The fact that Dr. Barnum is charged with having instigated the Armenians
to revolt shows the extreme danger to which Americans are exposed. The
inclosed letter will place your Department in possession of all facts
needed to form a correct judgment regarding the burning at Harpoot.
The mysterious secrecy which here conceals the designs against Christians
until the hour when they are to be executed, and the massacres in the
six provinces before the Harpoot affair, induced me to telegraph at
once, not only to Harpoot but to other interior posts, as to whether our
people could reach the seacoast.
[Inclosure 1 in No.
722.]
Mr. Gates to Mr.
Terrell.
Harpoot, Turkey, November 25, 1895.
Honored Sir: Last week I wrote you a long
letter, which I sent by registered post; the receipt for the same is
No. 26, dated the 8th of November, 1311.1 In that letter I inclosed a statement
of our losses. To-day we sent a carpenter to the garden to repair
the doors of the remaining house and save it if possible. He found
that the house had been pulled down and all the timber carried off.
This involves an additional loss of $550.
Yesterday we received your telegram of the 23d instant. The first
part of the telegram was confused, and we have sent it to the office
to be repeated. As nearly as we could make it out, it read thus:
Reported that guards were made for your security and
protection promised. Have you the means to get to the
seacoast? Send me by letter a statement how your loss by
lire occurred.
[Page 1393]
We have answered as follows:
Only Boyajian go, Wheeler feeble. Great religious pressure.
Many martyrs in towns and villages. Speedy remedy necessary.
Starvation imminent.
Barnum.
The commissioner of police called upon us in behalf of the vali vekil
and assured us that they would undertake to see any of our number
safely to the coast. But, upon mature deliberation, Dr. Wheeler and
his family have concluded that it is not best for them to attempt
the journey now. Winter is upon us, the roads are in bad condition,
and Dr. Wheeler is very feeble. We have now a guard of 100 soldiers
on the premises. We are assured that if we wish to travel we shall
have a sufficient escort; but these guards and promises do not
inspire confidence.
For months we have urged the people to trust the Government and
believe in its promises, and it is generally conceded that the
course we took saved hundreds of lives.
* * * * * * *
One of our prominent men, who is a general favorite with Government
officials, was the guest of an official in high position during the
attack. With his host he watched the gathering of the forces to
attack the city, and his host told him that the attack would take
place at such an hour. He asked how that was known, and was told
that it was in accordance with a prearranged plan. He says the
raiders were soldiers of the reserve corps; they laid aside their
uniforms and appeared as Koords. He saw them go out to the villages
and return.
* * * * * * *
To us it seems clear that we are confronting a deliberately planned
scheme to render the reforms useless by destroying the Christian
population. All who are left in the villages are considered Moslems
and will be claimed as such by the Government. Moreover, no guaranty
or pledge is considered sacred. Our lives are safe only so long as
the Government considers it expedient to preserve them.
Now, in regard to our loss by fire, there are two points which need
to be emphasized:
- First. The Government did not protect us. I stated this in
my letter last week. No guards were placed at the gates of
our premises. Our houses were plundered and burned and we
were fired upon under the eyes of the soldiers, who were
posted on a hill behind our premises. Shukri Bey, the
colonel in command of forces in the city, himself stood
there and looked on without making any effort to save us.
Whatever officials may say about having guarded us, these
are the facts to which we can bear eyewitness. We were not
guarded until after the catastrophe, and then they tried to
get us out of the college building in order that they might
burn it. We had repeatedly told the authorities they were
responsible for our protection.
- Second. The buildings were set on fire one by one, and did
not catch fire from adjoining buildings. The houses here are
plastered with mud on the outside, and the roofs are covered
with earth, so that they do not easily catch fire from the
outside. The attacking party knew this; they had learned
their business by burning the villages around us, and they
came to the city provided with all that was necessary for
the work of destruction. They carried kerosene oil, which
they poured upon the woodwork and then set fire to it. Many
eyewitnesses testify to this.
In order to make the origin of the fire in our premises more plain, I
inclose a rough sketch of them. The Wheeler house was first
attacked.
[Page 1394]
I saw the door
broken in. There were soldiers in the street, but they offered no
opposition to the attacking party. As soon as the house was
plundered, it was set on fire. This was early in the afternoon. The
houses on either side were not burned until night, while the Browne
house was attacked from the gate at the east end. I saw a hole
broken in the gate. A gun was thrust through the gate and fired.
Then the gate was broken down and the house plundered and set on
fire. The houses across the street from it had not yet caught
fire.
The Allen house may have caught fire from the Browne house, as they
adjoin each other, but they burned so quickly we think fire must
have been set in both.
The girls’ school building was entered from the gate at the east end
and set on fire before the fire reached it from the Allen house.
None of the buildings adjoining the chapel and boarding hall were
burned—not even the kindergarten, which was built against it.
The preparatory building was connected with the boarding hall by a
covered way, but soldiers came and we saved the preparatory building
with our fire engine.
Fire was set in Dr. Barnum’s house in three places, but failed to
catch, and some of his books were burned by the bursting of a shell
in his study.
Now, those who devised these deeds will lie about them, but we trust
no one will be deceived. I have written only what we know.
This afternoon we received your telegram of the 24th instant:
Telegraph me what houses were burned, how they were burned,
and by whom, and the value of all houses and other property
destroyed and plundered; also if you feel secure. Write also
full particulars.
It seemed to us that you could not have received our telegram on this
subject, so we replied:
Telegram No. 22, date 20th, contained an answer to your
telegram of November 24. Shall we repeat?
We sent this, hoping that you might yet secure the delivery of that
telegram. It read as follows:
Miscarriage Mrs. Gates. Promises of protection were abundant,
but unfulfilled until after catastrophe. Buildings are
isolated. They were set on fire separately in presence of
soldiers. Male college and preparatory building saved by our
engine and efforts; also Gates’s house and mine. Personal
property, $33,000; buildings, $44,000; American board and
college apparatus, $11,000; total, $88,000. Details by
to-day’s mail. Demand its safe delivery.
Barnum.
In order that we may leave no way untried to give you a full
statement of matters, we have prepared another telegram, to be sent
to-morrow:
Allen, Browne, Wheeler, ladies, and five garden houses
destroyed; also chapel, boarding hall, girls’ school,
theological seminary. Buildings, $44,000; personal, $33,000;
stock and apparatus, $11,000; total, $88,000. Buildings set
on fire separately by Koords and citizens in presence of
soldiers. One hundred soldiers quartered on premises now.
Confidence weak.
Barnum.
I have already explained in my letter that these raiders were
soldiers of the reserve army corps and Koords; also the city
Turks.
We fear our telegrams and letters will not be allowed to reach you.
Unless great pressure is brought to bear upon the Government it will
probably suppress our letters.
Sincerely, yours,
C. F. Gates.
On the day of the flight our schoolgirls and one teacher took refuge
in the house of a Moslem. There they were obliged to pay 5 Turkish
pounds to the soldiers to protect them. Also the same day we loaned
[Page 1395]
50 pounds to some of
the brethren, which they used to secure the protection of Moslems
for themselves. This money saved many lives, as it delayed the
attack and enabled many to find refuge, but it is a loss to us.
November 27.
We have received your telegram of the 26th. Full assurances given
for your protection. Give me every detail by letter. No
repetition by telegraph needed.
Yesterday we received a letter telling of the state of things in the
villages. When zaptiehs come the Turks give to each an Armenian
woman for the night. There is no restraint upon the Turks in the
villages.
