“See the monkeys of the Constitution dancing the polka!” cried one.
After a complete massacre and pillage, they left the courtyard, to give themselves over to fresh deeds of carnage elsewhere.
Archag had been wounded in the shoulder, and had fainted from pain; his enemies therefore thought him dead. When he recovered consciousness, the sun was shining full upon the scene of woe. Carefully making his way among the bodies of the dead, he managed to drag himself to the gate of the hospital, where he was helped in by a nurse. A violent fever set in, and for a long time his life was in danger.
For three days, the Kurds kept up their hideous work; the soldiers sent by the government to establish order, joined the murderers, and committed crimes so abominable that the pen refuses to record them. The massacres extended throughout the province; about thirty thousand Armenians were killed, and the vali (provincial governor), with his customary indifference, let it be done.
Dr. Spencer was a victim to his devotion; a bullet struck him full in the chest, while he was making strenuous efforts to check the fire at the Mission school. He fell at his post, a true soldier of Jesus Christ.
Several days passed before the news of the doctor’s death reached Aintab. As Mrs. Spencer was sitting on the veranda at the Normal School one day, she saw Dr. Mills coming toward the house. But where was her husband? The poor lady’s heart was torn with an agony of fear.
“Not here, not here? Where can he be, then?”
When Dr. Mills came in he grasped her hands, and said simply:
“Your husband is with the Lord: you may be proud to be the widow of a martyr, and of one so brave and faithful. Our friends Rodgers[1] and Pagratian have gone with him.”
At first Mrs. Spencer was stunned by the blow. She withdrew to her room and fell on her knees, begging God for strength to accept His will. But keenly as she felt her own grief, she thought of many others who had been afflicted as severely as she, and were in need of her help.