CULLOM’S ARMENIAN RESOLUTION.
Mr. Cullom (Rep., Ill.) reported from the Senate committee on foreign relations the following Armenian resolution:
“Whereas, The supplementary treaty of Berlin of July 13, 1878, between the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, and Russia contains the following provisions:
“‘LXI.—The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out without further delay the ameliorations and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds. It will periodically make known the steps taken to this effect, to the powers, and will superintend their application.’
“‘LXII.—The Sublime Porte having expressed the wish to maintain the principle of religious liberty, to give it the widest scope, the contracting parties take note of this spontaneous declaration. In no part of the Ottoman Empire shall difference of religion be alleged against an individual as a ground for exclusion or incapacity as regards the discharge of civil and political rights, admission to the police service, functions and honors, and the exercise of the different professions and industries. All persons shall be admitted without distinction of religion to give evidence before the tribunals. Liberty and outward exercise of all forms of worship are assured to all, and no hindrance shall be offered either to hierarchial organization of the various communions or to their relations with their spiritual chiefs. The right of official protection by the diplomatic and consular agents of the powers in Turkey is recognized both as regards the above mentioned persons and their religious, charitable, and other establishments in the holy places;’ and,
“Whereas, The extent and object of the above cited provisions of said treaty are to place the Christian subjects of the Porte under the protection of the other signatories thereto, and to secure to such Christian subjects full liberty of religious worship and belief, the equal benefit of the laws, and all the privileges and immunities belonging to any subject of the Turkish empire; and,
“Whereas, By said treaty the Christian powers parties thereto, having established under the consent of Turkey their right to accomplish and secure the above recited objects; and,
“Whereas, The American people, in common with all Christian people everywhere, have beheld with horror the recent appalling outrages and massacres of which the Christian population of Turkey have been made the victims,
“Resolved, by the Senate of the United States, the House of Representatives concurring, That it is an imperative duty in the interests of humanity to express the earnest hope that the European concert brought about by the treaty referred to may speedily be given its just effects in such decisive measures as shall stay the hand of fanaticism and lawless violence and as shall secure to the unoffending Christians of the Turkish Empire all the rights belonging to them, both as men and as Christians and as beneficiaries of the explicit provisions of the treaty above recited.
“Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate these resolutions to the governments of Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, and Russia.
“Resolved, further, That the Senate of the United States, the House of Representatives concurring, will support the President in the most vigorous action he may take for the protection and security of American citizens in Turkey, and to obtain redress for injuries committed on the persons or property of such citizens.”
Mr. Cullom said the resolution was reported by the unanimous vote of the committee, and he desired immediate action.
Mr. Gray (Dem., Del.) said he did not anticipate any objection to the resolution, but it was of such importance that there should be time for consideration of the terms of the resolution.
Mr. Cullom acceded to this suggestion, giving notice that he would ask for action to-morrow.
On the 24th, the resolutions were brought up and Senator Cullom took the floor and spoke of the serious conditions prevailing in Turkey. He said that he was appalled by the carnival of blood prevailing. A massacre of innocence, unparalleled for ages, had been perpetrated. The evidence of the bloody enormities was given by all classes and nationalities until it was beyond the slightest doubt. A Turkish army had bayonetted, robbed, murdered and flayed alive the people of Armenia. There was no war, but a pitiless, merciless tornado of ruin, bloodshed and death. The demon of fanaticism had been let loose. There was a responsibility somewhere. It did not rest with the slavish ruler of Turkey, the Sultan. Back of this were the disputes of the countries of the European alliance, seeking their territorial advantages. These countries were responsible. The Sultan was but a puppet in their hands. It was a matter of regret and embarrassment, continued Mr. Cullom, that the policy of the United States was such as to prevent the sending of a fleet to Turkish waters to put a stop to the bloody rule prevailing. But Europe had assumed the obligation of protection to Armenia. The people of the United States were intensely interested in seeing the obligation executed and the purpose of these resolutions was to plead with the greatest earnestness for the protection of Armenia. It was amazing to people of the United States to witness this appalling slaughter and at the same time to see the indifference of the Christian powers. There was a double obligation upon England and yet nothing had been done to stay the hand of the Sultan, except by fruitless diplomatic correspondence. No event of the centuries called so loudly to the civilized world as this slaughter in Turkey, the greatest, the Senator believed, in the history of the world.
