The valley of the Sakaria (the ancient Sangarius), is, through a
part of its course, followed by the Anatolia line of railway. At a
spot ninety miles from Constantinople, where the valley broadens out
into a considerable plain, is the station and town of Akhisar. This
town was, until the tenth of this month, the center of a considerable
trade. The plain is dotted with vineyards, olive orchards, mulberry
gardens, fields of cotton, wheat, etc. The town consists of about
160 houses of immigrants from Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Rumelia (who,
having been concerned in the celebrated Bulgarian massacres, found
refuge in Turkish territory), and sixty houses of Armenians.
A Letter Oct. 15, 1895.
Thursday, Oct. 10 (a bright, beautiful day), was market
day. Numbers of people from the surrounding villages had come with
the fruits of their various industries. The market place consisted
of sixty-three permanent shops, and about 150 temporary places
of trade, where traders from the surrounding country exposed
their wares for sale. The market was almost exclusively in the
hands of Armenians, 200 of the shops and trading places being
in their hands. Rumors of danger were afloat, but the Armenians
anticipated no attack on market-day. They had no arms, or means
of defense, and had taken no precautions. They soon began to
notice, however, that their Mussulman neighbors had mysterious
whisperings among themselves, and that some of them were searching,
as with official authority, the persons of Armenian young men,
who were supposed to have knives or revolvers about them. Those
searching at last found a young Armenian, a seller of calico,
who had a knife in his possession. At once they fell upon him,
but he escaped in the crowd that gathered, and the Mussulmans
turned upon the Armenians, saying, "We must kill them all. Let
him who loves his religion join and help." With knives and
clubs the work was carried on, the Armenians fleeing, or hiding
themselves in or about their shops. Turkish officials encouraged
the killers. A herald was sent through the market calling,
"Let the Moslems go to the government house." They did go,
and immediately returned with rifles and revolvers. Then the
slaughter increased in madness. The piteous entreaties of the
threatened, the shrieks of the wounded, the groans of the dying,
the shouts of the killers, and the hysterical cries of some of
the Christians, who, to save their lives were calling out with
desperate energy the Mohammedan formula of faith, rose to the deaf
heavens. Ten-year-old Turkish boys, as though hunting rats, rushed
into holes and corners, and discovering the hiding-places of the
merchants and traders, called to their fathers and big brothers,
"Here is a Giavour!" and while that one was being dispatched they
rushed off to ferret out another. For four hours the slaughter
continued. Ropes were attached to the feet of the corpses, which
were dragged like the carcasses of dogs through the streets to
dry wells, into which they were thrown. An old man, aged 75,
was tumbled in alive, and left to die among the dead bodies of
his friends. The money and watches of the merchants were secured
by the ruffians. The notes of hand and account books were torn
into shreds (the killers were debtors to the merchants), and the
shops were looted. Not so much as a pin or needle was left in the
200 shops. Then the cry was raised, "To the houses!" to complete
the destruction of the Christian inhabitants.
Twenty-nine bodies were afterward recovered for burial;
thirty-three persons (some of whom afterward died), were
found to be wounded, and about forty are still missing. The
lieutenant-governor arrived that night on the scene, and sent an
official report (by telegram) to Constantinople, to the effect
that a row had occurred between Turks and Armenians, in which three
Armenians had been killed and two wounded, but that order had been
restored! Efforts were made to cover the matter up. Christians were
imprisoned for talking about the massacre, or for sending the news
to friends. A prominent man, well-known throughout the country,
wished to let his circle of friends know that he was still alive,
and was permitted to advertise that he had met with an accident,
but was quite well.
Great patches of dried blood in the shops presented the appearance
of places used for the slaughter of sheep. Groups of people were
standing before the houses, statue-like, bewildered and hopeless,
while other groups were wailing over the news of the corpses of
friends, just recovered from the wells. I saw one of the mutilated
corpses, and have seen it night and day since.
An American Missionary.
The above missionary also says not only common people, but
also officers of high rank, made free threats of massacre, and
ostentatiously sharpened their swords and cleaned their weapons in
the presence of their Armenian neighbors. Great care was taken by
the authorities to deprive the Armenians of arms; but the Mussulmans
were allowed to carry arms freely. The Constantinople demonstration
and consequent massacre aggravated the situation. It was pitiable to
see the fear that held the Armenians as in a nightmare, and to hear
the threats and observe the bearing of the Turks.
A soldier, passing the door of a Christian house and observing a young
woman sitting on the door-step, ground his teeth and called out to her,
"You may sit there four days more, and then I will have you on the
point of this bayonet." The girl fled in terror into the house.