their personal safety. They asked that one of our men should go
there and put up an American flag; but, of course, we could not do
that. Yesterday the Turkish Consul sent word that if we wanted the
bodies of the three Christians hanging at the gate, we had
permission to take them. Mr. McDowell and Mr. Allen went with some
Syrians, took down the bodies, and buried them. There has been a
little more disorder than usual, and the people are terrified again.
I have had to give back many of the bread tickets that we had
collected. There are hundreds of people who have fields and
vineyards, but who cannot borrow a dollar. These tickets are really
promissory notes which they have signed, promising to pay later, but
we need _cash_ now, and our bread queue does not decrease—rather,
increases. I wonder what a trained Red Cross worker would do with a
mob that will not stand in line or stay where you put them; who,
when you go over the case and give the answer, refuse to take it,
but stand about and weep briny tears by the hour. They have no sense
of honour, don’t know how to tell the truth, can’t tell the same
story twice, and do not know much about anything except that their
stomachs are empty. They try to get bread under the names of the
dead, and when accused of evading the truth, will declare in the
most injured tones: “We wouldn’t lie.” There is much that would be
funny in these investigations if it did not get monotonous.
_Saturday, 27th February._
When Mr. McDowell returned from the burial of those shot on Jewish
Hill, he reported that they had found forty bodies and identified
all but five or six.
On Wednesday night, a still more horrible deed was committed at
Gulpashan. This village and Iriawa had been shielded, partly through
the efforts of a German; but on Wednesday night a band of Persian
volunteers, arriving from Salmas or beyond, went there, took fifty
men, and, according to reports, shot them in the graveyard near by.
They then plundered the village, took girls and young women,
outraged them, and acted in general as one might expect Satan to do
when turned loose.
The horror and sadness of everything has been brought nearer to us
by the death of Mlle. Madelaine Perrochet, a young Swiss girl who
came with the Coans four months ago to teach the missionary
children. She was only twenty-one, so bright, so pretty, that we had
all learned to love her dearly. She spoke English well, and, of
course, French and German. She died on Thursday, after dinner, and
yesterday (Friday) we had the funeral service in Dr. Coan’s living
room, led by Mr. McDowell. We could not take her out to our little
cemetery at Seir, so she was buried in Dr. Coan’s garden, just at
the right of the entrance to the long grape-arbour. In his prayer
Mr. McDowell used the words: “We are not only walking in the valley
of the shadow of death, but we are dwelling there in these weeks.”
Just now two of the young Syrians who are the chief men in helping
with the bread came in and told me that they had received warning
secretly that they had better leave here and hide with some friendly
Moslems, as the Turkish Consul is going to take out all the young
men from our yards and other places in the city and kill them—“wipe
them out.” I cannot believe that it can be true, but we cannot know.
If they enter our yards by force and murder men, then there is no
further safety for any of us. As one of these young men said just
now: “Let us commit everything into the hands of God, and then wait
and be ready for whatever comes.”
Typhus is raging at the College. Yesterday there were seventy cases
at the College compound, and over a hundred others on diet, with the
probability of a large part of them developing typhoid. It is
impossible to take care of so many cases or feed them properly under
such conditions. At the hospital they are buying all the milk and
mesta (matzoun) they can get. Mrs. Cochran has had charge of the
feeding there, as well as doing much else, and yesterday she went to
bed; to-day there are symptoms of typhoid. Mrs. Coan and Miss Coan
took care of Mlle. Perrochet, and the last week or two had the help
of a Syrian woman who has had a nurse’s course in America, Miss
George. She has proved very efficient and a great help and comfort.
_Saturday Night._
There was a great deal of anxiety lest something should happen here;
but we woke on Sunday morning in safety and saw a rainbow in the
northern sky, though there was no rain. The reports of Mr. Allen
from Gulpashan were too black to be written. The soldiers sent out
by the Consul to protect the villages against Kurds and Moslem
looters left unviolated hardly a woman or girl of those remaining in
the village, and a number of girls were carried off. It seemed quite
apparent that they understood that the whole business of protecting
was to be a farce. When on Sunday morning Mr. Allen returned and
wanted to bring people with him, he was not permitted. Those who had
been murdered in the cemetery a few nights previously had been
buried under a few inches of earth, and when he wanted to have them
uncovered to identify them and bury them deeper, he was refused. The
soldiers had made them all sit down on the ground and then shot at
them. They then looked them over, and any who were found to be
breathing were shot the second time. The only reason for all this
was that they bore the name of “Christian.” What has the Christian
world to say?