Then Senator Frye, of Maine, arose and addressing the chair began an address that electrified an audience which constantly grew until the galleries were crowded.
In the midst of his speech with intensely dramatic earnestness and thrilling effect Senator Frye cried aloud: “I would gladly have this Congress send a memorial to Russia, saying, ‘Take Armenia under your protection, and the United States will stand by you with all its power and resources.’” The words are strong but the manner and emphasis of the orator cannot be described. Every Senator upon the floor gave expression of approval. Many of them clapped their hands. The people in the galleries broke forth in prolonged applause, which the voice of the Vice President found difficulty in checking.
The scene was one of the most dramatic ever witnessed in the Senate. Again and again Senator Frye gave expression to aggressive views of a similar character, and from beginning to close of his address he received the closest attention and frequent applause. He declared that Great Britain is no friend of this country, nor of any country. Great Britain should have taken part in the suppression of the slaughters in Armenia, but she has not done so. The other countries of Europe are equally derelict.
Mr. Frye declared the United States had never given its assent to the agreement of the European powers closing the Dardanelles, and proceeded with much vigor and earnestness to say that if necessary in order to protect American citizens he would order the American ships to sail up the Dardanelles, regardless of the European alliance, and when in front of Constantinople demand the protection of our people within the Sultan’s dominions. The resolutions were adopted with great applause without a dissenting vote.
The action of our government has been energetic and effective in preserving the lives of the American missionaries in Anatolia. It has been conclusively shown that the Sultan has a considerate regard to an emphatic demand when backed by a battleship. It is a serious question whether the time has not come for the United States to rise to the higher question of privilege, and demand in the name of common humanity that the massacres shall cease and the Christian populations be protected according to the provisions of the Berlin Treaty, and the former promises of the Sublime Porte, “that no one shall be compelled to change his religion.”
The latest reports from Constantinople asserted that there have been many thousands of forced conversions to Islam and that scores of Armenians who had accepted Islam but did not live up to all its requirements with sufficient zeal to please the Turks have been put to death since the wholesale massacres have ceased.
How much longer can human nature stand the strain? What greater—greater outrages can be conceived of to rouse the Christian conscience, than have filled our ears for months? It was published in London as very important news that Sir Philip Currie was the first Ambassador invited this year to take “iftar” at the Palace. The audience lasted half an hour and was very cordial. “It is understood that the Sultan renewed his assurances regarding the execution of reforms.” Thereupon the English Government washes its hands in Pilate’s basin and rids itself of all responsibility.
If we haven’t any treaty rights in this matter in God’s name let us assert the higher law of human rights—the right of every man to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Let us declare through Congress our judgment to the Porte that the hour has come for armed interference in the cause of outraged humanity.
Mr. Chauncey M. Depew having been invited to deliver an address in Detroit, Mich., in the interest of Armenia, not being able to attend, wrote a letter to Gen. Alger, the chairman of the meeting, from which we quote as follows:
“The air is full just now of wars and rumors of wars. The fighting blood of all the peoples of all civilized countries seems to be warmed to the battle point. But, while there is a great and dangerous excitement over a boundary line in Venezuela and a filibustering expedition in South Africa, the peoples of Europe and of the United States remain unmoved and undisturbed by the burnings, sackings, slaughter and every form of savage murder and lust perpetrated upon the Christians of Armenia simply because of their adherence to the faith of Christendom. I have seen congregations weep at the presentation of the tortures and massacres of Christian martyrs under Nero and Diocletian two thousand years ago. Where are the tears for Christian men tortured and killed, Christian women outraged and slain, Christian children tossed upon the bayonets of a savage soldiery yesterday, last week and last month, with the frightful assurance that they will continue to be slaughtered and outraged and tortured and tossed upon bayonets to-morrow, the day after and next month and for months to come?
