowing tales turned women and children out into the desert, of the treatment of the Armenian Christians by the where thousands perished of starvation. Turks and the Kurds. These reports have not been The last batch of women and children left Urfa made public. They indicate that the Turk has on Aug. 24. They were delayed a fortnight at undertaken a war of extermination on Armenians, Alexandretta, awaiting a ship in filthy quarters especially those of the Gregorian Church, to which and half starved. They finally embarked for about 90 percent of the Armenians belong. The Alexandria in an American warship. Turkish Government originally ordered the

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

THURSDAY OCTOBER 7, 1915 (3:5)

ALREADY HAS $75,000 About June 20 he was taken out toward Diarbekir and murdered in a general massacre on the road. "Professor Natigian who had studied at Ann Arbor, was arrested about June 5 and shared TO HELP ARMENIANS Professor Tenekejian's fate on the road.

"Professor Vorperian, a Princeton man, was taken to see a man beaten almost to death and became Rockefeller Foundation Leads deranged. He started into exile under guard with his family, about July 5, and was murdered beyond Donations to American Com- Malatia. "Professor Boojicanian, an Edinburgh graduate, was arrested with Professor Tenekejian, suffered the mittee with $30,000. same tortures, and in addition had three finger nails pulled out by the roots, and was killed in the same The Rockefeller Foundation contributed $30,000 massacre. yesterday to the fund being raised to aid the Armenians "Of the male instructors four were killed on the who are being driven from their homes by the Turkish road in various massacres, and three who have not Government. This brings the amount already collected up been heard from probably suffered the same fate. to $75,000. Two are sick in the American Hospital; one is in In connection with its appeal for funds to aid the hiding, and two are free. victims of Turkish abuses, issued on Monday, the "Of the female instructors one is reported killed in American Committee on Atrocities in Armenia, from its Chunkoosh, one reported taken to a Turkish harem; offices at 70 Fifth Avenue, made public yesterday letters three have not been heard from; four others started received in New York within the last two or three days out into exile, and ten are free. detailing the reported misdeeds of the Turkish authorities "Of the Armenian people as a whole we may put in their treatment of the Armenians. In giving out the new an estimate that three-fourths are gone, and that this reports, Professor Samuel T. Dutton of the committee said: three-fourths include the leaders in every walk of life." "We assume that a large number of the Turkish people Charles R. Crane, Treasurer of the Committee, are not unfriendly to the Armenians; in fact we know of has just received the following communication from many specific instances where individual Turks protested the State Department: against the outrages, and American missionaries highly “In reply to the telegram sent to the American esteem many of the Turks, particularly of the higher class. Ambassador at Constantinople at your request on Sept. 22, This movement is dominated from the centre." inquiring whether he could advantageously use $50,000 or Included among the new details is a long letter from an $100,000 at the present time for the relief of Armenians in officer of Euphrates College, The American institution at Turkey, the Department has received a telegram from Mr. Harput, which had 600 students before the present Morgenthau, dated Sept. 24, in which he states that he could persecutions began. most advantageously use $100.000 for the purpose

American College Nearly Wiped Out. mentioned; and that while such a sum, carefully administered, would make a good start, it would not suffice. "Approximately two-thirds of the girl pupils," he The Ambassador states that the money received would says, "and six-sevenths of the boys have been taken away be distributed through missionaries at Konitsa, Adana, to death, exile, or Moslem homes. Of our professors four Tarsus, and Ourfa, and through the American Consul at are gone and three are left. Aleppo; and that the condition at present is simply "Professor Tenekejian, who was the Protestant appalling.” Mr. Morgenthau closes his telegram as follows: Azbaked and representative of the Americans with the "I implore my friends to do their utmost to assist liberally." Government, was arrested on May 1. No charge was Public meetings will be held in New York and made against him, but the hair of his head, mustache and elsewhere, following the example of the meeting beard was pulled out in a vain effort to secure damaging announced in London, which is to be addressed by confessions. He was starved and hung by the arms for a Lord Bryce, Contributions may be sent to Charles R. day and a night and was severely beaten several times. Crane, Treasurer, and 70 Fifth Avenue.

