Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
Image provided by: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA
Newspaper Page Text
How the Savai Turned Lot tians, Have At Missionary Priests, Tortnn Children m These Are the Savage Kurcls About to Go Forth to Massacre Christiana on the Persian and Turkish Frontier. AM Hill CANS now have convincing: proof of the meaning of the "Holy War" pro claimed by Turkey when Ehe entered into tho struggle against the English-French Russian alliance. One of the most promising American mis sionary fields, the whole of northwestern Per sia h;is been ravaged and desolated by savage Kurds and Turks. This field is under the direc tion of the Hoard of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church Christian men. -women and children have th'-re been ruthlessly slaughtered with accom paniments of unspeakable cruelty and torture Not less than Su.Ol'O Christiana are dead or missing, of whom many have been massacred. Children who were showing the most beauti ful results of American missionary training have been murdered in cold blood Pretty -rhurche.- ar.J peaceful villages have been burnt down and their people exterminated The Christians who took rt-fuge in the American missionary compounds and those who were able to fiee northward into Russia were ,'*!most the only oner- who escaped the murdering Kurds American missionaries were assaulted and ir..-u!tPd while protecting their converts and ofner helpless natives Man\ other natives were murdered in the presence of our Araeri i. can missionaries, who were powerless to do more than protect those they had placed be hind wails. ft is to be iearcd thai before this appears some of The American inis.sionarit; ; . , have paid for their devotion to their proteges wi-.b their live? Why l.?3 this American missionary field, nominally situated in a neutral countrj neen thus murderously invaded? Persia, an ancient, "but feeble country, which in recent years, has heoD pathetically striving for freedom, Ilea, roughly speaking, east of Asiatic Turkey "and couth of Russia. The last-named country has acquired a great interest in northern Persia, and on this pretext the Turks invaded the country and slaughtered the inhabitants -with every possible atrocity. It is true that the Rus sians drove the Turks back with heavy slaugh ter. but this was of very little advantage to the untortunate natives, who had already suifered terribly After this the Russians were com pelled to retire agala. When the Turks declared a "Holy War" against all the enemies of Islam they gave an implied license to the savage Kurds to commit every atrocity they desired upon Persians, Ar menians and Christians of all kinds. The Kurds can hardly be biamed, for they know no other method of warfare. There are, it is estimated. 3,000.000 Kurd3 in Asiatic Turkey and in Persia They live a sav age. nomadic and tribal existence. As a rule they inhabit the mountains and large pastoral plains of Turkc-y and Persia, regions which per mit the wandering existence they desire. In religion they are partly Mohammedan and partly belong to pagan sects with the most fan tastic forms of idolatry Some of them are ad dicted to devil worship. They wander spoilt in bands, always armed. Their weapons include anything from mediaeval arms to modern rifles They are always ready for a fight, .lust a3 our Apache Indians used to he The Kurds are really the licensed assas sins of the Turkish Empire. Again and again they have attacked the Christian Armenian towns and massacred the inhabitants. To-day they are being UBed against the Chriutian Per sians on the pretext of war. The United StateB Government has been ap pealed to for help for the American mission aries and native Christians, but finds it difficult to do anything. The only power that can re strain the savage Kurds is the Turkish Govern ment at Constantinople, and that Government has declared a "Holy War." It is suggested that the American Govern ment should appeal to Germany to induce Tur* key, with which It Is in alliance, to restrain the Kurds in their attacks on defenseless Christians. Urumia. In norihwestern Persia, a very im portant American missionary centre, has been the scene of the most shocking massacres by the Turks and Kurds. The dispatches have told us that the Turkish Consul at Urumia led the Kurdish raiders in their attacks on Christians. It was early in January that the Turks and Kurds first attacked Urumia. This place, it should be explained, is a considerable town, situated on a vast plain which bears the same name. In the villages of the plain are many Christian natives, while the region also fur nishes pasturage to many nomadic Kurds. The Kurds and Turks fell upon the Urumia villages, devastated the homes, confiscated pri vate property and inflicted dreadful tortures upon the defenseless Christians who fell Into their hands. Fourteen