“Much as I believe in peace and its blessings, much as I detest war and its horrors, much as I feel that great provocations and the most imminent dangers to the liberty or the existence of the territories or the safety of the citizens of the country will justify an appeal to the arbitrament of arms, nevertheless I do feel that by a concert of action of Christian nations, of which the United States should be one, such a presentation should be made to the Sultan and his advisers as would stop these horrors and save our Christian brethren.”
The case of Rev. Mr. Knapp, of Bitlis, who is to be sent to Constantinople for trial on the charge of sedition, will afford a splendid occasion for a naval display. Let the question be opened up whether these treaty obligations of the Porte mean anything outside the reach of a warship. How can we maintain our traditions as the friend of the oppressed and downtrodden of earth if we let the brutal fanatical Sultan riot still in plunder, lust and blood?
Did we care for the poor manacled negro undergoing the horrors of the Middle Passage? Did we have any interest in healing “the open sore of the world?” Did we once have spirit enough to demand of the Bey of Algiers the release of all Christian slaves, the abandonment of the piracy he had practiced for years, and compel him to forego the tribute exacted from all nations?
And have we no voice, no heart, no sympathy, no power to demand that the Sultan shall stop his awful carnage of blood and prove before the bar of all Christendom by what right he any longer shall reign?
We can do this because the Eastern Question does not exist for us. Higher questions of humanity demand the first consideration. We can interfere in defence of the lives and property of Christians in Turkey without violating the Monroe Doctrine and would merit the gratitude of Europe and the world, if the final decision should be that the Sultan had forfeited by the slaughter of one hundred thousand men, women and children with the fiendish accompaniments of outrage, violation, torture, all right to be treated as anything else than an enemy of humanity, and a wild beast to be caged and gazed upon with execration and horror.
Are not the lives and happiness of a half million Armenians left homeless and penniless and who still tremble with fear and terror at the sight of their relentless foes of more consequence than the boundary line of Venezuela? And yet for the location of an imaginary line the President’s message came perilously near being a threat of war.
Had the President written as strong a message as that to the Sultan in November or December, 1895, and sent it with an escort of three battleships under the Stars and Stripes (stars for heroes, stripes for tyrants) demanding that the massacres cease at once or Yildiz Palace would be bombarded, the telegraph wires might have melted under the hot haste with which every Governor had been ordered to call off the hounds of hell from their battening on human blood. (I beg pardon of the hounds, hyenas, tigers and all other wild beasts for using their names in simile or metaphor to describe the swiftness, eagerness or ferocity of Kurd or Turk. It is only the poverty of language that makes such use allowable.)
But there is another thing we can do and England has shown us how to do it, scores of times, if not hundreds of times, in her own history. The American Board has suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in the destruction of missionary property; American citizens have suffered great money losses and their work has been broken up in many quarters; many churches in all parts of Anatolia, built wholly or in part with contributions from America, have been laid in ruins; they have gone down in ashes and pillage under the trampling hordes of Islam; the cost of relief has been enormous and the extra cost to all the missionaries has been very great, to say nothing of all the indignities to which they have been subjected (and in British estimation outrage upon the dignity of an Englishman is placed at very high figures.) Now let these damages be tabulated at full value and the bill presented to the Sublime Porte payable on demand and let us land a few marines at Stamboul and open out a few port holes upon the Palace and wake Mr. Sultan to the fact that it is quite as serious an affair to pluck the feathers of the American eagle as it is to twist the tail of the British lion.
As Mr. Talmage has said in his own inimitable style: “When the English lion and the Russian bear put their paws on that Turkey, the American eagle ought to put in its bill.”
Seriously this demand ought to be made with such energy, decision and despatch with such a demand for adequate protection and guarantee of inviolability of domicile both as to churches, colleges, schools and private residences of missionaries with a demand for necessary papers for all the consuls we may choose to send into Anatolia, that the Sultan would have very little time for the next few weeks to talk to his three hundred and sixty-five wives, or lay out any new plans for reforming the Armenians out of existence.
