An Armenian Massacre.

Hastings Standard, Issue 73, 21 July 1896, Page 4

An Armenian Massacre.

The details of the massacre of Arimnnri winch took plact at tht town of Orfih in ir t.- >p >tv in comoletoly tl ron in r o tl h>\ th- Ik inv? of S < in i" 1 ! 1 u 1• t thr long 1 t< f in f -Mr.]» i ,t ir 1 up' n an ui n pit 1 ta un^peakaM link I h i -nit oci irred I st IVffi b< r i i tt f\ li r u tic ulars orfi r < h i'! V 1 - 1t ConSv. n " t 1 m A \ \ 1 t t-f it is rle \m 1 1 i <. i mm ' -<1 mb that th. rnti i n \\ i- d rit [ lined ■wuh th c i i inn of tin local authorities, acttnu on superior orders. The nrst attack upon the unfortunate Armenian-;, of whom there were 20 f)00 in {, i 1 mot l> 0) J tdok plu. it Jut »l 1i f ('l i 111 ml u'Dse oi f of tin ic i )i» o i \r ii mn iti asking a Mr.hommedan to pay him some money owing to him. The result of this oatrige on the Mahomihwliti's principles was that some thirty Armenians wrre killed, ana 700 of their and ~om<> LOO of th» ir hou-ps v, r< v. The Armenian quarter w l- 1 t-ifgi d for nearly two months. at the end of which time the final !ha-a;n uemnvd. On that day a !• *ly of military with some mounted police, under the command of a I'asha. was drawn up outside the Armenian quarter, and was supported by an armed Mahommedan mob. A bugle sounded the attack, and forthwith -■ -1-ivr- and mob rushed in and b'-gan a general massacre of male Armenians. The houses were broken in. and the men, who had given up all their arms, were dragged out, pleading for mercy, and butchered. About a hundred young men were thrown down on their backs and held down by their hands and feet while a Mohammedan priest, reciting verses of the Koran, cut their throats one after the other, after the Mecca rite of sacrificing sheep. The slaughter and the wrecking of houses continued for two da)-, and was marked towards the close of the second day by a deed of such ipp idling savagery as would hardly be possible in any part of the world but that under Turkish rule. Three thousand men, women, and children had taken refuge in the fine Armenian Cathedral, where the priest administered the to 1800 people. The mob began by firing in through the windows and then breaking open the iron doors, proceeded to murder all on the ground floor. They then rifled the cathedral of its treasures, and finally the large gallery, running all round the upper portion of the building, which was packed with terrified women and children, was set on iire and all perished in the flames. Shortly after this atrocious crime the mob withdrew and the Turkish authorities went round the quarter, proclaiming that the massacre was at an end. It is estimated that, including 2500 or 3000 people burnt or killed in the cathedral, the total loss of life in the two days was at '••a.-t *OOO. The loss of property is at something like £200,000, and the condition of the thousands of widows and orphans is most wretched. In spite of the great temptation to turn Mahommedan. by which at least their lives would be safe, only some 400 out of the entire Armenian Christian population did so, and this steadfast adherence to their religious faith has, to a large extent, marked the Armenians all through tkeir sufferings.