Mr. McDowell went to Iriawa and found similar conditions there. We
were very glad to see him and Mr. Allen safely back, for they
undoubtedly were in jeopardy themselves and were treated insolently
by the soldiers.
Mrs. Cochran is better, and we feel now that she will not have
typhoid. It is a tremendous relief. Only seven died here in this
quarter yesterday. The death list here has passed the thousand mark,
and, including the Boys’-School yard and the College, fifteen
hundred. All the past week three young men and myself have been kept
busy all the morning and into the middle of the afternoon examining
bread tickets, hearing pleas, and giving out new tickets as the new
refugees have come in. The last several days we have purchased,
without counting the College, nearly ten thousand pounds of bread
daily.
_Friday, 5th March._
Mrs. Cochran has typhoid, but so far in a light form. Mrs. Coan and
Miss Coan are taking on her work as best they can, and caring for
her too, with the help of the Syrian nurse, Miss George. Dr. Packard
has been in bed two or three days, but we do not know if it is
typhoid or not. Mr. Allen went to Gulpashan with permission from the
Turkish Consul, to bury those who had been murdered. He found fifty
bodies. When he came back, a crowd of sixty-four, mostly women and
girls, came with him. Our yards and rooms, including the church, are
crowded again, but with cleaner people. Most of the mountaineers are
out. Two families of mountaineers who are friendly with the Kurds
started out yesterday for their homes. It is spring now, and time
for ploughing and sowing, and unless the people can soon get to
their villages there will be a dearth of wheat and other grain next
year. There are repeated reports of the approach of the Russian
army, and some Germans here have said that they were soon expecting
to go on a journey. If the Turks should have to flee, there is no
telling what they might do before going; but we do not dare to let
our hopes of deliverance rise, for it makes the long wait harder.
A few days ago the ex-Turkish Consul sent word that if there were
any girls held captive that we wanted to get, he would find them for
us. That looks as if there had been a quarrel—or perhaps it is a
trick to trip us into being unwise. It takes the wisdom of the
serpent as well as the simplicity of the dove!
_Saturday, 6th March._
Dr. Packard has developed typhoid. There is only Mrs. Packard to
take care of him, and she is far from strong, and there are four
lively boys to care for and keep out of mischief and danger. Since
Mlle.’s death, it leaves the children’s education on the mothers’
shoulders, and Mrs. Packard has been trying to take the bulk of it.
This morning I made out the second month’s report of the bread funds
which have passed through my hands. So far we have spent
approximately £1,500. Over £120 has been collected in sales, which
leaves nearly £1,400 debt for us. This does not include College or
Boys’-School yard. All of this has been spent on dry bread alone,
two hundred and twenty-three and a half tons, all brought in on the
backs of carriers. About one hundred and fifty pounds is a man’s
load. This month we have distributed four and a quarter tons a day.
_Evening._
There is considerable fear to-night among the Christians that the
Turks may strike a blow before they go. We have twenty-five extra
guards of Persian soldiers. All day Moslem villagers have been
fleeing to the city in fear of what the Russians may do when they
come. We do not know how near they are, for we have no means of
communication. It would seem strange to lie down in quiet and peace,
knowing that all fear and terror to these poor people were passed.
_Sunday, 7th March._
Dr. Packard is very sick with typhoid; yesterday his temperature was
105. He seems quieter to-day. Dr. Pera, former hospital assistant,
has promised to take care of him every day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
and Mrs. Packard will be night-nurse. Mrs. Cochran seems to be
getting along quietly. Thirty cases of typhoid are reported in one
of the houses in the suburbs, which a few days ago we filled up with
refugees brought from the College compound. They probably brought
the germ with them. The only reason it is not raging here is the
eternal vigilance of Mr. McDowell in looking after sanitary
conditions and the watercourses. He has frequently to appeal to the
Governor to get donkeys for carrying off refuse, though he pays
well. As the church is full of refugees, two meetings are held daily
in the Seminary yard. Kasha Moshi of Geogtapa makes a fine outdoor
preacher.