Another thing is possible, and possible only to America, viz: The calling of an International Conference—say on the Island of Cyprus, which England holds as a pledge that she will see that necessary reforms shall be executed—to discuss the further existence of the power of the Porte.
After the battle of Waterloo the Powers of Europe dealt with Napoleon as an enemy of the human race, of the peace and prosperity of every realm and not liking to take him off suddenly, they took him off to the island of St. Helena, where English ships and soldiers guarded him from all danger till the angel of death, black or white, called him before a higher tribunal.
There would be some grim justice in the retribution if the Sultan should be exiled to the island of Cyprus where he could be supported without cost to Europe according to Article III. of the Annex to the Cyprus Convention. It is understood “that England will pay to the Porte whatever is the present excess of revenue over expenditure in the island.”
One gunboat could guard the island, and Abdul-Hamid II., after whom there should be no III., could dwell in peaceful security, unless through his seared Islamic conscience some dreams of blood should come, or shrieks of outraged womanhood be heard above the waves of the resounding sea.
It has been said that if the contents of the Blue Book on Armenia were known Lord Salisbury would be mobbed in the streets of London. The Christian Herald, of New York, has also stated that a number of official documents has come into its possession which form such an indictment against the Turk as has never yet been framed in the Saxon tongue. “It may never be necessary to drag this shameful exhibit to the light, nor will it ever be done save as a last resort in the interest of justice and mercy.”
As nothing which has yet been told has touched the springs of power in Europe or America, save to start a few rills of generosity for pity’s sake and a few tears which a dainty lace handkerchief could wipe away, it would seem as if justice to the Turk and mercy to the Armenians demanded that these official documents, whether in England or America, should be given to the light, if perchance at last the nations of Christendom might be roused to action before the country shall be utterly laid waste and the only service left us shall be to lay a cross upon the grave of Bleeding Armenia.
Armenia has stood the only Christian race and nation in Asia, for more than a thousand years, despite the oft repeated threat, Islam or Death. At any hour, in any age its glorious roll of martyrs would have been filled up and its blood would have ceased to flow, if it had been willing to deny the Christ and swear allegiance to the false Prophet.
The History of this Martyr Nation that has been written in tears and blood as thus rehearsed to you will, I trust, not have been told in vain. May the voice of an outraged humanity be heard above the din of all conflicting political alliances demanding mercy and justice for the perishing.
I believe our indignation would burst into fiercest flame if these awful atrocities could but be realized; and to noble, free and Christian America might be the honor of leading in a glorious crusade for the deliverance of crushed, desolated and bleeding Armenia from the accursed rule of Islam.
THE END.
APPENDIX.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
Massacre of Armenians by Police, Softas and Kurds.—Frontispiece. Sept. 30th, 1895, and the following days will long be remembered as a Reign of Terror in Constantinople. Scarcely an Armenian family but mourns the loss of some of its members. The Mahommedans seemed worked to such a pitch of fury, that mere death was too mild a punishment to inflict on their victims.
They battered the heads of the Armenians with bludgeons, mutilated the unhappy creatures in every possible way, and left them lying about the streets in ghastly heaps. Many lived thus for hours in horrible agonies, no one daring to succor them.
Great and Little Ararat from the North-east.—Page 19. The village of Aralykh, from which the view of the mountain is taken, is merely a row of wooden barracks, neatly painted, with a smith’s and carpenter’s shop, cottages for the soldiers scattered about it, and a few trees for shade and shelter.
The situation is striking. The mountain seems quite close, but in reality its true base is fully twelve miles distant. As you look up into the great black chasm you can see the cornice of ice, 300 or 400 feet in thickness, lying at a height of about 14,000 feet, and above it a steep slope of snow, pierced here and there by rocks, running up to the summit.
About seven miles to the south from Great Mountain, rises the singularly elegant peak of Little Ararat, which in the autumn is free from snow.
Armenian Types and Costumes.—Page 38. The costumes of the better class of Armenian women, before these terrible days, were very picturesque and some quite costly.
