THE ADANA MASSACRES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2607, 15 September 1909, Page 5

THE ADANA MASSACRES.

18,000 CHRISTIANS SLAUGHTERED 50 PEOPLE CONDEMNED TO DEATH. United Press Association—Copyright LONDON, Sept. 13. The “Standard” reports that it is officially admitted that 18,000 Christians were slaughtered at Adana. Fifty persons have been condemned to death as the result of the enquiry. Estimates of the number massacred in Asia Minor vary from 20,000 to 30,000. According to reports received in America, “the disturbed district extends around the Gulf of Alexandretta, from Latakia to Mersina, and 50 or 100 miles inland. The outbreak of fanaticism showed a striking coincidence with the reactionary movement in Constantinople, instigated by the Sultan, and it subsided gradually as the triumph of the Young Turks at the capital became known. ' Apart from this, there is no direct connection established between the two movements. The conflict at Adana was started by the shooting by an Armenian of three Turks, one of whom died. The Armenian was on the following evening beaten to death by a Mohammedan mob. The shops of both parties were closed, and the Armenians appealed to the Governor for protection. This was promised, whereupon the Turkish and Armenian leaders went through the streets urging the reopening of the shops. Rioting, however, soon began again, and continued for three days. The Armenian quarter was looted and burned, in spite of a stout defence. The two Americans, Rev. D. M. Rogers and Rev. Henry Maurre, a Mennonite missionary, were killed while trying to save the house of an aged Turkish woman.” A later account of scenes after the massacres says: “The bodies of the murdered Armenians are being gathered up in carts and dumped in the river. Rev. Mr. Gibbons, of Hartford, Conn., reports counting a dozen cartloads being carried to the river within half-an-hour on one morning. Latakia is filled with refugees from the adjacent villages, which have been destroyed by the Mohammedans. The number is estimated at ” 5000, and the supply of food and medicine is altogether inadequate. The Government at Constantinople is doing what it can to check the disorders in Asia Minor.”