The provision for the medical wants of the refugees was sufficient, and it seemed only a question of time until the emergency relief work should grade off into the permanent medical work required for 20,000 homeless and penniless people. When the time for this change should come, it was desired that some permanent good might remain as a memorial of the relief work in Adana, and it was planned that the patients remaining from the American Red Cross Hospital, together with whatever hospital equipment might have been accumulated, should be left to the care of the American Mission in a large building belonging to them, which is now being altered for use as a hospital. There is no hospital in Adana, except one poorly equipped and totally inadequate charity institution, and the field of usefulness for a good hospital would be great. There could be no fitter legacy of permanent help to the Adana sufferers than the founding among them of such a permanent hospital.
The evacuation of the camps, forced by the government on all those who had remaining houses or vineyards, while it worked hardship in some cases, was a necessary precaution for the avoidance of epidemics, and at this time the campers had been reduced by about one-half.
A share in the Adana relief work has been a privilege not alone as an opportunity for service, but it has been a still greater privilege to see the men and women there who, in sublime unconsciousness of self, are daily giving themselves to fill the swarming needs of thousands of destitute people. Especially is this true of Major Doughty-Wylie and Mr. Nesbit Chambers. Credit for the high personal bravery shown by them at the time of the massacres is surpassed by admiration for their devotion now that, acting as directors of the Adana relief work, and showing foresight, discretion, and economy, they have established themselves to bear the burden through the hot days of the long summer. Honor may well be given to those who couple courage in danger with humanity in time of need.
(Signed) HARRY G. DORMAN, M. D.,
Of the Adana Relief Delegation of the
American Red Cross Committee in Beirut.
THE SACK OF KESSAB
By Stephen van R. Trowbridge.
Kessab was a thrifty Armenian town of about 8,000 inhabitants, situated on the landward slope of Mount Cassius (Arabic, Jebel Akra), which stands out prominently upon the Mediterranean seacoast, halfway between Alexandretta and Latakia. Kessab is now a mass of blackened ruins, the stark walls of the churches and houses rising up out of the ashes and charred timbers heaped on every side. What must it mean to the 5,000 men and women and little children who have survived a painful flight to the seacoast and have now returned to their mountain home, only to find their houses sacked and burned! There were nine Christian villages which clustered about Kessab in the valleys below. Several of these have been completely destroyed by fire. All have been plundered and the helpless people driven out or slain.
On Thursday, April 22, serious alarm reached the people of Kessab. It was known that a massacre of the Armenians had taken place in Antioch, 36 miles to the north, and that attacks were being planned on the Christian villages of the mountains. A parley was arranged with the Mudir (magistrate) of Ordou, the nearest seat of government, and a telegram asking for military protection was dispatched to the Governor of Aleppo. The Mudir, whose name is Hassein Hassan Agha, met the Kessab delegation halfway down the mountainside and assured them that he had already scattered the mobs that had gathered with evil intention. But his pledges soon proved to be idle tales, because that very Thursday evening he permitted crowds of armed Moslems to come into Ordou from Jissr Shoughr, Kusayr, Antioch, and even from Idlib, far to the east. Early the next morning, after entertaining the raiders overnight, he sent them on their way to the sack of Kessab. Moreover, the Mudir detained the eleven gendarmes which were ordered by the Aleppo government to protect American and Italian interests in Kessab. The Mudir instructed the gendarmes that they should remain in Ordou.
STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER TROWBRIDGE.