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

NOVEMBER 1, 1915 (4:2)

on the road for nearly two months, with no change of clothing, no chance to bathe, no shelter, and little to AID FOR ARMENIANS eat. I watched them one time when their food was brought. Wild animals could not be worse. They rushed upon the guards who carried the food and the BLOCKED BY TURKEY guards beat them back with clubs, hitting hard enough to kill sometimes. To watch them one could hardly believe these people to be human beings. As Attempts to Send Food to Refu- one walks through the camp, mothers offer their children and beg you to take them. In fact, the Turks gees Frustrated, Says the have been taking their choice of these children and American Committee. girls for slaves or worse. There are very few men among them as most of the men were killed on the road. Women and children were also killed. The

entire movement seems to be the most thoroughly PUTS VICTIMS AT 1,000,000 organized and effective massacre this country has ever seen.” “They all agree,” adds the committee, referring to Careful Survey Shows 55,000 Per- the reports,” as to the method of procedure, the thoroughness and cruelty of the destructive work, sons Killed in the Vilayet and the confessed purpose of the plan to wipe out the Armenian nation. The fact that the central of Van Alone. government at Constantinople refuses to permit

Armenians to leave their country is further evidence The American Committee on Armenian Atrocities, of their purpose of extermination. among the members of which are Cardinal Gibbons, “The Turks do not deny the atrocities, but claim Cleveland H. Dodge, Bishop David H. Greer, Oscar S. they are a military measure to protect them against a Straus, Professor Samuel T. Dutton, Charles R. Crane, possible attack of a race that is disloyal. and many other prominent citizens, issued a statement “It is impossible to estimate how many have yesterday in which it was said that authentic reports already perished. A careful survey in the from Turkey proved that the war of extermination gathered the names of 55,000 persons who had been being waged against the Armenians was so terrible that killed. Others were able to escape by flight to Persia when all the facts were known the world would realize and Russia. An eyewitness who has recently made an that what had been done was “the greatest, most extended journey across Asia Minor saw over 50,000 pathetic, and most arbitrary tragedy in history.” poor, dazed, helpless, starving refugees camped by the Attempts to furnish food to the Armenians ordered roadside in a region almost desert, with no provision for their food supply. Probably it is not an deported to distant parts of the empire were blocked by overestimate to say that 1,000,000 of the possible the Turkish authorities, the committee said, the Turkish 2.000,000 Armenians in Turkey at the beginning of officials stating that “they wished nothing to be done the war are either dead or in Moslem harems, or that would prolong their lives.” forced to profess Mohammedanism, or are on their In the statement the committee makes public a sad journey to the desert and death.” report received a few days ago from an official The committee says it has cabled $106,000 to representative of the neutral powers, who, reporting on Ambassador Morgenthau at Constantinople, of which conditions in one of the Armenian camps, says: $100,000 was for relief of Armenians in Turkey, and “I have visited their encampment and a more the remainder for Armenians who had escaped into pitiable sight cannot be imagined. They are, almost Egypt. The office of the committee, of which Mr. without exception, ragged, hungry and sick. This is not Crane is Treasurer, is at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York. surprising in view of the fact that they have been

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1915 (3:2)

THOUSANDS PROTEST

Whereas, Those Armenians who survive are in great need of succor and relief, be it hereby ARMENIAN MURDERS Resolved, That as American citizens, we make our most solemn protest against these cruel and inhuman practices and implore all officials and Only One Man and One woman others having influence in the Turkish Empire, to Dissent from Resolutions put an end to these wrongs and to render every aid to the American Ambassador and others who Denouncing Outrages. would rescue and repatriate a people, who, by their history and achievements have been a credit to the empire,