They are fond of personal adornment, and wear silver coins about the head and neck; sometimes the ornaments are of gold, very handsome and expensive. The costume of the men varies considerably according to the province and occupation. Many of the merchant class have adopted the European dress almost entirely.
Monastic Rock-Chambers at Gueremeh.—Page 55. The mountains in this neighborhood of Kaiserieh are remarkable for the numerous rock-chambers and caves, which were filled with hermits in the early days of Christianity.
In one valley, about one mile in length and one thousand feet across, a gorge opens out about five hundred feet deep. The cliffs fall steeply away, sometimes with a sheer descent; sometimes in a succession of terraces, and from them rise up pyramids and pinnacles of rock; the wonders of the valley. On both the face of the cliffs, and in these detached masses there are caves and niches, all the work of human hands. At one time the whole valley was the abode of a vast monastic community.
The Sultan in the Park of the Yildiz Palace.—Page 74. The Sultan rises at six o’clock, and labors with clerks and secretaries until noon, when he breakfasts. Then he goes for a drive, or a row on the lake in the palace park, and returning gives audience until eight. At that hour he dines as a rule, alone.
The Sultan’s food is prepared by chosen persons, cooked in sealed vessels, within locked rooms, and tasted before it is served to him. The water he drinks is brought from a distance in sealed barrels.
Sometimes the Sultan, who is fond of light operatic music, plays duets on the piano with his younger children. For other recreations, he studies odd machines and novelties of inventions.
He never sleeps two successive nights in the same room, and when the fear of death is strongest upon him, he goes to a chamber reached by a ladder, which he draws up after him.
Types of Softas.—Page 91. At Cairo, in Egypt, are the most famous universities of Islam. To these schools, students flock from all quarters of the Mahommedan world.
These Softas are the most fanatical of the Moslems; their entire training is one of bitter intolerance and hatred of Christianity; they have been the inciters to riots in many cities in the Turkish Empire, notably in that of Constantinople, in September, 1895. The number of Softas in the Empire, is said to be about 30,000—8,000 of them being in Stamboul.
His majesty has at times sought to have some of them return to their native provinces, but to this, great opposition has been shown, so that he was obliged to abandon his first plan and get rid of them quietly. From time to time numbers of them have been put on board of transports for unknown destinations.
“The Turks are upon Us.” A Panic in Stamboul.—Page 110. While the photograph, from which this illustration is reproduced, was taken in Stamboul, it would answer equally well for the panic that prevailed among Armenian merchants, everywhere, whenever the cry was raised that the feared and hated Turk was coming. Costly merchandise was quickly thrust behind doors, that were as quickly barred against the common foe, and children were hastily summoned from the streets. That such scenes have their ludicrous side, is evidenced by the upsetting of the young man who, in his haste to gain a place of safety, has trodden upon the trailing end of one of the rugs which the venerable dealer in such merchandise, is in equal haste to place beyond the reach of the marauders.
The New Grand Vizier on his way to the Sublime Porte.—Page 127. The renowned office of grand vizier, in the realms of the Ottoman Turk, is a very precarious and dangerous post. Rifaat Pasha, the latest appointee, is the nominal head of whatever government may be supposed to exist at the Porte. He has been many years in the civil service, and has been Governor, successively, of the former Danubian Provinces, of Salonica, of Smyrna, and of Monastir, and latterly Minister of the Interior.
Explaining the Inflammatory Placards.—Page 146. There is a cry for reform in the system of government in Turkey, and revolutionary placards are posted up almost daily in the streets of Stamboul. The police specially patrol the streets at night with the object of tearing down these seditious utterances. The illustration shows a man of education, explaining to some of his more ignorant fellow-citizens, the meaning of one of these placards, that has escaped the notice of the police.
Taking Armenian Prisoners to the Grand Zaptieh Prison.—Page 163. Over the portal of the Grand Zaptieh Prison, Stamboul, might well be inscribed “All hope abandon, ye who enter here.” The engraving gives a forcible illustration of the brutality exhibited by the Turkish soldiers and police towards their prisoners, whom, in many instances, they literally dragged to their place of confinement.
