The blight of Asia : $b An account of the systematic extermination of Christian populations by Mohammedans and of the culpability of certain great powers; with the true story of the burning of SmyrnaHorton, George
History
The blight of Asia : $b An account of the systematic extermination of Christian populations by Mohammedans and of the culpability of certain great powers; with the true story of the burning of Smyrna
Horton, George
Christians -- Turkey; Fires -- Turkey -- İzmir; Greeks -- Turkey; Turkey; İzmir (Turkey) -- History
The _London Times_ correspondent telegraphed: “The killing was carried
out systematically. Turkish regulars and irregulars are described as
rounding up likely wealthy people in the streets and, after stripping
them, killing them in batches. Many Christians who had taken refuge in
the churches were burned to death in the buildings which had been set on
fire.”
Mr. Otis Swift, correspondent of the _Chicago Tribune_, visited the Greek
islands on which refugees had been dumped by the rescue steamers and saw
many of the victims of the tragedy, whose stories and the nature of whose
wounds bore additional testimony to the ferocity of the Turks. Here is a
short quotation from Mr. Swift’s report:
“Hospitals of the Greek islands are crowded by people who had
been beaten and attacked by the Turks. In a hospital at Chios I
saw a child who still lived, although shot through the face by
a soldier who had killed its father and violated its mother. In
the same hospital there was a family of six orphan Armenians.
A four-year-old baby of this family had been beaten with rifle
butts because no money had been found sewn in its clothes.”
There is no doubt that many thousands of the defenseless inhabitants of
Smyrna and the surrounding country were done to death by Turks.
[Illustration: Smyrna at the Height of the Fire.]
To the number actually killed on the days of the massacre must be added
the deported Greeks who perished, the people who died in the flames or
were killed by falling walls, those who expired on the quay and those
who have since succumbed from want, injuries or grief. The extent of the
catastrophe can be realized from the magnitude of the relief work that
has been carried on ever since, and from the immense sums which have been
raised, principally in America, for the maintenance of the widows and
orphans.
The following statement is from Mr. Charles V. Vickery, Secretary of the
Near East Relief, 151 Fifth Avenue, New York:
“In regard to the amount of money which has been spent on
relief, I would say that so far as the Near East Relief is
concerned the total of money and supplies contributed by the
American people has amounted to approximately ninety-five
million dollars. So far as I know there are no available
statistics of the amounts spent by other countries. The largest
contributor has of course been Great Britain, but we do not
have any figures here in our office.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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