TURKS HAVE KILLED 500,000 Resolved, Further, That war, whereof and by whatsoever nation waged, affords no warrant for inhumanity toward innocent persons. The Evidence taken from State Depart- slaughter of noncombatant men, the tortures, mutilations, and outrages committed upon ment Shows A Quarter of a Million women and children wherever committed have Women Violated. given to the fairest places upon the earth the semblance of hell. In the name of the God of A great audience that packed the Century Theater, Nations and our common humanity, we call upon Central Park West and Sixty-Second Street, yesterday the nations at war to cease these crimes against afternoon, had just acclaimed its approval of a resolution civilization and morality. deploring the atrocities committed against the Armenians by the Turks, when a man, who said his name was Brown, Father Wynn seconded the resolutions and Mr. Holt arose and demanded a chance to discuss the resolutions. had put them up for approval when Brown arose, red A woman, who said she was Mrs. Brooks, shouted with excitement. encouragement to the disturber and demanded that he be Several men hurried to the disturber and started him heard. He was forcibly ejected from the theater, but in a down the aisle. Mrs. Brooks then demanded that the few minutes was back, angrily demanding to have his say. man be heard and followed those who were ejecting The meeting, held to condemn atrocities in Armenia, was him. under the auspices of a committee of prominent Americans The audience was on its feet, as were those on the and well-known Armenians. Hamilton Holt, editor of The stage, among the latter, Mgr. Lavelle, who represented Independent, presided, and the speakers were the Rev. Dr. Cardinal Farley; Charles R. Crane, of Chicago, the Rev. James L. Barton of the American Board of Commissioners Dr. H. P. Mendes, Professor William W. Rockwell, for Foreign Missions., Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the Rev. Professor Samuel P. Dutton, and a score of other Father John J. Wynne, S.J., editor of the Catholic prominent men. Encyclopedia, W. Bourke Cockran, the Rev. Dr. Ernest Angrily denouncing his ejectors and struggling every Yarrow of Van, Turkey, and Rev. William J. Haven. inch of the way the man was forced from the theatre. “This meeting,” said Mr. Holt in his opening address, The resolutions adopted read as follows: “is called for the purpose of deploring the greatest

Whereas, the civilized world has been shocked by a hecatomb known to history. The massacres now being series of massacres and deportations of perpetrated in Turkey are the most atrocious in the Armenians in the Turkish Empire; and history of the world, and if they are to stop we must

Whereas, These crimes and outrages committed upon prevail upon Christian Germany, who alone can save an industrious, thrifty, and peace-loving people, find no the Armenians. The appeal may not be listened to in justification, viewed either in the light of law or humanity; Constantinople, but it can be heard in Berlin.” and

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

THOUSANDS PROTEST ARMENIAN MURDERS (cont’d)

Dr. Barton was the first speaker. “We are here,” he He said that Germany and Austria could do said, “to consider facts that bear upon the Armenian much toward ending the Armenian atrocities, situation in the Turkish Empire, facts from which we cannot and if they did not do so, he said those nations escape.” may find that “certain victories are more Referring to the report made by the Armenian disastrous than any defeats.” Atrocities Committee, Dr. Barton said the disclosures were “If the Germans would alienate the good for the most part taken from official documents in the State will of those who still remain neutral,” he said, Department at Washington. “let them say to the Turks: ‘Not one more “The committee,” he said, “took steps to get only facts, drop of blood must be shed.’ ” and went to Washington and examined the official reports In all the seats were petitions, with to the State Department. They ask why we did not publish blanks for signatures, addressed to the Kaiser the names of the persons who made the reports. The and the people of Germany, imploring them to reason is obvious. One of the laws of Turkey is retaliation. use their good offices to end the atrocities in One of our Consuls asked that his name be withheld Armenia. because he would have to quit his post if his name became known,” Dr. Barton held up a great mass of papers, all copies of official reports to the State Department. Excerpts were read telling of terrible tortures, in the thousands of instances causing death. Dr. Barton read a statement by a well-known Armenian, a graduate of an American university, just arrived in this country. He told of the fate of 1,215 men. These men were herded together and then in groups of twenty-five were sent away “by order of the Government and all of them brutally slain.” The executioners, he said, were Turkish gendarmes and murderers and other criminals freed from jails to assist in the killing of Armenians. “The reward of these murderers,” said the statement, “was the money and valuables found on the bodies of their victims. One of these men boasted that he had killed off fifty in one night and that he got 150 pounds in Turkish money for his night’s work.” Bourke Cockran said he had been informed that between 500,000 and 800,000 Armenians had been massacred and that 250,000 women and girls had been outraged. The problem of Armenia, Mr. Cockran said, is the problem of the Cuba of 1898 aggravated a million times. Rabbi Wise was the last speaker. He was present, he said, not as an opponent of Turkey, nor as a champion of Armenia, but to protest against inhumanity, whether committed by Germans against Belgians, by Russians against Jews, or by Turks against Armenians.

