THE ATROCITIES DENIED.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14237, 28 December 1911, Page 7

THE ATROCITIES DENIED.

j' PROTEST FROM THE CONSUL- ! GENERAL. (Received December 27th, 11 p.m.) ST. PETERSBURG, December 27. An official telegram from Julfa, j. Trans-Caucasia, reports that tho Con- ' sul-General at Tabriz protests against the infamous calumnies upon Russian troops, who are treating the inhabit- ; ants with humanity, notwithstanding ! atrocities upon Russian wounded, and mutilation of bodies. He declares that any particular instances of the inno--1 cent perishing wore solely duo to tho bombardment of houses whence a Russian detachment was subjected to a fusilade. Tho commander of tho detachment removed the women and children from these houses to shelter the encampment, and thence they were conveyed to " town by peaceable inhabitants, escorted by Russian soldiers. The officer commanding was later treacherously killed. Subsequently the Coneul-General informed the Governor and Chief Mullah' that the disarmament of the people was a pre-requisite to negotiations, adding that the Russians would not tolerate the presence of armed spectators in j the etree,ta and on tho roofs. Placards , were thereupon posted throughout Tabriz, demanding the immediate surrender of arms. i Twenty Persian Cossacks, under the Consul-General's instructions, are patrolling the Christian quarters. The Consul-General sent troops to the epot where a number of Russian soldiers had been killed. The bodies of the latter were found reduced to cinders, but there were indications that some of the burnod corpses had apparently been only severely wounded.