yesterday with her baby from Gulpashan, where they had been refugees
for some time, living in terror of Kurds by day and night. They also
feared the Moslem neighbours and the Turkish guards sent in to
protect the village. Her own village was Tchargousha. In terror the
people fled to the roofs as the village was surrounded by Kurds, and
there was no avenue of escape. The Kurds came up on to the roofs and
commanded the people to go down. Lucy, with one Kurd below her on
the ladder and two above her, her baby on her back, got down. In the
yard she saw her younger sister, Sherin, a pretty girl of about
fifteen, being dragged away by a Kurd. She was imploring Lucy to
save her, but Lucy was helpless. When she was telling me this with
tears and sobs, she said: “Every night, when I try to sleep, I hear
her entreaties, ‘Oh, Lucy, I’ll be your sacrifice, Save me, Lucy!’ I
called to her, ‘Pull your head-kerchief over your face; don’t look
into their faces.’ She tried to conceal her face, and daubed it with
mud, but she has such beautiful dark eyes and rosy cheeks! The Kurds
grabbed the young women and girls, peering into their faces, till
each one found a pretty one for himself, then dragged her away. If
they had only killed my sister we could say, ‘She is dead, like many
another—it is finished’; but that she should be in the hands of a
Kurd—we cannot bear it!” Some of these captives have been recovered,
but there is no word of Sherin.
_Saturday, 23rd January._
Yesterday we counted three thousand three hundred in the church, and
many have gone out, so there must have been four thousand people
there these last two weeks. Is it any wonder that children are dying
by the score? Morning and afternoon there are burials; at other
times the bodies are collected and laid in a room near the gate.
To-day Mr. McDowell succeeded after long efforts in getting a cart
for scavenger work. It came but one day. We have not been able to
get even donkeys, except five or six. The scavengers would not come
into the yards of Christians for such work, even though Mr. McDowell
offered to pay well. We cannot open our back windows, the stench is
too dreadful. I suppose the mere mention of such things is quite
shocking even to read; but we have been living in such surroundings
for nearly three weeks, and see only a little light ahead. We are
hoping we can distribute some of the mountain refugees in empty
houses here in Mart Maryam and the Christian quarter.
Many Moslems who pretended to accept food and goods of Christians
for safe keeping, are now claiming them as their own. One of our
preachers, after having been plundered of practically everything by
his Moslem neighbours, was received as a refugee into one of their
houses and was fed from his own dishes, of his own food, and put to
sleep in his own bed.
Dr. Packard has been gone for several days to the Nazlu villages, to
gather together the remnants of the people scattered in Moslem
villages, or in hiding, and to see if it be possible to put them
into a few of their own places again. Most of the Kurds have left,
but the Syrians are unarmed, and, just as from the beginning, their
Moslem neighbours are their greatest enemies. If it isn’t a Djihad
(Holy War), it is very near it. It must have been planned
beforehand, for there has been concerted action from one end of the
plain to the other, though here and there some Moslems have been
friendly throughout, have done many kindly deeds and saved many
lives.
_Later._
Just at this joint we had an interesting diversion. A band of
Turkish soldiers came into our yard and said they wanted to search
our premises for wounded Russian soldiers. They searched the houses
of the Allens, the Müllers, and our house; then the schools and all
outside buildings and storehouses, even to the smallest closets. You
might have thought they were searching for a lost hair from Osman’s
beard! I have an idea they thought we were concealing arms or
ammunition, though ten days ago we collected all we could find
anywhere among the people, and gave them up to the Osmanli
commander. As we had nothing hidden, of course we had nothing to
fear, though some of the people were scared.
A dozen times a day I pray: “Oh, Lord, how long?” All the first days
it seemed as if it must be a horrible dream from which I would
awake; but it has become a three weeks’ reality, with little hope of
a near dawning. It looks as if our long night might stretch out till
the dawn of peace in Europe. And for these things who shall answer,
if not the Powers of Europe?
We have read that America has done so much for the sufferers in
Europe; surely they will not be too poor to help this little corner
of misery, with its twenty-five or thirty thousand sufferers, and
with absolutely no one on earth to look to but the American Mission!
For months we have not been permitted to write of conditions here,
and now we are entirely shut off from the world, even from Tabriz.