British Cabinet Debating the Armenian Question.—Page 182. The councils of the English Government are more important to the welfare of the world than the decision of any other European power. But British interests—interest on Turkish bonds held in London—have been paramount to all questions of righteousness and humanity; and Bleeding Armenia cries in vain for deliverance from the accursed rule of the Turk.
The British Mediterranean Fleet.—Page 199. When the squadrons of the great powers began to assemble in Eastern waters, it seemed for awhile as if the day of reckoning for Turkey had surely come. The British fleet is seen in the harbor of Salonica, ready for action. At this time the French ironclads were in the Piraeus, the German warships off Smyrna, the Italian and Austro-Hungarian squadrons had started for the East, and Russia’s fleet was close at hand in the Black Sea. A single warship in front of Constantinople would have restored order in Armenia; none were sent.
Types and Costumes of Kurdish Gentlemen.—Page 218. The Kurdish costumes are picturesque and nearly all the tribesmen are magnificent horsemen. They are always formidably armed. They are very cruel; fierce in battle; merciless in torture and outrage of their victims. They have neither books nor schools; not one in ten thousand can read.
A Common Scene in the Streets of Erzeroum.—Page 235. A camel caravan from Persia passing through to Trebizond. Some of these caravans consist of as many as eight hundred camels—estimating the value of a camel at $150, which is moderate, we have the sum of $120,000 as the worth of the caravan, without counting the vast stores of merchandise. This immense trade is for the time destroyed and the inhabitants of Erzeroum reduced to great extremities.
Armenian Women Weaving Turkish Carpets.—Page 254. In the reign of Edward VI. we read that before communion-tables were placed, “Carpets full gay, that wrought were in the Orient.” The greater part of the real Turkey carpets are manufactured in the province of Aidin. No large manufactory exists; the carpets are the work of families and households. The illustration shows Armenian women engaged at their primitive looms.
Armenian Peasants Fleeing to Russia.—Page 271. Fortunate indeed is the family that could escape into Russia and save their lives. Yet, across the borders there is no peace and prosperity. Thousands are on the mountains, or out on the plains escaping from the sword and bayonet and spear of the Turk and Kurd. Their misery, as they wander in rags, or creep about the ruins of their villages, is appalling.
Armenian Women, Province of Van.—Page 290. Besides trade and agriculture, the inhabitants of this province are engaged in a few industries, such as the making of coarse cotton chintz, a highly prized water-proof fabric of goat hair and a thick woolen cloth called shayah. The women assist in all the labors of the men, particularly in the field, where entire families may be seen.
Armenian Mountaineer of Shadokh.—Page 307. This illustration gives a good idea of the sturdy manliness of these people, who, if permitted to bear arms and defend themselves, would soon deliver their villages from plunder, and their wives and children from outrage and misery.
Grand Mosque and Interior at Urfah.—Page 324. Urfah is the present name for Edessa, once the capital of Armenia—the Ur of the Chaldees.
There was a Christian church at Edessa as early as 200 A. D., and it was famous for its schools of learning, which were large and flourishing. A great tower is still standing, from which, five times a-day, the Muezzin calls Mahommedans to prayer, marks the site of the great Christian seminary of the fourth century.
The Turks pay thousands of dollars to the mosque for the privilege of being buried in this place.
Passage Boat on the Arras.—Page 343. Ferriage and transportation by water in Asia Minor is still carried on in primitive fashion. The illustration shows an unwieldy craft, propelled by long and heavy oars. The usual shape of the boats is much like that of a coffin. The submerged portion is coated within and without with hot bitumen. Frequently, when the craft arrives at her destination, she is broken up, and the bitumen, with which she is coated, is sold, as well as the cargo.
Arresting the Murderers of Armenians.—Page 362. These arrests have only been a matter of form, and only because some foreign consuls may have demanded it.
Turkish justice, outside the centers of European influence, rarely ever punishes either Kurd or Turk for outrage, plunder or murder, if only the Armenians are the sufferers.
