Although the American people have helped very generously, the work of relief has only just begun, and a more thorough effort to put the people here on their feet again and to make kindly provision for all the helpless persons, the old women and little children, requires large plans and large appropriations from such societies as the American National Red Cross.
An English Woman’s Heroism.
Mrs. Doughty-Wylie, wife of the British Vice-Consul, in a letter to her mother, describes with the vividness of an eye witness the horrors of the last days of the rule of the late Sultan, Abdul Hamid.
Major Doughty-Wylie, a soldier who has taken part in many campaigns, was severely wounded while engaged in the work of rescue. His heroic services have won from the American missionaries laurels that will not fade. Mrs. Doughty-Wylie also, according to impartial witnesses, displayed the courage of her race, and by her devotion and energy saved many lives.
From a letter from Mrs. Doughty-Wylie we make the following extracts:
THE AMERICAN MISSION RESIDENCE. KESSAB. COMPLETELY DESTROYED.
“We are having a perfectly hideous time here. Thousands have been murdered—25,000 in this province, they say; but the number is probably greater, for every Christian village was wiped out. In Adana about 5,000 have perished. After Turks and Armenians had made peace and the Armenians had given up their arms, the Turks came in the night with hose and kerosene and set fire to what remained of the Armenian quarter. Next day the French and Armenian schools were fired. Nearly everyone in the Armenian school perished, anybody trying to escape being shot down by the soldiers.
“In the French school a large number of Fathers and Sisters, with 2,000 Armenians, were rescued by Dick (Major Doughty-Wylie). Thirty, who tried to escape, were shot. Dick found their bodies at the gate, but he got the survivors out of the schools and brought them right through the Turkish quarter without losing a soul. Altogether he got several thousand people out of the burning quarter and encamped them near our temporary dwelling.