Anything we write “must be in French, just to say we are well.” Our
last word from Tabriz, the nearest mission station and residence of
the American Consul, was written on the 31st December, and this is
the 23rd January.
_Sunday, 24th January._
The fourth Sunday, but no Sabbath. To-day nearly all the people were
taken out of the church and distributed among the empty houses near
the Russian Mission and in the old church. I went with some of the
young men who are helping with the distribution of the bread to
count the people in each place. In one house there were two hundred
and fifty; these are all mountaineers. We give to each one sheet or
loaf of bread per day; about ten ounces. Not very extravagant
feeding, you see!
_Tuesday, 26th January._
On Sunday a Jew brought us word from Usknuk that Kasha David’s
daughter, Sherin, is there in the house of a Kurd, and that every
effort is being made by gifts, persuasion and threats, to make her
turn Mohammedan, but that she always answers “You may kill me, but I
will never deny my faith.” We are making plans to try to get her
back. Dr. Packard reported on his return from the Nazlu villages
that in one place practically the whole population has become Moslem
and have given up their church to be a mosque, while some even
cursed their former faith. But, of course, such people never had any
religion, and changing the name of it is a matter of convenience.
_Wednesday, 27th January._
Miss Lamme and I went to-day to the Jewish quarters to look up
Syrian refugees there. We found them in large numbers in the Jewish
houses, where they had been kept and in some cases fed. Yesterday
the French Mission sent away from their yards two hundred and fifty
or more persons, who first went to the Governor. He telephoned to
Dr. Shedd, and we had to receive them. They were put into Dr.
Israel’s house in Dilgusha, outside the city walls. All the houses
there have been completely plundered; many have been robbed of doors
and windows. No one thinks of returning to homes there, but a great
many have returned to Mart Maryam.
_Later._
Everywhere about the yards people are basking in the wonderful
sunshine, which is more like April than January. The common sight
everywhere is the everlasting hunt for vermin, friends and
neighbours graciously assisting one another. I suppose it is a
vulgar subject to mention, but “we’ve got ’em,” and must go on
living in hourly contact with thousands of others who swarm with
them.
_Friday, 5th February._
We can’t complain of the monotony of life, for we never know what
will happen next. On Tuesday morning I had a wedding in my room
here. The boy and girl were simple villagers. He had gone to Russia
and brought back a little money, with some foreign clothes. Then his
folks began to look round for a wife for him. He was betrothed
several months ago to Anna of Ardishai, and, according to custom,
gave her the money to buy her trousseau. For several weeks she had
been sewing, until at last the wonderful silk dress, white silk
head-kerchief, veil and all the necessaries, were ready. The wedding
was fixed for the Syrian New Year; but—the Kurds came and carried
off wedding clothes and everything else in the house. They all fled
here, and were married in the old, dirty garments they were wearing
when they ran for their lives, for this was a month ago. In the
flight the bride’s mother was lost, probably killed, as nothing has
been heard of her since. Their only present was a little tea and
sugar that I tied up in a kerchief and gave to the bride, that they
might invite a few friends to drink tea instead of eating the dinner
they had intended giving.
There are a great many people who have been accustomed to good
living heretofore, but for months have had no cooked food, so I
invited a number of these to dinner on Wednesday. We had a meat
stew, bread, cheese, pickles and tea, all they could eat. There were
thirty-five for dinner, and twenty for supper. There was enough left
over to feed fifty or more poor and sick ones outside. The whole
thing cost about four dollars and fed a hundred people. We spread
long cloths on the parlour floor and ate with wooden spoons from
enamel plates borrowed for the occasion from the school. The matron
and school-girls did the cooking and serving.
But for our next-door neighbours the scene quickly changed again
from weddings and dinners to one of terror and flight by night. The
house of Dr. —— adjoins ours, and the roofs are continuous. For
several days there had been rumours that their house would be
plundered by the Turkish authorities, and they had not dared to
undress and go to bed in peace, but on Wednesday they felt more safe
and went to bed early. I myself had gone to bed, but not to sleep.
