The Ogden standard-examiner. [volume], September 05, 1920, LAST EDITION, MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 2, Image 26

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Ho wSctence Qeansed HerSlC uel Hjrb Brand of S I
I Heartless Master as jj K 'Sjj I
a Living Symbol of frtrmi :'mr, H
Their Ownership and SHlP ) 51 I
Atakiam, One of the Vl I VSwj
Few Survivors of the ' 9
Armenian AJT7P"t Kmj0 fl
I Massacres, Is rSL"7L''4S
-y y Arrou.'" Ire Shown
Freed ot iier
Beneath Her Lower Lip.
At Each Corner of Her
"3 X 1 Vouth Is the Brand of
lilQCOU? Her Master's Tribe.
Between the Tribal
I . Brand Are the Five
JLJisxigurements of PurPu
Which Stand for Five
A Daily Prayers of Islam.
by American - D; r
( WiicA Ony fi- Arabs
Durgeons o ;;an7;; Ccn
FIFTY thousand Christian girls, held
captive now in Moslem harems in
bbbbbbb Asiatic Turkey and in the desert
H tenis of Arabs and Circassians in the
H Syrian desert, suddenly have been given
H hopes of freedom and happiness by the
H success of a remarkable scientific expert
1 mont just concluded in this country.
These young women, nearly all of them
I between the ages of fifteen and twenty
years, were captured by the Turks. Arabs,
I Circassians and Kurds during the Armen
ian massacres The majority of them are
I Armenian girls and were the most beaut!
ful of their people Kept by the tribal
Chiefs who Captured them, hernue of their
H exceptlona, beauty, for their own harems.
H they were oranded. according to Arab and
Kurd custom, by the ten-iblc practice of
B tattooing which these tribes hne employed
H upon their Christian concubines for time
1 immemorial.
K Imbedded in flesh and skin with secret
inks made from Oriental herbs. these
B dread tatoo marks always have been in-
dellible none of the usual methods em
ployed for the removal of modern iptooing
have been successful in erasing these
marks of shamo The young girl thus
I marked ha been doomed to go through
I life branded as the property of her master,
or her master's tribe, much the 6ame as
the horses on the western plains are
! branded with the marks of the ran-ch to
I "which they belong.
I As a result of the Armenian massacres
i 60 many onng women were marked with
the tattooed brands of their owners that
: science throughout the Christian world
found itself confronted with the humanl-
tarinn tnl; or di; covering some way these
j unknown Oriental inks, used for centur.es
by the desert tribesmen, might be removed
from the tender faces disfigured by them
i Otherwise there remained no hope that
I these young women, stolen from their farn
H Hies, might escape some day from their
! cruel bondage. For should they attempt
escape, and even get beyond the clutchea
V of their masters, their horrid marking?
1 would bar them from all happiness in the
H world at large.
Hj Since long before the armistice sclen-
Jf tlsts in America, spurred by the plight of
t these Christian girls, sought the hitherto
1 unknown method of eradicating the tatooed
i brands Harvard University was the leader
I among the great Institutions which con
I ducted experiments and investigations. At
last success seemed to be promised the
' board of scientists employed by the unl
I ver ity to solve the humanitarian prob
J lem, and a commission of these scientists
was sent to Asia, seeking there a subject
J upon whom their new discoveries might
H be practiced.
1 Even this preliminary task was hard
1 however, as no young woman thus branded
B had succeeded in making her way across
H the desert or through the Moslem cities
H along '.he highways, after escaping from
. I the harem Where she had been imprisoned,
J without being caught, her ownership rec-
J ognized by her brands, and sent back to
I bo punished scourged to death, perhaps
Strange as it may seem, the subject
H needed for a seientiflc demonstration of
H what the scientists believed would save
3 these Christian girls from the scars of
H their unavoidable shame, eventually was
H discovered, not in her native land, but In
J New York City.