Just now, as I came from dinner, a woman met me, leading a little
girl by the hand, and in her most wheedling tones tried to present
her to me as a gift, saying she was her great-grandchild. I laughed
and said I already had one hundred such gifts. She felt that I was
not properly appreciative! There are scores of people who would like
to dump their responsibilities under these conditions. We have had a
number of cases of relatives deserting old and helpless women and
leaving them for us to care for until they died.
_Monday, 8th March._
Yesterday there was general fasting and prayer until noon for Dr.
Packard’s and Mrs. Cochran’s recovery. There is a beginning of what
we hope may be a deep and permanent spiritual awakening. In such
times one lives in the presence of eternal realities, and Heaven
seems quite near. It is marvellous how the Word of God speaks to us
in every condition and experience through which we pass.
_Tuesday, 9th March._
On Sunday a Mohammedan orator made a speech in a garden in Dilgusha
to a crowd of several thousand people, practically all Moslems. He
said that Italy and Persia had joined in the alliance with Germany,
Austria and Turkey, and, of course, are in the way of victory.
America had taken no part in this war, but is doing good all over
the world without regard to race or religion, caring for the sick
and wounded, feeding the hungry and befriending the needy. The
American missionaries here, he said, have done and are doing this,
and everyone should honour them and stand up for them. At this there
was great applause.
Last night a body of askars entered the house of Dr. ——, whose yard
adjoins ours, and demanded Mar Elia, a Russian Bishop, who has been
in hiding these last weeks. They didn’t find him, but took about
forty pounds’ worth of money and jewellery and frightened the people
nearly to death. Our watchman called Mr. McDowell and Mr. Allen and
they tried to go over to the help of the women. Mr. McDowell climbed
the ladder from this side to go over into their yard, but at the top
met a gun in the hands of an askar, who demanded his retreat. Mr.
McDowell, out of respect for the gun, didn’t insist on having his
way. That yard is not in our hands and we have no flag there, so, of
course, we couldn’t do anything. This has scared the people again.
This morning one woman brought me some jewellery and papers to keep
for her. She had been in America and only returned last spring, and
was bewailing her stupidity in returning. She says she is only
waiting for a way to open for her to go back, never to return.
Hundreds are saying the same thing, and I think there will be a
large emigration to America when the way opens. I wouldn’t mind
emigrating myself for a while!
_Friday, 12th March._
We cannot complain of the monotony of life for these last two or
three days. It was on Monday night that the Turks tried to get the
Bishop, but he escaped over the church roof. The next afternoon they
suddenly appeared again, and this time found him hiding on the
church roof behind a parapet. He tried to get down an old ladder
standing by the wall, but the askar who was at the other end of the
roof raised his gun and told him he would shoot if he attempted to
run, so he was captured. It is said that he had two thousand tomans
in gold and Russian paper money on his person. This, of course, was
taken. The most unfortunate incident of that capture was the arrest
at the same time of Dr. Lokman. At Mr. McDowell’s request, Dr.
Lokman (Syrian) had gone over the wall into Dr. ——’s house to find
out if there were any typhoid cases there, and was caught by the
askars. Our mission at once began to make efforts to secure their
release. The Turkish Consul demanded £200 for Dr. Lokman and £2,000
for the Bishop. In the evening he sent word that unless they were
immediately redeemed they would be shot at midnight. He ordered the
Persian Governor to send eight men to assist at the shooting. In the
meantime they had gotten hold of another man or two. When word came
about Dr. Lokman there was some hustling to find the money. “Brides”
(young married women) were asked to give up the gold pieces from
their dowry, and in a short time the £200 was sent. When Dr. Lokman
was notified of his release he was sleeping soundly without any
realization of the doom hanging over him. When he reached our yards
and his family and friends congratulated him, he felt like one
raised from the dead. Just as soon as he heard that the others were
still in danger, he said: “Well, we must try to do something to
release them.” He is one of the most prominent Syrians here and
influential with the Persian Government. From the first day of these
troubles he has been on hand to help in governmental affairs in
every way possible. All day yesterday efforts were being made to get
money to redeem the others.