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005

Nov 12,1916 (I,18:1,1)

Mohammedans Moved to Tears.

ARMENIAN HORRORS "'Cultured, sympathetic Mohammedans, Turks as well as Arabs, shake their heads disapprovingly, yes, they do not even SEEN BY GERMANS try to hide their tears when they see these poor deported people traveling through a city, being beaten by the soldiers. They cannot believe that their Government countenances Documents in Possession of the these outrages, and try to blame the German Government for the atrocities which we know Turkish soldiers have French Government Give performed. Even the Mullahs in their mosques say that not the Details of Atrocities. Turkish but the German Government ordered these abuses and annihilation. " 'The things which one has witnessed he re for months will remain a blot on the scutcheon of Germany in the memory of TURKS BLAME IT ON BERLIN the Orientals. " 'We know that the Embassy in Constantinople, through the Consulate, has heard of all these things, but since the German Nurses, Nuns, and Consuls deportation rules have not been altered, we cons cientiously Testify to the Sufferings of believe that it is our duty to issue this report. "'At the time of writing this report Consul General Thousands of Victims Hoffmann succeeded the former representative to Aleppo. Consul Hoffmann told me that the German Embassy was time and again advised by the Cons ulates in Alexandretta, The French Government has come into possession of a Aleppo, and Mossul of the things which were occurring. number of documents, in every instance written by a German or a Consul Hoffmann took pictures of the people who were Turk, in which the writers, among them German Consuls in opposite the school and was interested in what I had to tell Turkey, German soldiers, teachers, sisters of charity, and civilians, him of conditions there. resident, or until within a year resident, in Turkey tell of the " 'The German Consul at Mossul told in my presence in the atrocities committed against the non-Turkish population of the German Club at Aleppo, that on the way from Mossul to Turkish Empire. Copies of these documents have been received by Aleppo he had in many places seen such quantities of chopped the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, and off hands of little children that the streets might have been constitute, it is stated by the committee, the first accounts of the paved with them. At the German Hospital in Urfa there is a atrocities committed in Turkey which have been received ni the little girl whose two hands have been chopped off. United States from German sources. " " 'We refuse to admit that German Consuls organized The "absolute dependability of the documents and the stories the massacres. The belief of the Turkish people that we they tell, the American Committee states, have been vouched for. In organized them will not be refuted unless German officers all instances but one the names of the authors of the documents are and diplomats work energetically to disprove what is now withheld for "reasons of obvious prudence." The names, however, believed.'" are known to the committee and are to be found in the French Others of the accounts report sentiments similar to these. Government archives in Paris. One Turkish soldier is quoted as reflecting the feelings of his Here follow translations of some of these documents which fellows: "This time Germany has given these unbelieving pigs were made public by the American Committee for Armenian and a lesson they won't forget." The same writer reports that after Syrian Relief, 1 Madison Avenue, yesterday: " " thirty-four Armenians, among them 12-year-old boys, had "Dr. Martin Niepage, the statement reads, who is a professor been shot in Marash, crowds paraded to the German Hospital, in a German high school in Turkey, is the author of the document crying, "Three cheers for Germany." whose name may be published. His letter is in the possession of the "A German-speaking Turkish Major," says the same French Government. writer, "complained, 'The General of the staff is a German, He says: and so many Germans are in our army! Our Koran does not "'The cultured Moslems are under the impression that allow such treatment as the Armenians are now receiving.'" although the German people disapprove of this outrage the German Government will not interfere on account of consideration for their Turkish confederates.

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, 1 By Richard Diran Kloian, 2005

Nov 12,1916 (I,18:1,1)