Sketches of Armenia and Kurdestan.—Page 379. A group of views showing the interior of a Kurdish tent, in which three chiefs are partaking of coffee; a soldier, in picturesque dress, standing on guard, or, to salute his superior officer; a valley of surpassing beauty, with snow-capped mountains in the distance; a Kurdish encampment, with houses in the background, and a view of Sinna, the capital of Persian-Kurdestan.
Refugees and Cavasses at an Armenian Church.—Page 398. After the first riots in Constantinople, the various Armenian churches were filled with refugees who could hardly be persuaded to leave their sanctuary. After repeated assurances of protection by the dragomans of the six European embassies, the refugees returned to their homes. As they left each church, they were drawn up in line and searched for arms.
A Prayer for Revenge.—Page 415. The heart-rending agonies of the martyr have died out, and his soul has gone up in anguish before the throne. The aged father and brother have been favored in being able to secure the body for burial. But how can they pray? The Turkish soldiers cried out as they tortured the dying man, “Where is your God, now? Why doesn’t he deliver you?” and filled his ears with awful blasphemies in his last moments.
Massacre of Armenians at Erzeroum.—Page 434. The massacre at Erzeroum began October 30, 1895, in the Serai, the chief government building in which the Vali and his chief officials reside. The massacre started by the shooting of the priest of Tevrick by Turkish soldiers when he and other Armenians were at the Serai trying to gain audience of the Vali.
Burying the Bodies after the Massacre at Erzeroum.—Page 451. This illustration was reproduced from a photograph taken in the Armenian cemetery, two days after the massacre. Two rows of dead, thirty-five deep, had already been laid down and partially covered with earth by laborers, when the photograph was taken. Four men had just deposited another corpse, and so started a third row. The open spaces between the bodies were filled up with skulls, thigh-bones, and other human remains disturbed by digging this grave, which was fifty-three feet square, for the reception of the slaughtered Armenians.
A Grim Corner of the Cemetery, Erzeroum.—Page 470. About 1,000 Armenians were inhumanly butchered in the massacre of October 30, 1895. The illustration shows how their corpses were laid out in the cemetery, waiting until one large common grave could be dug for their reception.
Principal Street and Bazaar of Erzeroum.—Page 480. Erzeroum is a town of great antiquity. In 1201, the time of its capture by the Seejuks, 140,000 of its inhabitants were said to have been lost. Recent estimates of the population are from 50,000 to 100,000, of which, probably, two-thirds are Armenians. The circular-towers, shown in the illustration, with their conical tops, add a certain picturesqueness to the view, and are popularly reputed to be the tombs of holy men who died in the fourteenth century.
The Prison at Erzeroum.—Page 481. To describe the sufferings of a Turkish prison is impossible. It combines the stifling air of the Black-Hole of Calcutta, the stench of an open sewer, the poison of a yellow fever ward, the pangs of starvation, besides the horrors of the Inferno when Moslem criminals are shut in with Christian prisoners.
“It is a living grave, a visible hell, a world without God.” Men are suffering in nakedness and rags, and dying of hunger and disease, but there is no one to pity.
Trebizond.—Page 491. This city, the principal seaport for the Armenians, is on the southern coast of the Black sea, and has a population of about forty-five thousand. The old walls are now ruinous, but the engraving shows how formidable they must have been originally. Many Armenians were massacred at Trebizond in the autumn of 1895.
Town and Citadel of Van.—Page 502. Van, the capital of the province of the same name, lies in an extremely fertile plain—one of the gardens of the East. Its low, flat-roofed houses are enclosed within a double line of walls and ditches on the three sides not protected by the rock which rises 300 feet sheer above the plain, and is crowned by the citadel. In this rock are numerous galleries and crypts which probably date back to the ninth century. The city of Van is one mile from the shore of the lake to which it gives its name.
Armenian Refugees at the Labor Bureau at Van.—Page 503. At this point Dr. Grace N. Kimball has, so far, been able to employ over 900, representing 4,500 souls, keeping them from starvation by her efforts. Thousands of famished, almost naked creatures have toiled barefoot to the city. Her factory has also been a school of honesty to those employed, and the work is a shining example of clean, upright, business methods and Yankee executive ability.
