ROUMANIAN HORRORS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 5 June 1907, Page 4

ROUMANIAN HORRORS.

KKJiiM.S MOWED IX>\YX liV AKTILLF.HY. THOUSANDS KILLED. UUUKX FIGHT IX THE RAXKS. Vienna March 2!). The Uoumanian Government htm decided that the only way to crush the peasants' rising is by the ruthless use of artillery..

During the last forty-eight hours « number of towns and villages have been bombarded and thousands of peasants slaughtered. Ft is impossible to estimate the number. Hoth the Government troops and the peasants have displayed almost incredible cruelty, and the atrocities that are being hourly reported have, seldom been equalled in the lialkans.

All the Government artillery in hcing employed against the rebels, and every rebel town is being laid (o ruins.. Xo quarter is being given in any ease where the peasants have refused to surrender.

A battery ol iield gnus bombarded the village of Vicru, which was held by the rebels. One hundred and forty houses were destroyed at a one mile range and more than three hundred peasants killed.

Two neighboring villages were then completely razed by Oin shells anil all the inhabitants killed. The battery afterwards moved through the district i.vstematicallv, laving it in waste. PEASANTS ROUTED. Another field battery came upon a •body of 11.000 peasants armed with knives, axes, scythes, and various other weapons, near Bailesti. The peasants were marching in close order, and the field guns mowed them down by the score. When four hundred had been killed in a few minutes, the peasants scattered like sheep, and fled in all directions. Half a dozen shells were sent after them, and killed many more. The sequel was different at Stanesti, where the peasants defeated the troops and destroyed the large estate of M. Lahovarv, the Roumanian Minister at Vienna. Some days ago troops with artillery attacked the village, six hundred peasants being killed and four hundred other wounded.

The peasant bands have been surrounded by artillery and annihilated near Giurgevo. Similar massacres of peasants are reported from Brahova and Jlozasti, where a large number of women fought desperately beside their husbands. The bodies of many of these women were afterwards found among the dead. All the honors of civil war were experienced at Moinesti, where the troops ■and peasants fought for three hours, and the latter were finally dispersed with terrible losses. One soldier asked the captain of his company lor permission to bury the body of his father whom he had seen fall on the peasant side.

Several officers captured by the peaBants at Bolintinu. near Bukharest, were treated with especial cruelty. Petroleum was poured over Engineer Captain Botcz, and he was roasted alive. A captured lieutenant's hands were cut olf, and lie was otherwise tortured.

In districts not controlled by troops the rebels continue their campaign of murder and rapine.

In the Teleorman district, a farmer saved his life by burying himself in a pile of refuse for eight hours.

At Temovean the mouth of a murdered landowner was filled with earth by infuriated peasants, who shouted: "You have your fill of the land at last!" VIGOROUS POLICY.

A Roumanian Government report states that the troops have everywhere acted with great courage, tinnness, and loyalty. Eleven officers and a number of soldiers have been killed and wounded. The Government is determined to suppress the rebellion at all costs. T!ie districts of Tcleonnan und Oil are reported to be the most serious centres of the revolt.

Austrian ;m«) ]>ulg;trian subjects are being removed by special steamers from various Roumanian ports 011 the Danube. Professor Fischer.. a well-known Roumanian authority, attributes the peasants discontent to insuflieienl nourishment. The Orthodox Church prescribes ll>3 fast days in the year, when nothing is eaten until evening. The chief food is ''polenta.*' In inanv districts the infant mortality is 73 per cent. The majority of the peasants are illiterate. The peasants in Northern Moldavia, who were recently pacified, threaten to renew their agitation on the Jewish passover if the Government promises are not fulfilled.