What German Nurses Saw. some of them were taken into a mosque and empty houses and then locked in; there they were compelled to remain for three German nurses write: "Refugees were driven past our house. days without nourishment and without water, then they were The procession was a huge mass, but with only two or three men; driven into a nearby valley, stood up against a rock and shot; the remainder were women and children. Many cried like mad some were killed with bayonets and knives. No crime was ' women. They screamed, Save us, save us! We are willing to charged against any of them; there was not even a pretense of a become Moslems or Germans or whatever you want us to charge. become, only save us! We are to be taken to Kemagh-Boghosy to "On the tenth of July there was a new massacre of several '" be beheaded! hundred in a city two hours' distant. The same things were Extracts from a German Consular report of July 11, 1915, happening all around; 300 were killed in Etschme and Ihabar. tell of the beginning of the deportation from Charput (Harput) of "Later the Government permitted the families whose men the Armenians. were gone to remain in the city. All men were compelled to go. "On the 11th," says the report, a proclamation was issued The proposition of the Americans --that the children whose that all Armenians without exception were to leave the city. parents were dead be put in an orphanage–was immediately "During the first days of July one saw in Erzerum and rejected, with the answer that the Government would take care Erzingan the first shift arriving, ragged, dirty, starved, ill. They of the m." had been on the way two months, almost without nourishment, The letters of two German nuns who were nurses in without water. They were given hay to eat like the animals; they Erzingan say in part: were so hungry that they threw themselves at it like animals, but "The personnel of the Red Cross were forbidden all they were forced back with sticks, and several were killed in this association with the Armenians, and all further walks and rides way. Mothers offered their children to any who would accept were forbidden for the reason that 'a shot might take the wrong them. The Turks sent physicians to the young girls to question direction.' them in regard to their health and to pick out the prettiest for their "The Armenians had a few days in which to sell their harems. After the sentence of these unfortunates most of the belongings, which, of course, brought ridiculously low prices. remainder were killed by Kurds, many died of hunger and ex- On the 11th of June the first transport started; we heard they haustion. were people in comfortable circumstances who were in a "Two days later the arrival of a new shift. Among these position to rent wagons. They are supposed to have arrived at were three sisters, who spoke English and belonged to one of the Harput; at least a telegram to that effect was received. On the wealthiest families in Erzerum. Of 25 of the family, 11 had been three following days further transports left. It was said that killed en route. The husband of one of them and her old many children had been taken in by the families of Moslems. grandmother had been killed by the Kurds before her eyes. A Later we were told that these, too, had been sent away. The boy of 8 years was the oldest 'man' among them. When they left Armenians in our hospital were also compelled to go, even to a Erzerum they took horses, money, and baggage with them. woman who was ill with typhus. Even the plea of the physician Everything had been taken from them on the way, even their who was attending her, (Dr. Neukirch) was of no avail, only clothes--one of them was entirely naked the other two had a shirt. that she was allowe d to remain in the hospital two days longer. In one of the villages the gendarme had given them some clothing "One of the soldiers with us who was acting as shoemaker of the inhabitants. lamented mostly over his year-and-a-half old baby girl. 'You "The daughter of the Protestant minister of Erzerum was never saw such a pretty child,' he said. 'It has eyes as large as there, her entire family had been killed by Kurds, first the men plates. If I could but crawl like a snake I would follow her.' He and then the women and children. Everything was well cried like a baby. The next day the man came quietly and said: organized, as at all previous massacres. 'Now I know it; they are all dead.' It was only too true. Our “In Harput the deportation started by taking the men into Turkish cook told us through her tears how the Turks in custody. There were several thousand of them. They were at first Kemagh Boghasy attacked the defenceless mass, plundered taken into the nearby mountains. Among them were the them, and killed many. Armenian Prelate, professors of the Armenian college and the "Two young Armenian teachers who had been educated in highest officials of the city, also all Armenian soldiers, and those the college at Harput, and who were among the refugees, told who were in service but were exempt from duty. They were told how they had been taken under crossfire by Kurds and under that all that were led to the mountains would be killed. the half-regular troops of a certain Talaat. They threw themselves on the floor and feigned death and afterward they Shot in Groups of Fourteen. were able by taking a roundabout way to reach Erzingan. They

"In the morning of the fifth of July some more were taken, and gave money to all the Kurds they passed. One teacher was ' at 6 o'clock they were to be found in the deserts. There they were accompanied by her betrothed, who was disguised in woman s bound together in groups of fourteen–this was the limit that the attire. When they reached the city a gendarme wanted to take rope could hold and then they were shot. In a neighboring village

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, 2 By Richard Diran Kloian, 2005