Just before eleven o’clock I heard loud knocking on their gate, and
then a rapid trampling of feet on the roof over my room. Pretty soon
there was quite a commotion in our front yard. I jumped up, and saw
in the yard a dozen or more Turkish soldiers, who entered through
our front door and went up to the roof through our halls. I dressed
as quickly as I could and went to Miss Coan’s room on the roof, to
find that some of the women from Dr. ——’s family were already there.
In a few minutes the rest of the women and children from there
climbed the wall or slid from the roof on to our balcony, and I let
them in through the window into our parlour. They were crying and
frightened nearly to death, but kept quiet. The Turks searched the
house, but took nothing, saying they had come to take evil men, not
things. They came back through our house again. The orders have been
in our yard that the gate should never be opened at night but by one
of the gentlemen; so, when they first knocked, the guard came and
called Mr. Allen. He let them in and went with them to Dr. ——’s
house. In the meantime, a Syrian had aroused Mr. Müller, and when he
tried to get out of his front door he found a Turk guarding it. He
tried to push out, saying that he was the master of the house, but
the Turk struck him and refused to let him pass. When the gang
returned from our neighbours’, they insisted on searching Mr.
Müller’s house, even going into the bedroom where Mrs. Müller was in
bed and Ruth was sick. Meanwhile a second band came and pounded on
our gate, but our guards had run away, and finally one of the men
climbed a telephone pole to the roof, got down inside and opened the
gate. The officer tied up the Persian guards as a punishment for not
opening the gate. Afterwards they went into the Allen house and even
asked to have the piano played. It is maddening to have our premises
and houses invaded in this way, and by such a lot, but we are
helpless, and, for the sake of what we may be able to do for the
safety of the people, our gentlemen have to smile and try to turn
away their wrath with soft words, even though they are threatened
and called liars by the representatives of the invading Government.
I don’t believe the Mission in the seventy-five years and more of
its existence has ever been placed in so difficult and humiliating a
position.
Still the ghastly procession of the dead marches on. Between seven
and eight hundred have died so far. A great many are able to get
plain wooden coffins for their dead now, but the great mass are just
dropped into the great trench of rotting humanity. As I stand at my
window in the morning I see one after another of the little bodies
carried by, wrapped mostly in a ragged piece of patch-work; and the
condition of the living is more pitiful than that of the
dead—hungry, ragged, dirty, sick, cold, wet, swarming with
vermin—thousands of them! Not for all the wealth of all the rulers
of Europe would I bear for one hour their responsibility for the
suffering and misery of this one little corner of the world alone. A
helpless, unarmed Christian community turned over to the sword and
the passion of Islam!
This morning my attention was called to a girl of twelve, who was
too sick to be kept any longer in a room with other people. A young
Syrian woman, who was helping with the sick, wanted to put her into
that closet under the stairway from which none ever come out alive.
I said: “She will die in there.” She replied: “Of course she will
die, but we shall have to find a place for her until she does.” We
put her there temporarily until we found a small room where there
were only _twenty_. These we distributed among other crowded rooms,
brought Marganeta there, laid her on some matting and covered her
with an old carpet. Poor child, she has a sweet face, but life has
treated her cruelly.
Dysentery has been bad for a long time, and when the sick get
helpless and their condition offensive, it is almost impossible to
get anyone to care for them unless they have near relatives.
Dysentery and measles have both been epidemic for a long time, and
nearly all deaths are directly due to one or both of these diseases.
We had a real respectable funeral in the front yard this afternoon.
A good old woman from Degala died, and her pastor had a service for
her. This is only the second real funeral service I have seen,
though a preacher is always present at the two burials daily, and
conducts a service at the cemetery.
_Friday, 12th February._
To-day we have begun a new method of giving out bread. We have
printed forms, which we fill in and ask the heads of families to
sign, promising to pay us later for the bread. All day thousands
have been crowding the big tent in the yard, where a number of young
men have been filling in and giving out these tickets for bread. The
problem is a big one. Undoubtedly some could find bread who are
taking it free, but we cannot decide most of the cases. Then we are
spending thousands of borrowed money, and as yet no response to our
cablegram sent long ago to America! The numbers asking for bread are
increasing daily, but if we should refuse it, hundreds would die of
starvation.
