'General information on Persia for any future edition, 1895' [‎52v] (95/211)

8
No. 9.
Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury.— (Received March 9.)
My Lord Constantinople, February 23, 1891.
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith to your Lordship a copy of a despatch
I have received, through Her Majesty’s Consul at Erzeroum, from the British Vice-
Consul at Diarbekir, reporting an outrage perpetrated by Kurds upon a defenceless
party of travellers at a spot only a quarter-of-an-hour’s distance from Earkm, the seat
of the Sub-Governor of the Caza of Silivan. < ^ ^ i tt- •
I have instructed Sir A. Sandison to call the serious attention of the Grand Vizier
to the Report of this outrage.
I have also the honour to transmit herewith a copy of a despatch from ILer
Majesty’s Acting Consul at Erzeroum, reporting a painful incident which is said to
have occurred in the neighbourhood of Bitlis. .
I have not failed to call the Grand Vizier’s attention likewise to this incident.
T Tinvo Si’.o
(Signed) ’ W. A. WHITE.
Inclosure 1 in No. 9.
Acting Vice-Consul Boyadjian to Consul Lloyd.
gj r Diarbeldr, November 25, 1890.
$H*$I HAVE the honour to call your attention to a most shocking case of outrage
perpetrated lately by some brutal Kurds upon a defenceless party of travellers in a
place only a quarter-of-an-hour’s distance from Earkin, the seat of the Sub-Governor of
the Caza of Silivan.
It appears that an Armenian priest, in the company of his brother and the wife of
the latter, started from Kharzan for Koreet, which is distant from Earkin only about
twenty minutes, and the native place of the said priest. W ithin five or six minutes
of the mentioned village, the priest noticed four or five wild-looking Kurds who were
all armed and apparently lying in wait a few r paces off the road on which the travellers
were. Suspecting that they might be brigands, the priest hastened to the village,
which was on the decline of a hill, to give the alarm, but, as soon as he was out of
sight, another party of Kurds, also armed, appeared from their place of concealment
and joined the first, thus constituting a band of twelve men. They fell first upon the
man and, robbing him of all his effects, shot him dead on the spot; then turning to
the poor woman, who I am told is only sixteen years of age and very hansome, they
treated her brutally, stripped her almost naked and dishonoured her; in the mean
while, some people from the village above mentioned arrived at the scene of the
tragedy, when the Kurds took their flight, leaving their victim half dead.
Among the party from the village was one of the brothers of the murdered man,
who, finding his brother assassinated and his sister-in-law thus outraged, lost the
balance of iiis mind from his excessive grief, shot himself, and fell dead on the body
of his murdered brother. The others took the w’oman and repaired to Earkin to lay
the [ ? ] before the Sub-Governor, but neither the history of the outrageous crime,
nor the most pitiable condition of the woman, could arouse him from his apathy or
induce him to take steps to pursue the villainous criminals or send gendarmes to the
spot where the corpses of the victims were still lying.
The relatives of the sufferers felt obliged to petition the Governor-General, who,
in accordance with his usual energy, not merely sent categorical orders to the Sub-
Governor to remind him of his duty, but his Excellency dispatched at once the
Commander of the gendarmerie with a sufficient force to Earkin, giving him strict
injunctions to use every means for the apprehension of the criminals; and I learn
with satisfaction that six or seven of the ruffians have been seized by the above-men
tioned Commander, and it is hoped that the rest also w r ill soon be captured.
No words can too strongly condemn the criminal conduct of the Sub-Governor
in thus neglecting to fulfil his duty. I am told that only three weeks ago another
Armenian was murdered in the vicinity of Earkin, though I am not in possession of
the details of the case, and it so happened the said Sub-Governol% w r ith a few
gendarmes, passed by where the man was lying still alive, although unable to move,
but he evinced the same indifference in this case also.