The Laurens Advertiser

MILLIONS LOSE LIVES IN TURKEY

Committee Confirms Slaughter of Innocents.

Hundreds of Towns, New York, Sept. 26--A statement confirming the massacre of Armenians in Turkey was given out here today by Prof. Samuel T. Dutton, secretary of the committee on Armenian atrocities, formed to investigate facts regarding the massacre and its relations to American interests and also to ascertain whether anything can be done to relieve the situation. Other members of the committee include Charles R. Crane, Cleveland Dodge, D. Stuart Dodge, Arthur Curtis James, John R. Mott, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Frank Mason North, Stanley White, James I. Barton and William Sharp.

"A subcommittee has thoroughly investigated the evidence and has just made report to the full committee confirming in every particular the statement recently made by Viscount Bryce regarding the imprisonment, torture, murder, massacre and exile into the deserts of northern Arabia of defenseless and innocent Armenians, including decrepit men, women and children, and their forcible conversion to Islam," says the statement.

Absolute Conviction.

"Written testimonies of eyewitnesses cover hundreds of pages and the character and position of the authorities and the positiveness of utterances carrying absolute conviction.

"The witnesses include Armenians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Italians, Germans, Turks, Englishmen, Americans, business men, travelers and officials of great variety and rank. All agree in declarations that from Smyrna on the west to Persia and from the Black sea to Arabia a propaganda of extermination of non-Moslems is being carried on by the Turkish government, far surpassing in ferocity and exceeding in destruction anything done by Abdul Hamid.

"The statements examined cover hundreds of towns and cities in which in many instances all of the Armenians have been killed outright, often after horrible torture, or sent to the desert to die of starvation and that too, with diabolical cruelty. The ostensible deportation of men, women and children toward Mesopotamia is usually but a form of marching those starving, helpless and frequently naked refugees, out into the mountains to be outraged and butchered, sometimes by their guard and sometimes by the Kurds, who gladly co-operate in the work of destruction.

"Included among these refugees and victims are pupils and graduates from the American schools and colleges, teachers and professional men who have taken degrees in American and European universities, men and women who have represented the brains and enterprise of the country for a generation or more.

Plan of Procedure.

"The plan of procedure, which is identical in all parts of the country, seems to aim at the complete elimination of all non Moslem races from Asiatic Turkey and already, that aim is fair way to accomplishment so far as the Armenians are concerned.

"In several places American property has been seized, Americans searched, imprisoned and expelled from the country, their letters and telegrams, even from United States consular officers, intercepted and their lives put in jeopardy.

"This, however, is of trivial importance compared with the work of destruction going on among the Armenians.

"Evidence seems to prove that probably 500,000 Armenians have been murdered or forced to the desert where only death awaits them unless relief is secured at once. And all this has taken place since March and is now at the height of its gruesome fury.

"The committee is confident that if the press of the country should, with all the emphasis at its command, voice its protest and call upon the Turkish government to put an end to this crime against humanity and return the exiles who may yet be living to their homes, would hardly fail to produce results.

"In view of the great influence which Germany and Austria exercise over their ally the American people can not fail to hold them morally responsible if these atrocities are permitted to continue."