A FINE ACHIEVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2960, 26 December 1916, Page 8

A FINE ACHIEVEMENT

HOW A BELFAST MAN SAVED 25,000 AMENIANS. Mr. G. P. Gracey, of Belfast, who for many years worked for the American Mission in Armenia, and has been one of the administrators of / the ' Lord Mayor's Fund, tells how he organised the retreat of no fewer than 25,000 unarmed Armenians from the zone' of danger by Lake Van to a region of safety, 150 miles distant, at Igdiali. He was the only Western European in tho district, and managed the entire exodus single-handed. Tho only available line of retreat from Mush, when it was retaken by the enomy, lay through the Pass of Bekrikala, a lonely mountain outlet, infested, by Kurds and other marauders. Mr. Gracey hastily armed with rifles 250 volunteers, who seized the pass, and L secured the retreat of a hundred times their number, though not without suffering a number of casualties. Russian troops at Van were, at Mr. Gracey's request, drawn across the route in. a cordon, through which only 1000 of tho refugees were permitted, to pass every two hours. By this device the column was distributed automatically over many miles of road. For five days the march continued. The average distance covered was 30 miles a day, and 25,000 refugees, with their 6000 cattlo, took' two days to pass any/ given point. There were practically no mishaps. Many childron got separated from their parents, but wore "sorted out" at Igdiali. Five babies are known to have been born en route, and all survived. The were flour and sugar. The refugees improvised stoves out of flat stones, heating them, with dry refuse. On these stoves they set metal plates, on which hard calces were cooked into unleavened bread. For four days Mr. Gracey lived on broad and water, with tho help of one military meal at a Russian station. The final stages of the march lay through watorless plains. Dr. Mnccallum and Mr. Backhouse (of the Lord Mayor's Fund) arranged for the refugees to be mot with soup, bread, water, and fodder.