On the night of the 5th of January, 1893, in several important cities of Asia Minor placards were posted attacking the Turkish government. Who did this was a mystery. A prominent editor of a leading periodical in this country, who was well informed of the condition of affairs in Turkey, said, “the general belief of all classes is that the more fanatical softas (students in the mosques) are the real offenders.” That may have been the case. But later events and instances positively show that the government’s emissaries had done it in order to furnish an excuse for the officers of the government to accuse the Armenians of sedition, and blindfold the European powers who were overanxious to abandon the cause of justice and humanity for any pretext.
Two of these placards were affixed to the gate of the mission premises at Marsovan, but were soon seen and pulled down by persons belonging to the college. Husrev Pasha was appointed to investigate the matter. This official himself had threatened in violent terms both the college and its teachers, “Charging the institution with being a source of sedition, and affirming that the placards were issued from the college.” Those very officials themselves had “declared that the place where the college stood should be as a plowed field.”
On the 29th of January, Professor Thoumanian and later Professor Kayayan, two Armenian teachers of the college, were arrested and imprisoned. There was no evidence of their having issued these placards. On the night of February 1st, the girls’ school was set on fire. The Turkish authorities who declared that they were going to burn the building, after so doing, began to charge the crime upon the college authorities “either for the purpose of exciting the Armenians to revolt, or to cover up the fact that arms and ammunition were concealed in the building. These most absurd charges were sent to Constantinople, and the corrupt officials, who have themselves been implicated in the burning were charged with the duty of investigating the affair. Meantime numberless arrests were made, not only in Marsovan but in all parts of the province. United States Consul, Mr. Jewett, who was stationed at Sivas, went to Marsovan. But his dispatches to our minister at Constantinople, and the minister’s dispatches to him, were interfered with, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he secured any communication with his superior officer.”
The Turkish government could, and had created riots at will, and thus have an excuse to fall upon the defenseless Christians to torture and butcher them: London, February 14, 1893—“A despatch from Vienna says that one hundred and twenty-five Armenians were killed and three hundred and forty were wounded during the recent riot at Yosgat, Turkey.” Constantinople, July 14, 1893—“The British Embassy has received news that three hundred police and Bashi-Bazouks were sent out from Cæsarea in February to arrest so-called refugees in Everek. They looted every Armenian house in the town, and abused the women.”
Here is another despatch from Constantinople under date March 15, 1893:
“Moslem mobs have possession of Cæsarea. They have established a reign of terror over the Armenian churches, have robbed hundreds and have killed many. During services in three Armenian churches the other day the mob burst in the doors, stripping the women of their jewelry and beat and cut the men. After the Armenians fled the Moslems sacked the churches. They afterwards went through the streets attacking all the Armenians they met, bursting into private houses, and sacking shops. All places of business are closed and trade is utterly stagnant. Violence and theft are said to continue day and night. Furthermore, Christian caravans are being robbed and the merchants murdered. The prisons are crowded with Armenian prisoners. Most of the conspicuous Armenians of Cæsarea and Marsovan have been imprisoned.”
The following British Consular reports were despatched from London, April 10, 1893:
“Advices from Constantinople show that the British consuls at Smyrna, Trebizond, and other places in Anatolia, have sent in official reports of Turkish outrages on native Christians. These reports include the names of eighteen hundred Armenians who are imprisoned on various charges in the several consular jurisdictions. Among other matters the serious charge is preferred that it is a common occurrence for the Turks to kidnap Christian girls and dispose of them to the owners of harems. If the relatives and friends of the girls attempt to regain them, they are met with the statement that the girls have embraced Mohammedanism, and this, as a rule, ends the matter so far as the Armenians are concerned; the Christians are ridiculed and subjected to gross outrages, and if they object to their treatment they find themselves arrested on trumped up charges, and are always found ‘guilty.’”
The Rev. Dr. F. E. Clark, the President of the U. S. C. E., while in Turkey on his tour around the world, wrote:
“I could not use the words society or organization, endeavor, union, etc., without the risk of getting my interpreter, my audience, and myself into an unspeakable Turkish dungeon. In one village a poor broken-hearted woman came to tell us that her husband, who was a Protestant preacher, had utterly disappeared. Three weary months of anxious, heart-sick watching had passed away, and she had had no message. What his alleged offense was she had no idea. Whether he is dead or alive, in prison or in exile, she could not tell; and perhaps the mystery of his disappearance will never be solved.” After giving several instances of this kind, Dr. Clark adds: “These are only isolated instances of hundreds that might be cited.”[130]