THE MASSACRE IN ALEXANDRIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1605, 26 August 1882, Page 14

THE MASSACRE IN ALEXANDRIA.

A Greek gentleman who haa escaped from Alexandria writes to The Times, under date Athens, June 22nd : — ' "Although I have carefully read the daily issue of the Times up to that of Friday, June 16th, I have seen no mention made of by far the most serious and cold-blooded feature of the riot in Alexandria on Sunday, June 11th. I pass over the street fighting and the fact that the ' rnusfcafesiin,' at first passive though sympathetic spectators of the riot, ultimately joined in and killed many Europeans, and come at once to the essential point of my letter. During the riot two soldiers were killed, and their bodies having been taken to the sjuard* house or 'caracole' in the principal street leading from the harbour to the square of Mehemet Ali, this so infuriated the soldiery there that a systematic butchery was commenced of all Europeans whose, misfortune led them that way, peaceable citizens, many of whom had gone down 1 to the harbour ;to see the . ironclads, and others weie I out fishing. Several Arabs were employed i by the soldiers to give warning of the approach of any carriage containing Europeans. On its I arrival at the caracole it was Btopped by &n ' officer, the occupant made to descend on the j pretence of searching him for arms, and he was immediately run through with bayonets from behind by the soldiera. The pockets were emptied of the money they contained,and this was quarrelled for by the soldiers. The body was then thrown into a place close by, the water-carriers washed up the blood, sand was thrown over the place, and the soldiers waited for fresh victims. Many people ran to thin caracole for protection from the mob, and were ■without exception killed there by the soldiery Also at the time there was a certain number of prisoners in the caracole, Rayahs or Turkish subjects, confined for various small offences ; these were all brought out and murdered. Although the soldiers from Eas-el-Teen did not' appear to quell the riot in the streets until five hours after it had commenced, this butchery at the caracole con* tinued until long afterwards — namely, until ! after 11 p.m. The bodies during the night I were packed into six ambulance waggons and taken and thrown into the sea. Lest you should think that I have been led into exaggeration, I beg to inform you most positively that these are facts which I can prove by the testimony of three independent eye-witnesses who were in hiding in the houses near the caracole, and saw .everything, only escaping the next morning. One of them counted 132 Europeans killed before his eyes. Further proof, too, is afforded by the number of bodies which are being daily washed up from the sea, all showing baj'onet wounds. It was the knowledge of these facts that caused ourselves, with many other families, to. leave Alexandria,^ we. saw that those we had to fear most were the n'omiV nal guardians of order. It is possible that all this may be well known in official circles, and is purposely kept back. It, however, remains with you, Sir, to decide whether or not to publish my letter in The Times. I could give' you many more detail, but, knowing the value of your space, abstain from doing so." Mr R. T. Bourne, barrister, of Eathfarnham, Dublin, has received a letter from ' his sistf p relative to the murder of her husband, Dr H, P.Ribton, in the recent massacre ai Alexandria. The bereaved 'widow writes :— •' Thfy have murdered my husband, and I am alone i» the world, the only friends we had being killed with him: I know not what to do. All are flying ; but where are we to fly to ? My poop child saw her darling father killed, and. was only satfed herself by the mighty arm of God* being carried into a harem, where .they kept her till late at night, then brought her home to me ih disguise. May God remember them in the last day. Oh, what my poor child" has gone through, and the blows tne brutes ,gave her I Ido not know how she is. alive. I only learnt yesterday that my darljug was dead. I hoped against hope that he might have been taken to some hospital, and so he was, 1 but thrown naked on the ground and so mutilated that no one could know him."