Again the yards are wet and muddy from melting snow. The last two
days have been very hard for the thousands without fuel and with
very little clothing. One of the verses that helps to keep my faith
steady these days is: “He that spared not His own Son.”
The death-rate has been considerably reduced; for two weeks or more
it averaged over thirty a day.
Mr. Allen is off on a tour to the villages of the upper Nazlu river,
to see what is left there, and to give help or encouragement to
anyone who may be left. A while ago when Mr. Allen visited the
villages on the Baranduz, one of our Bible Women told him of a
certain spot she wished him to visit. She lived in Kurtapa, and as
she was about to flee with a bag containing nine tomans[48] of
money, the robbers appeared at the door. She quickly threw the bag
down beside a broken earthen tub and the thieves did not see it. Mr.
Allen went to that village, found the room and the broken tub with
the bag of money beside it, and brought the money to its owner.
Last week, the Shahbanda, or Turkish Consul, who is now the chief
authority, demanded six thousand tomans of the Syrians. With great
trouble this was partly collected and partly borrowed by the help of
the Sirdar (Persian Governor), who demanded six hundred more for his
share. The Shahbanda promised that, if this were given, the shops
and houses of the Syrians in the city would not be disturbed. It
remains to be seen how much his word is worth.
To-morrow completes six weeks of this siege and semi-siege
condition. We keep on praying, but see no signs of deliverance. We
are shut off from the world, and thousands are held in this bondage
by a few hundred Osmanli troops and a few wandering Kurds. I realize
now that Persia is dead—or worse; she has no manhood nor moral
character left.
_Wednesday, 17th February._
A few days ago the Turkish Consul arrested all the men at the French
Mission. After some examination, a hundred were sent away, leaving
about sixty-three at the Consulate. A gallows with seven nooses was
erected at the “Kurdish Gate” of the city, the one near us, and on
Sunday the ropes were put in place. The people here on Sunday were
very badly scared. The women of the men under arrest came and wept
and besought Dr. Shedd to do something, but he could do nothing.
That evening the people gathered in the church for prayer, and
continued praying until midnight. Each night since similar meetings
have been held. As yet no one has been hanged, but the Turkish
Consul is demanding money for their release. The second day after
the arrest of these people, a Turkish soldier was sent to us to ask
us to send bread for the prisoners, and we have been feeding them
ever since. When their women-folk went to see them they were charged
two krans (ninepence) admission. It has been reported that the
prisoners have been tortured in various ways known to the Turks, in
order to extort money from their families.
The Turkish Consul has demanded the ten thousand tomans of English
bank money committed to us when the bankers fled. The matter has
been referred to our Consul in Tabriz. If it should have to be
surrendered, we should be in straits, for that is all we have to buy
bread with for these thousands of hungry people. Weeks ago we
appealed to America, both to the Red Cross and to our Board, but
there is no reply.
It was reported to me that there were refugees here who had stores
of flour, meat, butter, etc., and yet were taking bread from us, so
yesterday I made an investigation and found small quantities; but if
the whole were sold, it would not amount to twenty dollars, and the
owners would be reduced to nothing but dry bread, and, though this
might do for a limited time, they cannot “live by bread alone” week
after week. Undoubtedly this terrible epidemic of dysentery which
has carried off hundreds is due largely to lack of proper food and
want of variety of food. As I made the rounds of our own yards
yesterday and visited the people herded together in one of the dark
storerooms of our Persian Girls’-School, it seemed to me that their
condition of cold, hunger, filth and sickness was about as miserable
as they could get in this world. One great difference that was
apparent in all the rooms was the absence of small children,
hundreds having died during these last months.
The evangelistic work is now well organized, and everywhere there
are at least daily meetings for everyone. The women workers under
Miss Lamme visit outside places. Mrs. McDowell, with native women,
also visits outside places where there are large numbers of refugees
herded together. Mr. McDowell tries to keep the preachers at work,
too.
Last week a group of one hundred and fifty or more mountaineers who
are staying at Sengar, two or three miles from the city came down
with one of Kurdu’s men, asking us to feed them They said that
heretofore they had been provided for by Kurdu, a Kurdish chief, for
whom they had been working, carrying away for him the plunder he had
collected here, and that now he was leaving and we must feed them.