Nov 12,1916 (I,18:1,1)

the girl as his wife. When her fiance protested he was shot down. from 3 to 14 years, who clung to us, and a little girl whom we Both of the young girls become Mohammedans. They bade us, put in the care of our Turkish cook. She wanted to put her, through a young physician who was visiting an Armenian patient in as an assistant, into the house of — until such time as we our hospital, take them to Harput. One girl wrote: If she had but could take her, but one Riza Bey's deputies hit the woman poison to take! Of the fate of the other she could say nothing–it was and threw the child down. With a pitiful wail the mass too dreadful. continued on its sorrowful way, and we returned to the hospital with our charges. N— gave us permission to keep Too Horrified to Shoot. the children in our room until we had packed our belongings. "On the following day we heard the soldiers tell how they threw the 'Now we are saved!' they cried, when we had taken them, women on their knees and threw the children into the Euphrates. 'It and would not let go of our hands. The youngest one, the son was awful', a young soldier said; 'I could not shoot. I only made of a rich man in Baiburt, a little fellow whose face was believe.' In fact we often heard the Turks express their pity and swollen from crying, and who had been hiding in his sympathy. The people said that wagons were ready to take the mother's coat, could not be consoled. Once he rushed to the corpses to the river. window, and pointing at a gendarme, said: 'He killed my "From that time there was a continual stream of refugees, who father.' were all brought to the same place to be killed, as we were told by "The boys gave us their money, 475 piastres, the amount many people. Our Greek coachman told us that the condemned had their father had given them, in the hope that it would not be their hands tied and we re then thrown into the river from a high sought for in this way. We rode to the city in order to get a rock. permit for the boys. We were told that the high court was in "Sister X. and I discussed the problem of helping these people, and session to decide the fate of the refugees. Sister X---- was able came to the conclusion that the best way would be to follow an to speak with an acquaintance who allowed us to take the expedition to Harput. We did not know at that time that the boys along, and who offered to give them different names for persecution had been ordered by the Government, and hoped to be the journey. Greatly pleased, we rode back, and in the able to stop the abuses of the gendarmes and also the attacks of the evening, with the bag and baggage and the boys, we went to a hotel in Erzingan. Kurds as we knew their language and had some influence with them." Stole Money of Dead Boys. Referring to an unnamed German official the nuns say: "He did not believe that the atrocities had been ordered by “We left them there and went to the 'Muttessarif,' whom the Government, but allowed himself to be convinced by the lies of the we had not as yet met. He looked like the living devil, and his officials that everything was in perfect peace. looks did not belie his manner. With a voice of thunder he "On the same evening, while the German physicians were at a screamed at us, 'Women should stay out of politics and garden feast which a Turkish official was giving in appreciation of his respect the Government!' We told him that we had acted recovery, a gendarme met us and told us that ten minutes' distant that way, and that this matter had nothing to do with politics. from the place a train of refugees was halting. He told us in a horrified He would not listen to us, and forbade our going to Harput way how the men had been killed, one after the other. 'Kess, Kess, for our belongings, but he said he would send us to Sivas. geliorlar!' (Kill them! Kill them! They are coming!) How the women And, hardest of all, he would not allow us to take the boys, were abused wherever they arrived, how the little children had their but immediately dispatched a gendarme to take them out of skulls crushed when they cried or said they were tired. " 'I had three our room. We passed them on our return trip, but they we re corpses of women buried in order to do something good.' In this taken away so quickly that we were not able to give them manner he concluded his gruesome tale. back their money. We later asked Y. to attend to this matter, “On the following morning we heard how the refugees were being but in order to get to them he had to ask a Turkish officer. driven past our house, on their way to Erzingan. We ran after them We later learned that they were dead, and soon after that and accompanied them to the city, a distance of about one hour. Some Riza Bey sent a soldier for the money, saying he wanted to remained silent and tramped along patiently with their few give it to the boys. belongings on their backs, holding their children by the hand. Others "On the way to Sivas, on the first two days we saw begged us to save their children. Many Turks came and took children fifteen corpses lying on the road, among them a woman. and young girls without permission of the parents. There was no time This body was dressed; the other bodies were not, and on for thought; they were simply driven on and on. one the head was missing. “The entrance to the city, where the road leads to Kemagh, looked like a slave market. We ourselves took six boys, their ages ranging

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, 3 By Richard Diran Kloian, 2005

