„…. EXODUS OF MACEDONIANS.
At Least 22,000 Refugees from Turkey Are Now in Bulgaria.
London Times—New York Times Special Cablegram.
LONDON, Oct. 17.—According to the most moderate ^estimate, says the Sofia correspondent of The Times, there are now 22,000 refugees in Bulgaria from Macedonia and the Valiyyet of Adrianople, of whom 19,000 have arrived in the past few weeks. The fugitives are mostly old men, women, and children.
This exodus, says the correspondent, Is more eloquent than long lists of atrocities and narratives of hideous cruelties. It refutes unanswerably the assertions of ч those who are endeavoring to minimize or conceal the happenings in European Turkey, and shows that life has been rendered intolerable in the Sultan’s dominions. Almost all the refugees are in a condition of total destitution.
American missionaries who have been in daily contact with the fugitives state that the attacks on the Christian quarters of Losengra^, Malotirnovo, and neighboring villages were made unexpectedly. The soldiers plundered and burned the houses and mercilessly massacred men and even women. Many young girls were removed to the soldiers’ quarters. The bands in the mountains were meanwhile left unmolested.
The soldiers pursued a party of twenty fugitives. During the flight many of the women were compelled to abandon their infants. Eventually all were killed.
The rising in the Razlog district appears to have been suppressed before it spread widely. The inhabitants now remain at the mercy of the infuriated soldiers and Bashi-Bazouks.
In a later dispatch the correspondent says the Ministry of the Interior has issued a circular to the local authorities pointing out that about 20,000 refugees, mostly wholly destitute, are now congregated in the frontier districts. As they cannot be repatriated until guarantees for their security have been obtained and means have been provided for rebuilding their houses, measures must be taken for domiciling them in various parts of the country, with a view to the avoidance of epidemics and the relief of suffering.
The authorities are ordered to arrange for the distribution of the refugees among the villages in the Interior and the construction, if necessary, of temporary abodes. Their maintenance will be intrusted to local committees empowered to raise subscriptions and expend Government funds.
Published: October 17,1903 Copyright © The New York Times …“