We put them off several times, but finally accepted the additional
burden. Every one who gets tired of his job of charity or
responsibility throws it upon us. There seems no end, and this is
the seventh week.
_Thursday, 18th February._
Yesterday afternoon I went out to the College compound for the first
time since Christmas. We had to drive under the gallows at the city
gate. It creates rather unpleasant feelings to think that perhaps
some of our friends may be suspended there.
Our Mission is being treated with more consideration than at first,
and we are hoping that perhaps the Turkish Consul has heard from
Constantinople, and that our own Government has been exerting
influence at Berlin and Constantinople. For weeks we have had no
word from the outside world; but we “rest in Jehovah and wait
patiently for Him.”
_Friday, 19th February._
This has been a snowy day again. The people have been making it a
day of fasting and prayer—as if every day were not a fast day!
_Saturday, 20th February._
All day negotiations have been going on in regard to the English
bank money. When Dr. Shedd and Dr. Packard were called to the
Turkish Consulate, they found there the former Urmia Consul, who had
fled from here last autumn when war between Russia and Turkey was
first declared. He had gone south to Soujboulak. It looks as if he
were perhaps fleeing now in this direction, which would mean that
the Russians were in Soujboulak; we have heard this report. It is
being reported that the Kurds were making preparations to-day for
leaving here. It may be that the Consul’s haste to get this money is
another evidence that he is expecting to leave soon. He told the
gentlemen to-day that he thought that, as Americans, they ought to
make a contribution toward the cause of Turkey. They have felt that
a compromise on the ten thousand is the best way out, and suggested
that he take two thousand; but he refused to take less than five
thousand, and promised that he would not take it before to-morrow,
so if something does not develop before to-morrow we shall probably
be the poorer by that amount. We are hoping that it may be taken
without any show of force or violence. Of course, we cannot make any
resistance.
To-day we finished going over all the bread tickets, arranging the
names according to villages. Then we called in responsible men from
each village and went over the lists, to find out those who would be
able to help themselves soon, and those who had reported more
members of families than they have. I am sorry to say that we found
scores who were cheating in various ways, and now we have to get
hold of all of them—a big business for some days to come. We are
distributing 14,000-15,000 loaves of about ten and a half ounces
each day; but there are so many getting more than a loaf each that
there are probably not more than eleven thousand persons receiving.
An epidemic of typhoid has broken out at the College among the
refugees—twenty-seven cases. To-day, even in the midst of our
troubles, the Evangelistic Board met to consider a reorganization of
the work. When the people are able to return to the villages, they
will probably have to settle temporarily in a few of the larger
ones.
_Sunday, 21st February._
To-day there are three or four services in the church. This morning
it was packed for a communion service and many were turned away.
Another communion service is arranged for this afternoon, and then
again next Sunday, to give an opportunity for all communicants.
_Tuesday, 23rd February._
Last night one of the most terrible things that has yet happened
occurred. In the evening ten or a dozen of the prisoners from the
French Mission, taken ten days or more ago by the Turkish Consul,
were discharged, and we all felt that probably the rest would soon
be set free, as there was no special charge against them. But this
morning five men, two of them Moslems, were found hanging from the
gallows at the Kurdish Gate, and forty-eight others were shot beyond
the Tcharbash Gate. No one has dared to go out yet and get the
bodies, though Dr. Shedd has asked permission of the Turkish Consul.
For two days we had felt so much more hopeful, but to-day a terrible
fear has fallen on the people. There is much silent weeping, but
little violent demonstration, though the mothers, wives and families
of the murdered men are here. The question in everybody’s mind is:
“What will the Turks do next?” Forty or fifty shots were distinctly
heard in the night between one and two o’clock, but no one guessed
what they meant. We had begun yesterday to take their bread-tickets
away from a few of the people to try to force them to go to their
villages or find money in some way to provide for themselves; but
now they are too frightened to leave and everything is set back
again. Two or three days ago the Turks took some things from the
French Mission property here, carpets, etc., and we hear that they
are plundering more to-day. On Sunday we received a card from Tabriz
saying that everything was quiet there, that £1,000 relief had been
received, and that Mr. Labaree was going to the Caucasus to relieve
the refugees who had fled from Urmia to Russia.
_Wednesday, 24th February._