(I,18:1,1) Nov 12,1916

"With us there were two Turkish officers, who were really their own villages? Answer: 'That was the right way to do. Armenians, as our gendarme told us. They warned us in regard to They must first be made miserable, and what would we do their incognito and remained very retiring. On the fourth day they with the bodies? They would smell." were not with us, and when we inquired about them we were told "Our people told us that in the preceding night 10 that the less we worried about them the better it would be for us. Armenians had been shot, (those were the shots I had heard,) "We stopped at a Greek village. There we saw a man with a and that now the civilians were on the hunt. We saw them gun who was keeping watch. He started a conversation with us and hurrying about with guns. We saw two of the m sitting under told us how the Government had given him this post in order to kill a tree dividing the clothing of one of the unfortunates. They all passing Armenians. He had already killed 250. 'They all deserved were holding up a pair of blue trousers. We saw puddles of death: they were all anarchists, neither Liberals nor Socialists,' he blood, the corpses had been done away with. These were the said. He told the gendarme that he had received telephonic 250 of whom the man had told us. We met some of these instructions to kill both of the gentlemen who were traveling with workers, who had previously done their duty. They were us, and so they, as well as their Armenian coachman, had evidently divided into three sections. 1--Moslems, 2--Greeks, 3-- been killed. We could not keep from speaking to this murderer; but Armenians. Near the last section there were some officers. when he went away the Greek coachman warned us not to say a Our young 'Hasson' called: ‘They will all be killed.’ word, 'Or--' and he pretended to level a gun. There had evidently Lined Up to Be Slain. been a rumor spreading that we were Armenians and would meet death. “We continued on up the side of a mountain. Our "We had spent the previous night in Endere, a day's journey coachman, with his whip, pointed into the valley and we saw from Kara Hissar. As usual, an empty Armenian house was given how 400 people were being placed against the edge of a low us for the night. On the wall there was an inscription in Turkish: piece of ground. We knew what was to happen. Two days 'Our home is on the mountain top, we no longer need a room; we before we had seen the same tragedy, the bayonets of the have already drunk the draught of death; we no longer need a soldiers gleaming in the sunshine. In the Mission Hospital we judge.' On the ground floor of this house there were still some spoke with a man who had escaped with his life. One women and children, who, the gendarme told us, would be taken hundred Armenians were to be killed; 10 gendarmes used away the next day. They did not know this themselves, and were their guns. The remainder of the task was completed by uneasy about their husbands, but had not given up hope. After I Moslems with knives and stones. Ten Armenians escaped. had fallen asleep I was suddenly awakened by the report of guns in The man with whom we spoke had a dreadful wound in his the immediate vicinity. The shots followed one another in rapid neck, and suddenly became unconscious, but came to and succession, and I could plainly hear some one commanding. I knew dragged himself to Sivas in two days. immediately what had happened, and was really relieved to know "Twelve hours from Sivas we spent the night in a house that these poor people had been removed from all earthly sorrow. belonging to the Government. For a long time a gendarme sat before our door and sang continually, 'Ermeniery, hep Another Sorrowful Cortege. kesdiler!' ('The Armenians are all dead,') and in the “Several days before we had met a train of refugees, who had neighboring room there was a telephone conversation to the bidden farewell to their homes and were now on the way to same effect. Kemagh Boghasy. We had to wait a long time to allow them to "We were compelled to spend one night in an Armenian pass. Never will we forget the sight. A few men, many women, fine house where the women had just received word of the death figures, with strong features, and a few nice children, some of of their husbands. It was dreadful to hear their lamenting. them light haired and blue -eyed, who looked at one listlessly. One Without avail we tried to comfort them. 'Cannot your Kaiser little girl smiled at us, but the others looked as serious as death. help?' they screamed. Our gendarme saw our misery and But not a sound was heard. Quietly and in perfect order, many of said: 'Their screaming annoys you. I will stop it,' but listened the children on ox-carts, they passed by; some of them nodded at to us when we spoke to him and told him not to dare stop us. Most of them are now standing at the Throne of God, telling them. He seemed to enjoy showing us and telling us dreadful Him of their sorrows. One very old woman was being taken from things. He kept saying to his assistant: 'Now we are killing a donkey. She apparently could not help herself. I wonder the Armenians, then the Greeks, then the Kurds,' and I whether she was killed at once? Our hearts turned to ice. suppose he would have enjoyed saying, 'And then the "The gendarme who was accompanying us told us he had strangers.' Our poor Greek coachman had to take many an seen a caravan of 3,000 women and children who were being insult. The gendarmes would say to him, 'Look down there taken from Mama Chatun, near Erzerum, to Kemagh Boghasy. in the pit; there are some Greeks too.’ " 'All that came are dead,' he said. We asked: 'But why were they compelled to suffer so long before? Why did they not kill them in