These last two nights our yards have been overflowing with people
from the Christian quarter here, and already the Moslems from the
villages are crowding into the city for fear of the Russians. As one
of our bakers said yesterday: “The city gates cannot let them in
fast enough.” The city is in a panic for fear of what the Russians
will do to the Moslems when they arrive. Heaven grant that they will
act in the spirit of Christ and not of Mohammed! Everywhere the
Moslems are now anxious to show themselves friends of Christians.
David gives expression to my sentiments concerning the wicked in Ps.
59.
The Germans, I understand, have already left, except one of the
leaders, and he is ready to go in haste. Yesterday I had to stay in
bed with a headache, and it seemed to me that the very air was
vibrating with expectation and excitement. Ten thousand times a day
the petition arises, “O Lord, deliver us.” Ten weeks to-morrow! It
seems impossible to hold out much longer. “O Lord, deliver us from
the hand of the wicked.” Dr. Packard is still quite sick. Mrs.
Cochran seems to be getting along slowly. They have so many cases of
typhoid at the College that they have put up the big tent in the
School yard there for a hospital.
_Tuesday, 16th March._
To-day our hearts are heavy and sorrowful. Dr. Packard is very sick
indeed, and it seems now as if Miss Coan has typhoid or typhus,
whichever this sickness is. Mrs. Cochran appears to be getting along
all right. We want Dr. Vanneman from Tabriz, but there seems to be
no way to get a message through to him. Dr. Shedd asked the Turkish
Consul to help us get a messenger through, but he said he couldn’t.
The Russians are between Urmia and Tabriz. We have twenty-five or
thirty cases of typhoid here in this compound. Mr. McDowell is
trying to empty a few rooms to put the sick in, but it is very
difficult.
Last night there was great fear again in Mart Maryam lest the new
arrivals might devise some new evil for them, and many wanted to
crowd into our yard, but every place is full. We are feeding 15,000
persons daily, one loaf each. A note by secret messenger came from
Dr. Vanneman a few days ago, saying that they had received £1,200
for relief. This means a great deal, but it will pay only a third of
the debt we already have. The Turks still hold Shamasha Lazar and
Mar Elia (Bishop) for a big ransom. Our funds are getting low, and
Mr. Müller has borrowed some money at 24 per cent. interest. Last
week our hopes of deliverance were high, but hope so long deferred
makes the heart grow faint. Mr. McDowell was trying to get some sick
people out of the big school-room when he saw a tired and weary
woman, with a baby in her arms, sitting in one of the seats, and
said to her: “Where do you stay?” She said: “Just here.” “How long
have you been here?” “Since the beginning (two months),” she
replied. “How do you sleep at night?” “I lay the baby on the desk in
front of me, and I have this post at the back to lean against. This
is a very good place. Thank you very much.”
The men don’t dare to go outside our yards for fear of being
arrested and held for ransom. One of the Syrian physicians was asked
by a missionary to go outside and see some sick. He laughed and
said: “I’ll go if you will pay the bill.”
_Thursday, 18th March._
It is such a relief to have Dr. Packard come to himself again,
though he is very weak. Miss Coan’s fever still continues, and Miss
Lamme has gone to the College to help there. This morning Mr.
McDowell is down with fever, but we hope it is only malaria.
Shamasha Lazar, who has been a prisoner for a week at the Turkish
Consulate, was released on payment of one thousand tomans cash on
the condition that he finds the other £400 within two days.
If there were a mail or some other way open to Tabriz, we could sell
orders on Dr. Vanneman, our Mission Treasurer in Tabriz, but the
bankers will not buy such orders now because they can’t dispose of
them until a way to Tabriz is opened. The day before yesterday we
tried to make a bargain with our twenty or more Mohammedan bakers,
who are supplying us with about six tons of bread daily, to let us
have it on twenty days’ credit. They agreed to do it on condition
that at the end of ten days we would pay half; but after they left
here they agreed among themselves that they would not deliver bread
yesterday, though they didn’t tell us. In the morning, when we found
that no bread was coming, we sent out and got other bakers to
deliver for cash. When our regular bakers found we were buying
elsewhere, they came back, and after a long discussion they promised
to deliver for twenty days, if we would pay half every five days. So
it stands; we shall see if they stick to their bargain. Fortunately,
yesterday we had half a day’s supply on hand, and managed to buy
enough to finish out. There is a cash famine, and anyone who has any
money wants to hold on to it in such uncertain times.
