“The Turkish people, equipped and armed by the authorities, were delighted to take their share in the work of murder side by side with the military, the Radifs (Eeserves), the Zaptiehs (Gendarmes), and the lately formed Kurdish Irregulars, called the Hamidieh-Regiment after the reigning sultan. Every one was in the best humor.... A savage and murderous spirit took possession of the people. And what else could be expected? Here an officer urged them on with the cry, ‘Down with the Armenians, it is the sultan’s will!’ Here a Vali exhorted them to ‘Look sharp! Kill! Plunder! and pray for the sultan!’ What inducement had they to cease from murder or from prey! The reward of piety lay before their eyes, for all that they could seize and carry away was to be their own.... The monotonous work of dragging hundreds of defenceless Armenians out of their homes and hiding-places merely to behead, stab, throttle, hang, or beat them, soon palled. The merry mob wanted variety. Simple murder became dull, and the business must now be made more amusing. How would it do to light a fire and roast the wounded at it? To gibbet a few head-downwards? Drive nails into others? Or tie fifty of them together and fire into the coil?... Putting out eyes and cutting off ears and noses was a special accomplishment. Christian priests who refused to become Mohammedans were considered particularly worthy of this fate.... Petroleum and kerosene were at hand. It is true that the authorities intended them to be used only for the purpose of burning down houses and destroying grain. But why not put them to other and more useful purposes?