E This was little Xargig Avakiau, eighteen
G years old. the beautiful daughter of a rich
H Armenian family of Slvas. who had been
B. driven from her home when the Turks de
a ported her people in 191 F, and sent with
i her father and mother and brothers and
"The SI ave Market"
' The Famous
slBfc8nHi Gerome'8 Picture of
1 M MKBUXM Shameful
J Mk A iff Traffic Which Still
"pis " Prc u,n,rr
'j
sisters into the deseit. Narglg had been
the belle of all Sivas. She had been edu
cated in Constantinople, and was known
throughout the city for her proficiency in
music, needlework, and for her demure
ness and captivating charm. Many times
the Turkish povernors had cast covetous
eyes upon her, but her father was er ric.i
and powerful among the Armenians and
she was safe then from Turkish persecu
tion When the BUM acres were ordered, how
ever, her's was one of the first homes de
scended upon All her father's property
was confiscated and he was turned out,
with his family penniless, and sent upon
the long walk into exile
After many days of wanderings, during
which her mother died from exposure and
her father was killed oy a Turkish Zaptieh,
Xargig was stolen one night by a band of
Kurds They now were in the Arabian
desert, and after a time the beautiful girl
was sold, for three horses, to an Arab
chieftain, rhe Sheikh Tashln Melaz. whose
tribe had come from the south to hanass
the deported Armenians
The Sheikh Tasbln took Xargig. with
others of his prettiest captives, to the city
of I'rfa, at the edge of the desert. Here
he put hr up for sale in the slae markets
of that Moslem city She was bought by
a wealthy Arab. Abou Seraidz. who lived
with a band of followers Just outside the
cJty Abou took her io his barem and com
pelled her to submit to concubinage.
It was by thp orders of her master. Abou,
that she was tattooed. Abou declared hla
liking for her and gave order- that she be
branded with the distinguishing marks ol
Here Are the Four Processes of the Removal of the Tattoo
(1) The Flesh Was Kneaded w!th Skilled Hands so That the Skin Was
Separated from the Muscles Beneath; Then (2) the Face Bathed wjth a
Medicated Solution, and (3) Compresses Which Drav.' tho Inks to the
Surface and Cause the Surface Flc?h And Skin to Dissolve m a Procoss
of Suppuration WercCept Tightly Bandar;eo Around the Face for Wccl.s.
(4)Now Flesh and Skin Grow Where the Old Was Dissolved Laaviug
Only Pale Pink Tints Which Kesemhlec! Excessive Sstiburns and Which
Disappeared Completely in from Two to Four Weeks, Leaving Narvik'
as Comely as Ever.
his tribe so that if she should run away
she would be recognized any place on the
Arabian or Syrian deserts, where the
Arabs and Kurds roam, as belonging to
his particular tribe It is one of the un
writen laws of the Kurds and Arabs to re
turn to each other runaway slave girls.
Accordingly, one morninc;. before the sun
rose. Xargig was dragged from her couch
In i.he narem and taken outside. Three
of her master's tribesmen held her face to
the Kast. where the first glints of the sun
might fall upon her. according to the an
cient Arabian custom when branding
s'a ves.
One of hr captors bad wltnln a little
earthen bucket, in which had been mixed
tho strange Inks made from herbs and
grasses, the socret of which the civilized
worid never has learned Another captor
hold in his naud a long, cruel needle of
hammered steei. The third bound her feet
that she might be easily held and pre
vented from squirming too much in her
agonies.
C 10"0 International Feature Serrlce. In
mm0mm
I
Just as the first roy of the sun fell upon
the party the Arab who brandished the
cruel needlo sank It into the poor girl'-'
Skin between her eyebrows. She screamed
and struggled and begged for mercy, but
with the precision of a dock's ticking the
needle rose and fell, penetrated with each
downward stoke far beneath the skin, into
the flesh, and leaving behind it the In
dellilile purple stain which, so far as sci
eni had known since the beginniug of
Arabian history, could never be removed.
Between the girl's eyebrow? the needle
made a crude arrow of little dots. The
arrow pointed upward "to guide the girl's
future thoughts to Mohammed " Below
h-r lower lip a similar arrow, also pointed
upward, was formed, that "her spoken
WOtttfl might be wafted above with rever
ence to the Prophet " Around the edge
of hei tower lip live purple blotches were
placed to represent the Ave dally prayers
of Islum. The hieroglyphic representing
the special prayer of her master s trlb)
was pricked into each temple, and the
i. OfSBl Bnt-itn lllrhta Referred.