This morning, a little after five, we were aroused by shouts and a
commotion near by. The askars with their officers had entered the
English mission yard by climbing a ladder from the street over the
wall into the yard of a Mr. ——, who is a Syrian, but an English
subject. The watchman gave the alarm, and Mr. Muller and Mr. Allen
were soon on the spot. Of course they couldn’t do anything but
reassure the women. Eight or ten men were arrested and taken away,
probably to be held for ransom. That property has been connected
with ours from the beginning of these troubles, and the American
flag has been over the entrance. Mr. Allen said to the officer: “You
don’t intend to respect the American flag?” He replied: “The Turkish
flag is also there.” (It is under the American flag.) This makes one
feel doubtful for the safety of our own yards. It is wonderful how
quiet these thousands of people can keep while such things are going
on. A number of women and girls sleep in the parlour adjoining my
room, and I opened the door and told them not to leave the room.
They said: “No, we are only dressing”; but it was evident that they
were trembling with fear; and this is the state we have lived in for
eleven weeks.
One of the most pitiful objects of humanity that I have ever yet
seen came into the room to ask for a ticket—a boy of about twelve or
fourteen, wasted to a mummy-like skeleton by hunger and sickness, so
weak that he could hardly stand or speak, unbathed for these many
months. I asked where he had been staying. He said: “In the
school-room.”
The Turks have demanded ten thousand suits of shirts and pyjamas for
the army. Eight thousand were demanded from the Moslem women, and
two thousand from the Christian or Syrian women. As the latter are
practically all here with us and in the Christian quarter, it fell
upon the missionaries to take the responsibility, so Miss Schoebel
took charge. So far fifty-five bolts of calico have been sent; Miss
Schoebel gave out the material to responsible women, and they in
turn found others to help with the sewing (mostly by hand) and about
eight hundred of the shirts are ready. How would you like to sit
down and make clothes for Turks and Kurds who had robbed you, burned
your homes, murdered your husbands, brothers, and fathers,
dishonoured your women, and carried your girls into captivity?
_Saturday, 20th March._
The prisoners taken from the English Mission yards by the Turks were
kept about twenty-four hours, examined, and to the great and
unexpected joy of everyone were set free without ransom. The Turks
said they had heard that a Russian spy was being kept in that yard,
and when they found no evidence of this, they set the men free.
Another thing may have had something to do with it. The night before
last several Turkish soldiers who were sick with typhoid went to the
College compound. When informed that there was absolutely no place
for them, they returned to the Consulate, which is in the former
Russian Mission. The Shahbanda then sent for Dr. Shedd. It was after
nightfall and we didn’t know why he was sent for, but were fearful
lest another blow might be about to fall upon us. But he asked him
if we would be willing to care for their sick, a dozen or more, who
have typhoid. He was told that there was no room in the hospital or
College building adjoining, which are already crowded full of sick,
but that we would do what we could. This probably had something to
do with the dismissal of the prisoners. For two days no other
arrests have been made, and only the Bishop is now a prisoner. The
last ransom they asked for him was fifteen thousand tomans. The
Shahbanda has said that he is going to take down all the American
flags except the one over our main entrance. We have several other
properties adjoining ours which are full of refugees, and several of
the naturalized citizens have American flags up.
We are happy this morning that all our sick are better. Mr. McDowell
was up yesterday and Miss Schoebel has no fever this morning, so it
looks as if she had only malaria. Mrs. Cochran is getting along
finely; Dr. Packard we hope has passed the crisis; Miss Coan seems
to be having a fight case. Our rooms, hallways, and every place are
crowded to the limit again. The men are afraid to stay anywhere else
for fear of arrest. The Turks have given out word that several
thousand troops are coming, and are demanding houses in Mart Maryam,
and those turned out have nowhere else to go.