IN ADRIANOPLE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1651, 18 January 1913, Page 6

IN ADRIANOPLE.

TERRIBLE PLIGHT 1 OF THE

INHABITANTS.

HAVOC CAUSED BYFIRE,

' V^Sofia,-November,,29.' , The special war correspondent' of the. "Westminster Gazette, 'writing' from Sofia on November • 29, ■ states :—■ It,might hnvo been,supposedvthatthcro could, bo no movement of 'troops .through the streets Bow,'to move gp^a.'to/enthusiasm: until the "first 'regiment '.to come back from the front' is welcomed.' 1 Today, however, : 'gavo us a surprise, , Friday is markct-daV.; and of lato.it has been noticeable, that the market'has Leon growing 'smaller aiid smaller, week' by i week. Fewer ox-wagons have' como : in. Small boys aro taking charge of:most of the cattle; and there are only women and girls arid a few, old men tramping along with thonv.'. "' '■'-.'' •"" ' ' . A belated: body of troops, was .'being marched down to. the 6tation, not by way of tho principal street; which' most of its predecessors have used, but. right through the straggling- market-place that, runs parallel to it-.; For once the parade was headed by a band;'and,-"as tho'troops passed along,,tho peasant-women, wearing the brightest >''of. colours, -and the girls, with, blue; or crimson, or yellow kerchiefs for head-dresses, and. decked .with.strings of coins, and of beads, and mariy-hued embroideries; moved, out of the rough roadway, that was ankle-deep ill mud and dined each side'.'of tho.soldiers' path; They shouted cries of farewell and of encouragement; waved their aprons, .their wares —even their heavy! ropes, of -'crimson pap-rika-rand Lceanlo.moro and more excited as the mcii.br'oko off their .marching ■chorus to .answer, them, with icheers. The businesslike troops,'wearing very modern grey overcoats (for the last reinforcements ,have .looked even ..better oauippod than 'those'.that .went":before), 'and'with their, rifles' over their, shoulders, made a strange loiijl a grim contrast,with th'6,rcst of-the 1 , that might 'alniost 'have been, mediaeval, and exotic at,that. . But the enthusiasm of the ihbment.was.moro imprei;sivo than, anything else. ■ It was the. first, time that the peasants, as a body, had come in contact with] the army; and. it gavo the jaded' arid anxious city a new-sensation at last.: '• ■ .

A' Refugeo-from Adrianoplc, •' fortunate chance L have succoc'dc<l in. getting some \ knowledge, • at first hand, of the state of affairs within Adrian- 1 ople. Tho news that tho city -; wiis on firoWs telegraphed to London three days ago; nnd on.'the night after-ths firo broke out an Armenian doctor who was in tho invested • city, .under, cover ■ of', darkness, succeeded in making: his escape, and surrendered himself to the' Bulgarians. Ho is one-Moischo Tor Knlcljiau, h man of considerable accomplishment, who studied r medicine in Vienna and : iu Warsaw, and who;, in addition, to .liis other, languages, speaks perfect French... Ho, was thirtyfive-, years of ..age when' the' investment began; but now ho seems an old man. His tall framo/ is bent, .and ho looksemaciated. His cheeks, are hollow, his eyes haggard, • and there aro grey hairs' in his slight beard. He is. suffering, too, from a flosh-wound in the 'shoulder, for the. Turks fired on-him'when they saw that he was bont'on escaping. / When the five—caused by tho'shells of the besiegers—broke out, at ten o'clock at night, Dr. Kalcbjian says, it spread rapidly in tliO' older, portion of the,city, .which consists of wooden Turkish houses, dry with age, and very inflammable. Tho only hose that oould bo found.was of insufficient length, and ■ within. an, hour the inhabitants of the quarter, mad with terror,: were/rushing in a panic-stricken mob to tho other, side of the city.- There they'woro met by'men of. tho garvison, ■who, in the hope of. quelling the panic, were ordered to fire on them. . Tho disorder lasted throughout the night; and; nearly 'half the "town was completely burnt out.' ■~' ' ■ i -.■■ ■',' ::'",'■' ' . . -..' ■_ Tho Plight of tlio People,-. .''■■

Even, before" the fire the plight of th? people crowded together in tho city—a population of some 80,000, and a very, largo number' of refugees in addition, to say nothing of tho*gwat garrison—was dcplor : able. For a week there had been no bread, served but.', Tho supply of fuel was exhausted, and so, as there was no moans of .cooking, flour was-given to tho people,, ■in daily"rations; raw, and they were left to' uso' the woodwork of their houses in making it palatable. ' In the . firo the i generating station was. destroyed, eo that there is no light; and the doctor.believes that telephonic and telegraphic communication with the outsido world also broken down; so that, if that is the_ case, Adrianoplo is no longer in touch, with, Constantinople.- /The 'streets wore encumbered and the'.air' polluted.with tho bodies of horses and dogs-thoso" that had not served os food—and even of men' and women,:, who, had died cither of their wounds .or of starvation.,; Outedo ,tho city'the waters of tho.'Mantza had risen ■far-above their-usual level-owing to the recent rains, and even' where thcro was no flood much, of tho ground had-been reduced to a swamp. In a desperate effort I to preserve some sort Of 'sanitation bodies of animals have been -thrown into these swnuvp.', and out on; tho flooded banks of the river itself;.and when Uio Waters recede a pestilence, -is .almost; inevitable In the ■' circumstances, .'the , resistance-that \drianoplo' Has made, even though tho real siege is not, many day* old. seems more remarkablo than ever,' For tho sake of.-tho- besieged.,'.city alone peace must como soon, or.the horrors' thero will be indescribable. ' • -