"While one cruel Arab held her feet and another held her bodv. her
face to the east, a third buried deep in the tender fle-h of her face a red
hot needle bearing the tecret branding inks of the Arabs. Just as the
hrst rays of ihe morning sun fell upon her bemarked face the first cruel
marks v.-cc made an arrow supposed to lift her thoughts and all her
speech to Mahommed !"
slae girl brand of the tribe was drawn,
with the needle heated to a red heat so
the dots would form a seared lino, In tho
flesh at each corner of her mouth. Other
dots in symbolic design were pricked into
oiher parts of her face and across her
body, reaching from her throat to below
her waist, the needle fixing a series of
symbols, each signifying a verse from tho
Koran
'I heso wore variations of the tattooing
to whlrh the other thousands of Christian
girl raptives throughout Syria and Arabia
were subjected by their cruel harem mas
ters. Each was marked with tho brand of
her tribe among the other symbols, and
thus each lo t hope of ever regaining her
freedom
Nargig, however, managed to escape
into the city of Urfa. and to find there a
true friend who kept her hidden for man
weeks in a dark, dank cellar. At last op
portunity came for h r to be spirited away
to Aleppo From hero she was taken In
a caravan to Damascus, where there lived
a rich uncle, who had ostensibly accepted
the Moslem religion as a protection for his
llfo and property This uncle look her In
and succeeded eventually in getting ber
to Constantinople
Relatives who had come to America
many years before learner of little Xa'
gig'j plight and brought her to this cour.
try. She arrived in Xew York three
month ago
Xargig was taken at once to experts In
the art of r.-moving tattoo marks, but each
of these told her no method had been dis
covered to remove these secret inks im
bedded so far into .he flesh. Ordinary
tatooinc could be erased, but not this
brand of 'he Arabs. Little Xargig thought
sh'- wai doomed for life to wear a heavy
veil whenever she appeared on the streets;
never able to show her face excer o the
most intimate of friends JH
Whenever strangers did catch a glimpse
of her face they looked with horror and
disgust upon the grotesque markings. litJe
knowing the tragedy they represented.
Friends of the young victim at last were
sent to Dr. Edgar T Strickland, a scientist
attached to Sheffield University, in Fng
efon in Asia, and who had studied first
hand the processes of tatooing employed
by the Arabs, and who had examined the
faces of many Armenian gins who had
been beautiful, but who had been horribly
disfigured by their captors Dr Strickland
wae visiting in America.
The scientist at once plared the girl in
charge of a Xew York Institute at Xo 330
West Xinety-flfth street, where, under the
personal direction of Professor Edith
Hansen, lately of the Royal Copenhagen
University, science set about its demon
stration that the branded girl capthes of
the Turks and Arabs may eventually bo
restored to their unblemished beauty.
Tho method employed is one of absorp
tion and suppuration Professor Hansen,
reporting the condition of the young girl's
face when she entered Into the care of tha
institute, said:
"The penetration of the electric needle
used In modern tatooinc is slight, sinking
only Into the outer skin Removal of
modern tatooing, In which the well-known
Chinese colored Inks are used, is compar
atively an easy matter In the cose of
Xargig. however, the Arabs had used a
hand needle, which was very thick and
which was not even sharp Evidently
thov were too cruel to even sharpen their .
noedle or use a thin one. The penetration ' C '
was uneven In many spots It went clear
through Into the inner flesh In branding
the girl's nose they Jabbed clear through
the two skins and into the cartilage Th
places chosen for marking were the most
tender spots on tho face the temples, the
no'-p the brow and the region of the under
iip.
"First It was necessary to pack the girl's
face In compresses, medicated with a solu
tion which softened the skin, enlarged the
pores and Increased blood circulation
through the color pigment of the skin.
After these rompresses had been kept In
place, changed at frequent intervals, the
skin was carefully kneaded to break its
hold on the flesh beneath
"The compresses were then replaced for
another stretch of days, removed periodi
cally that the face might be bathed with '
medicaments calculated to further soften
the skin and begin the necessary process f
of absorption
"Suppuration now set In coincident with
the absorption. Almost every hour, day
and r.ight. the flesh and skin was kneaded
until it was indicated that the poisonous
colors which were foreign to the under
flesh had begun to spread and slowly to
dissolve Into the flesh There was con
stant bathing, and soon the bathing cotton
began to be discolored. This was tho sign
that the colors were seeping out through
th pore.
The iin!i which had been poisoned by
the unknown Inks began to dissolve and
UPPUrite. Tube-, were applied through Hk
the compresses and the liquidized fleth
drawn out. The kln which had been
poisoned with the markings dissolved and
came away also
"At last there was no trace of foreian
colors In the little girl's face. Then began
'he simple process of healing When the
new skin had grown over the places where
the tatoo marks had been the little elrl
presented tho appearance of havlne hn
heavily sunburned. This 'sunburn' appear
ance will gradually disappear in from two
to four weeks Then Xargig will be
besutlfu as ever-more beautiful, perhaps UMff
for the lktl lines and wrfnklee thTthSS
gathered also as the natural marks of her
ESt'fcK vlll have dleappe.red and he
stored" 7 WU1 have been r?
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