thousand took refuge with tho American and French missionaries, and were settled in the compounds in Urumia and Tabriz, where, for the time being, they were apparent ly safe from violence. Ab time went on, however, the Turks and Kurdish raiders becamc dally bolder and more bloodthirsty. Seventy-Turkish regular troops entered the mission, hanged the orthodox Bishop, Mar Ella, and four orthodox clergymen, and beat and In sulted the Rw. E. T. Allen, an American mis sionary. A hanging polo -was erected in the American Mission yard, and on this Ave refu gees were hanged.' Shortly before that sixty refugees had been dragged from the French Mission and executed in spite of the pleas of the ijuns. At Culpashan the Kurds were particularly cruel. This was the last of a total of 103 villages to hold out. and it was occupied two months ago. Tho Kurds ordered all the male citizens into the streets, tied them in groups of Ave, marched them to the graveyard and killed thorn barbarously to the last boy. Glr! babies and the older women were then executed with groat atrocity, while the younger women wero carried away as slaves. The Christians fought their assailants brave ly, and as long as they had ammunition they were victorious. The missionaries wero untiring in their ef forts to help the people, and they are spending money to this end freely. In Urumia they have been disbursing the equivalent of $400 dally. Disease is prevalent among the refugees. In addition to the cable dispatches, some account of theso outrages has been received by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions from Persian Christians who had fled In Janu ary and had returned to Urumia with funds and supplies for the relief of their countrymen. Of the ten American missionaries in this ?eo* Hon several have been heard from. The Rev. Robert M. Larabee, of Urumia, Persia, in a personal letter to Secretary.Robert E. Speer, of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, writes as folows; "Tlflls, Persia, March 8, 1916. "Up to the middle of February the refugees were still In the Urumia Mission yards, most of them supported by our mission. The revised figures are about 12,000 In our yards, both city and college, and 3,000 in the French Mission. ? 9 ? "When on January 2 of this year the Russian troops withdrew suddenly and without warning, not only from Urumia, but from all Azerbajan Province, there -was absolutely no human power left seemingly competent to protect the Christian population of the border districts from the savage vengeance of the.wild Kurdish tribes, made many times more Intense by reason of recent events on which I cannot dilate in this report. "It was an awful situation, and'all who could leave, especially In the northern part of Urumia plain, started immediately on a long and pain ful Journey to the Russian border, realizing The Fiskc Seminary at Urumia, Persia, in the Compound of Which 15,000 Native Christians Took Kehige. Five Refugees Were Hanged by the Kurds in the Courtyard. Harry P.' Packard, the Brave Doctor of tho Amer ican Missionary. Station at Urumiah, Persia. that only bo could they Bavo their lives. The details of that dreadful Journey I have written before. Some can never be written, and even now as I recall the Buffering by the way thero la a tugging at my heart that la real pain. "But while many thousand fled, leaving everything behind and enduring the intense privations of a foot journey In the snow and mud. without any preparation for It, along with their wlV68 and little children, still many thou sand remained behind, simply because they could not leave, their villages being so sit uated that flight was impossible. Some of theso remained In their villages, and only the future can give us a correct roll of those murdered In cold blood and with cruel tortures, of tho women and girls carried off to a life that 1b many times worse than death, and of children lost and families separated In the time of this terrible catastrophe. All who could fled to the city and found the one shelter that gave them the best hope of safety. It was our American Mission property, guarded by tho American flag and, what was ?>ven more potent than the flag, the position of Influence and confidence earned by long years of aervlce of our mis sionaries. "Then came days or fhe utmost anxiety. Wo'.ild the leadens of the Invading force respect our flag and, oven If fl^ey did, could they hold their lawless followers in check? It was thr-n that the value of years of unselfish, straight forward dealing with -all classes of the com munity began to show itself; and it was then, too, that all the long experience of dealing with the natives of every nationality and grade could be utilized for the Balvatlon of this helplesB mul titude. I said before that the American flag did much (thank God that at this time our nation has been neutral), but much more was