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, 4 By Richard Diran Kloian, 2005

SATURDAY JUNE 7, 1919 (6:1)

is living today." The Rev. Paul F. B. Chappell of Nashville, Tenn., REPORTS ASIA MINOR told the correspondent of what he had seen in traveling from Port Said to Aleppo. "Poverty is most profound, although the prospects LOOKING TO AMERICA for the next harvest are good," he said. "Even at the present time the people fall dead in the streets from the effects of Turkish treatment. The Turks could not invade Syria as they invaded Armenia, but they were Bishop Fout Says That Turks, successful in preventing food from going to Syria. Starvation is wide-spread throughout the region. Syrians, and Armenians Want "Colonel Hawker, the British commander at Beirut, told me he thought it would be found that only 30 per cent. of the Armenians were living when final Her as Mandatary accounts were taken. He said the Armenians were hounded and driven over an area 1,200 square miles 70% OF ARMENIANS KILLED in extent. They were harassed by armed and mounted Turks who worked in relays.

"The Turkish plan was to take all the able bodied Rev. P.F.B. Chappell Quotes men from the community and tie them up. Then they would torture them by cutting their flesh and burning British Authority for His Figures – the wounds. Finally, they would cut off their heads in Syrians Still Starving the presence of the wives and children of the victims. The old men, women, and children were herded together and driven from place to place." ROME, June 4. (Associated Press.) —The people of A large number of photographs taken in Armenia, Syria, and Turkey are most eager that the Armenia, showing piles of skulls and skeletons and United States shall have the League of Nations mandate pictures of deformed children and tortured women for their countries, according to Bishop H. H. Fout of were shown the correspondent by the Rev. Samuel T. Indianapolis, the head of one section of the American Bartlett of Toronto, a member of the committee who Commission for Relief in the Near East. The Bishop, who penetrated into Eastern Turkey. belongs to the United Brethren, arrived in Rome today on "At Ourfa," Mr. Bartlett said, "I saw a deep well his way to the United States, accompanied by seventeen filled with skulls of dead Armenians. There must have other members of his commission. been several thousand of them. At Malatee there is a "These people," he added, "look to the United States pit containing thousands of skeletons. A little girl at in their present appalling condition. They cry out for the Sivas told us the Turks had taken her father and other United States. America is their first choice, with Great men, tied and tortured them and then killed them. Britain second. "The Turks also took all the babies in the town and "Turkey by her inhuman treatment, in my opinion, threw them into the river until it overflowed its banks. has lost the right to be entrusted with authority to rule. They let out the priests, put red-hot iron shoes on their From various estimates I have reached the conclusion feet, tied them to wagons and forced them to walk that out of the Armenian nation of 3,000,000 at the long distances. The finger and toe nails of the priests outbreak of the war, 1,000,000 were massacred. The were pulled out, and the priests finally were compelled condition of the remainder is most appalling. to say the rites over the dead, while the Turks looked "There is plenty of mute evidence in the hundreds of on and laughed and mocked. At other places they thousands of skeletons scattered throughout the Turkish pulled out the beards of the priest and tortured them Empire that the Turks sought to exterminate the until they fell dead from exhaustion. It was a tale of Armenians by systematic massacre. The Armenians were bloody butchery that we heard." driven like herded cattle from one locality to another Mr. Bartlett said that the committee traveled until they were exhausted by tortures and torments of across Central Asia Minor from Aleppo to Samsun to unbelievable character. In addition the Turks sought to Constantinople, they were the guests of Rear Admiral wipe out the clergy of Armenia. Only eight out of forty- Mark L. Bristol, the American commander in four Bishops survive, while only 10 per cent of the clergy Turkish waters, on the Destroyer 149.

From The Armenian Genocide, News Accounts from the American Press: 1915-1922, By Richard Diran Kloian 2005