HORRIBLE ATROCITIES BY THE TURKS.

Auckland Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2334, 8 September 1877, Page 3

HORRIBLE ATROCITIES BY THE TURKS.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN BURNED

ALIVE,

London, August 1?,. —A Bucharest correspondent telegraps : —" I have written the following as 1 received it, and from the terrible accounts whidifugitives are continually bringing over the Balkans, T foar it must be only too true. On July 31st, the day of the Russian evacuation of Eski-Saghra, the Turks ordered that all Christian men, women, and children should be shot as they left their hous« s. Those who remained within weiKi burnt aliYf. The order was

given to burn down and destroy every particle of Christian property. Many leading Turkish merchants took part in the affair. The Turkish olliccrs dispatched a large number of Bashi-Bazouks all over the Tchirpan district. This district is one of t!ie richest in that part of Turkey. It contains a very large proportion of Christians, over thirty churches, and five hundred schools and colleges, all of which have been burned. The destruction extended to the village* of Boghdan, Mahelsi, Rani, and many others, in all about sixty, containing from 150 to 200 families each. Scarcely fifty persons escaped alive. Bulgarian fugitives at Gabrova and Selvi estimate that from 12,000 to 15,000 Christians have been massacred in Eski-Saghra and Tchirpan district alone. Soldiers were posted along the road from Eski-Saghra to Kazanlik, with orders to shoot everybody passing." The " Times " correspondent at KaraLunar writes : "Appalling accounts continue to oomc in of the misery of the fugitives from districts devastated by Bashi-Bazouks and Bulgarians. Thousands of women and children are homeless, and perishing for want of shelter."