[114]. “£275 Turkish, in all.”—P.R.
[115]. “Mr. AL.”—P.R.
[116]. “On the road to W.”—P.R.
[117]. “A German farmer reported to our Consular Agent that he had seen 50 Armenian corpses in a well, and long trenches on the mountain side where other victims had been buried.”—P.R.
[118]. The author of the present address gave further particulars of these men’s fate to an acquaintance who interviewed him at Athens on his way from Turkey to the United States. This gentleman is the author of the letter dated Athens, 8th/21st July, Doc. [8] of this collection. The information he obtained from his interview with the author of the present document is presented in a subsequent letter, dated Athens, 1st/14th October, 1915, from which the following paragraph is taken:—
“The Kavass of the College, a Circassian, who was ordered to accompany the deported Armenians, returned a day or two afterwards and told how these 1,200 men or more were roped together in rows of five, and were marched towards Y. On each side rode zaptiehs with fixed bayonets. Those who could not walk were flogged, and finally, when any one of the five in a batch could walk no further, the whole five would be made to fall out of the procession and several zaptiehs would remain with them, who, after ten or twenty minutes, would rejoin the column with the ghost of butchery shining in their eyes. Somewhat more than half the prisoners reached Y. On their arrival at that town a fire broke out in the Armenian quarter, and the Turks began looting and massacring the women of Y., while the newly arrived prisoners were accused of being the incendiaries, and were all led out of the town to a place already prepared. Here the prisoners were halted and led in successive batches of five to what appeared to be tents. Groans were heard from within, and the prisoners outside, realising what was happening, tried to break through the cordon. But they were bound hand to hand, and when one or two in any batch had been shot, the survivors could only trail the corpses along with them until they gave up the effort in exhaustion. They were all picked up afterwards and carried off to be butchered. They were butchered with axes.”
[119]. “On the 2nd July.”—P.R.
[120]. “Miss A.”—P.R.
[121]. “At Z. the servants were separated from the teachers and pupils and sent southwards towards V.”—P.R.
[122]. “The town of L. was similarly emptied of its Armenian population; also Y., BT. and U.”—P.R.