They were the resident Moslem population, reinforced by Kurds,
Circassians, and in several cases by the Sultan's soldiers and
officers, who began the dreadful work at the sound of a bugle,
and desisted when the bugle signaled to them to stop. This was
notoriously true in Erzeroum. In Harpoot, also, the soldiers
took a prominent, part, firing on the buildings of the American
Mission with Martini-Henry rifles and Krupp cannon. A shell from
one of the cannon burst in the house of the American Missionary,
Dr. Barnum. In most places the killing was by the Turks, while
the Kurds and Circassians were intent on plunder, and generally
killed only to strike terror or when they met with resistance. It
is an utter mistake to suppose, as some have, that the local
authorities could not have suppressed the "fanatical" Moslem mobs
and restrained the Kurds. The fact is that the authorities, after
looking on while the massacres were in progress, did generally
intervene and stop the slaughter as soon as the limited period
during which the Moslems were allowed to kill and rob had expired.
At Marsovan the limit of time was four hours. In several places
the slaughter and pillage continued from noon till sundown, or
later. At Sivas they continued for a whole day. In every place
the carnage stopped as soon as the authorities made an earnest
effort, and had it not been for their intervention after the set
time of one, two, or three days, the entire Armenian population
might have been exterminated.