HIDEOUS ATROCITIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15141, 4 November 1912, Page 7

HIDEOUS ATROCITIES.

TURKS' AWFUL CRIMES. ROAD 3 STREWN WITH CORPSES VILLAGERS BURNED ALIVE. WOMEN AND CHILDREN : MUTILATED. (Eeceived November 3, 5.5 p.m.) London, November 2. A message from Athens states that the Turks, flying on the evening of October 22 from Sarantaporos, traversed Metaxa and seized 52 inhabitants. They conveyed them to Servidje and cast them into prison, where there were 73 other Greeks. The Governor liberated 125 soldiers, but an armed crowd surrounded them and massacred 121 of them. The dead included five priests. The noses and hands were then cut from the bodies. ' _ v.' A Christian villager was brought into Jamina, and was murdered in the market place in the presence of the authorities. The Mir states that the Turks, before evacuating Bunar Hissar, imprisoned and incinerated 200 Bulgarians in the barracks. They also massacred the Bulgarians wholesale at Struma Valley. Advices from Sofia state that two Servian officers who have arrived at Sofia from Egri Palanka and Kumanovo report hideous atrocities by the retreating Turks. The roads are strewn with the corpses of Christian peasants, and in many cases the bodies of women and children were mutilated and bore evidence of torture. Charred corpses were found, indicating that the victims were tied to trees and burnt alive or impaled and then roasted. The majority of the villages were burned. In some cases the heads of those decapitated were laid in rows before the doors of the houses. The testimony of these officers was taken before the Servian Minister at Sofia and forwarded to Belgrade. Fanaticism has been aroused at Stamboul over the defeats of the Turks, and a massacre of Christians is threatened. A more stringent state of siege has been ordered in the city. It is ■ reported that the Turks at Constantinople shot 200 Christians belonging to the army defeated at Kirk Kilisse. ,

It is reported from Berlin that the Powers are discussing the risks of massacre and pillage" in key, by the demoralised soldiery. It is understood that any. intervention will be entirely non-political, and that the protection of foreign interests be entrusted to the navies of the Powers. ~ '~ i LONDON HORRIFIED. KING GEORGE'S ANXIETY. London, November 1, > Horror is being expressed at the Turkish atrocities. . A. full Cabinet meeting was held to-night to discuss the position. • King George is being constantly informed of developments in Turkey. WOUNDED AND REFUGEES. HUDDLED IN STAMBOUL. IGNORANT OF THE DISASTERS. (Received November 3. 5.5 p.m.) Constantinople, November 2.Thousands of refugees, including women and children, are camping in the courtyards of the Stamboul mosques. The Porte, with a view to preserving order, and preventing outbreaks', strenuously keeps the public in ignorance of events at the front. It has also sent a division to stop all fugitive soldiers between Chataldja and Stamboul. Five thousand wounded Turks arrived at Stamboul on Thursday, and 7000 more are on the way. Correspondents state that they are practically all prisoners. (Received November 3. 5.5 p.m.) London, November-2. , The newspapers consider the publication of Nazim Pasha's despatches as a mere attempt to keep the Stamboul populace quiet. ■ ■ TUEKISH CRUISER SUNK. ■ ■.■•'.- i • ■• GREEK TORPEDO'S WORK THE CREW SAVED. j'J "":'" Constantinople, November 1. A Greek torpedo boat sank the Turkish cruiser Fethi Biilend in. the Gulf of Salonika. The Fethi Bulend sank five minutes after the torpedo struck her. . '".''..":','"' ''";.,' ; V" . Part of the crew was ashore, and nearly all the remainder were saved. : The Fethi Bulend was a small and obsolete battleship built in' 1870. WORN OUT AND STARVING.

TURKISH SOLDIERS' FLIGHT (Received November 3, 5.5 p.m.) ,■ Sofia, November 2 2.;< After the Kirk Kilisse dißaster,i a Turkish officer remarked; "We are starving. Tor a week I have scarcely been able to obtain a small roll. J Numbers of horses, are dying each day, and it is impossible for worn- J out, starving soldiers to' fight." There- are upwards of 10,000 starving refugees from Kirk Kilisse. KIRK KILISSE RETOLD. PANDEMONIUM IN THE TOWN , (Received November 3, 5.5 pin) • Sofia, November 1. The inhabitants of Kirk Kilisse ; were not aware of the Turkish defeat , until two o'clock in the afternoon. ; when the cry, " The Bulgarians are • coming!" arose. In a twinkling, pandemonium was let loose.' The population flocked, to the railway station, and soldiers stormed the , trains and compelled the drivers at ' the point of the revolver to steam out. Others trudged afoot towards Lule Burgas.

THAT AWFUL MISTAKE. THE KIRK KILISSE PANIC. KILL THEIR OWN COUNTRY- ; " ' , MEN. ' ; (Received November 3, 5.5 p.m.) Conssantinople, November 2* ; Details are to hand of ; the terrible mistake made at Kirk Kilisse, by which one division of Turks shot down another division, mistaking them for Bulgarians. Hilmi Bey, commanding 20,000 Turks, advanced and encountered three divisions of Bulgarians, whereof the central one was the most important. This Hilmi Bey attacked, simultaneously sending a flanking column against each wing. The fight with the central body continued from', noon until night, but the flanking columns failed to come into contact with the enemy. The engaging division had, without informing Hilmi Bey, advanced and stationed itself behind Hilmi's two detached columns. The latter then came between the Bulgarian and Turkish lines of fire, and this led to a panic and awful mistakes in the shooting, THE ALLIES AND PEACE. POWERS MUST NOT INTERFERE London, November 1. The Mir, a semi-official Sofia newspaper, says that if Turkey desires peace she must negotiate with the allies, and must not seek the intervention of the Powers. A message from Sofia states that the Bulgarians regard the campaign as virtually over. ; ; A JOINT PARLIAMENT, THREE DAYS' SESSION. (Received. November J. 5.5 p.m.) Belgrade, November 2. The Parliaments of the Balkan States will hold a joint Parliament-1

ary session lasting for three days-Tit Uskub immediately after the close of military operations. ' :: "'"' SERVIAN PART. . ;* ASSISTING AT ADRIANOPLE. PARLIAMENT AT USKUB. Belgrade, November 1.1, A large force of Servians is quitting Macedonia, and :.:; proceeding to assist the Bulgarians' in the siege of Adrianople. The Servian Government is still at Belgrade, but the Jiext session .of the S.kupstchina (Servian Parliament) will be held at Uskub, where the first Servian laws were sanctioned.. , M. Pasic (the Premier of Servia) has left for Paris, it is assumed to negotiate with M. Poitfcare' (Premier of France), who has taken, a leading part in. .the . conversations' of the ■ Powers; oh the question- of; interventions' " ,-",<,:f ;,'/'";■' '.:'".- .".,. w '"' Fifty trains are now run .'daily between Vranja, on the Servian frontier, and Uskub. GARIBALDI'S VOLUNTEERS. •;■•■■• RAISING 3000 MEN.,: ....,., .Rome, November, l. Ricciotti Garibaldi • has gone to Athens to raise 3000 volunteers, including 1000 Greeks at Patras, where . his wife will organise a Garibaldian ambulance corps. .•;.. %''[ v . ■ :_ •