Carnegie Endowment for International peace
Report ... to inquire into the causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars
 

APPENDIX D

Documents Relating to Chapter II

THE SERVIANS IN THE SECOND WAR

No. 53.—EVIDENCE OF GEOGHI VARNALIEV, Headmaster of the Bulgarian School at Kavadartsi, near Tikvesh.
On July 1, when the battle of Krivolak began, he was arrested with seven other Bulgarian notables and informed by the prefect that a state of siege existed, and that they would be kept as hostages till the end of the war. They were three days in prison, but were released after the Servian defeat. The secretary of the Servian prefect did everything possible to ensure their safety. Some drunken gendarmes were, however, left behind in the Servian retreat, and these killed the servant of the mayor and wounded a woman. The Macedonian volunteers of the Bulgarian army then occupied the town and behaved well, but left on July 7. There then began a systematic burning of all the Bulgarian villages in the neighborhood. This was carried out by Turks, accompanied by Servian soldiers and officers. Among the villages burned were Negotin (800 houses), Kamendol, Gornodissal, Haskovo, etc. The peasants from these places came to their town and told their stories of massacre and pillage. On July 8, the Servians arrived in Kavadartsi and killed twenty-five Bulgarians, mostly refugees from neighboring villages, among them were the mayor and five notables of their own town. The mayor was accused of tearing up a Servian flag and helping the Macedonians. Two lads aged thirteen and fifteen, named Dorev, were killed because a bomb had exploded near their house, and they were absurdly suspected. He saw the bodies, which were all buried, still bound, just outside the town. He witnessed the pillage of about thirty shops and the burning of fifteen houses. Four women went mad from fear in their flight from Kavadartsi and two of them are said to have killed their own children, lest they should fall into the hands of the Servians.

No. 54.—EVIDENCE OF TWO OLD VILLAGERS, natives of Istip, who walked to Sofia, a journey of three days and three nights, in order to give their testimony to the Commission; their names must be suppressed since they live in Servian territory.
They stated that they left Istip with the Bulgarian troops and sought refuge in the neighboring villages. Bands of Turks arrived and went round from village to village, burning the houses and violating the women. In the village Liubotrn, which was burned, eleven men and three women were killed and most of the women were violated. The leader of the Turkish band was a certain Yaha, of Veles, who had always led the bashi-basouks under the Turks. He had under him about 300 men, and laid waste all the country around Istip, Radovishta and Kochana. Many women were carried off by the Turks to their own villages. Later on the pomaks of Tikvesh arrived with wagons and did much plundering. The district was now relatively calm and the Servians were disarming the Turks, but they believed that the arms taken from some Turks were secretly given back to others.

[NOTE.—The above evidence, general in its character, relates to much that the witnesses saw and to much which they learned from others. It does not all rank as firsthand evidence, but appeared to be too serious to be disregarded.]

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No. 55.—EVIDENCE OF LIEUTENANT R. WADHAM FISHER (see also No. 9).
After the conclusion of peace Lieutenant Fisher visited the district overrun by the Servian army in the second war. He found the village of Sletovo near Kotchana, which he knew well, burnt down. He also visited the village Besikovo. Here the Montenegrins had killed twenty-eight of the villagers, a child had been burned alive in a house, and four women had died as the result of violation. In the next village, Priseka, five or six men had been killed and four women had died as the result of violation. In these villages everything had been taken, crops, clothes and money, and the people were starving, without shelter, on the mountain side. The Servians had used their corn in the trenches as bedding, and the peasants were reduced to picking out' the grains from it. The. Servians were levying a house-tax of five francs, even on burned houses.

EXTRACTS FROM THE EVIDENCE COLLECTED BY PROFESSOR MILETITS

No. 56.—THE SCHOOLHOUSE MASSACRE AT SERRES. Deposition of George T. Belev, of Strumnitsa, a Protestant, aged 32. (See also Nos. 18-26.)
Mr. Belev was serving as a bearer in the medical corps attached to the Seventieth Bulgarian regiment. He had transported two wounded soldiers from Nigrita to Serres. In Serres, on Friday, June 21, he entered the bakery of an acquaintance, a man from his native town. He was there arrested by Greeks and confined for two days, together with four other Bulgarian soldiers.

The deposition continues thus:
On Tuesday, June 25, we were taken to the bishop's palace to appear before a commission. In the hall there were several men sitting at a table in a corner, among them an ecclesiastic. They looked at us and said, "Take them away." From there we were taken to the girls' school, near the bishopric. The door was shut, and we were given the word of command in Bulgarian, "March. Form ranks." The following eight persons had been brought from the bakery [the names follow]. We found there four soldiers from Old Bulgaria. When we had formed our ranks, an evsone came up to us, and with him a certain Captain Doukas, and many Greeks of the town. They took from us one by one our coats and belts and all the money we had. From Theodore Inegilisov they took eight Napoleons and a watch, and from me a silver watch worth thirty francs, and ten francs which were in my purse. Then they placed us beside the staircase, drew their Turkish sabres, and ordered us to mount. Two of them with drawn sabres took up position on either side of the stairs, and as we went up they rained blows upon us. I received a blow on the left hand. Pando Abrachev had his right hand broken and his head cut open, and the others were also struck. We were then driven into a room about twenty-five meters square, where we were kept during Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Tuesday, we had nothing to eat and were not allowed to go to the lavatory * * * [He explains how he dressed Abrachev's wound.] * * * On Wednesday, we each received half a loaf and were allowed to go to the lavatory under escort. On Thursday, the Greek bishop arrived and went over all the rooms. He made a sort of speech to the prisoners. "We are Christians. Our Holy Gospel forbids us to massacre. We are not like the Bulgarians, we shall allow you all to return to your homes. Fear nothing, we shall do you no harm." He added, "Give them bread and water," and went away. We felt more at ease, believing that a bishop would not lie, and passed the rest of the day in hope. But in the evening, men were chosen from all the rooms and taken away, to the number of fourteen. They selected the Bulgarian gendarmes who had been arrested and the militant comitadjis, including Christo Dimitrov, who had a mill in which he used to shelter revolutionaries. * * * Thirteen of these were slaughtered on the second story, and we heard their cries. We still hoped that a selection would be made, and that we should not all be killed. * * *

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Next day (Friday, June 28) Dimitrov was brought back alive to our room. After him came a Greek priest. He opened the door of our room, and said in mockery, "Good day, lads." We did not answer. He repeated it, and still we were silent. Then he said, "Why don't you answer? 'Good day' is a civil word. Aren't you Bulgarians?" We did not answer. Then he asked us, "Would you like to see your glorious Tsar Ferdinand? Would you like to enter Salonica. So you shall, quite soon." Then the priest went away.

Two hours later we heard firing. Our troops were entering the town. We were sure that it was our army, for the Greek guns could not have been heard from that particular quarter. As soon as the Bulgarian guns came into action, the Greeks ran all over the building to gather us together in one room. We were seventy persons, pressed like herrings in a little room and there we remained for half an hour. Meanwhile they ran to see whether the Bulgarians were coming in. When they had ascertained this, they made us come out two by two, to bind our hands. Then those who were bound were led up to the upper story and killed. The first to be taken up was a little Greek of the village of Kolechino, near Strumnitsa, who had lived in Serres for seven years. He had been imprisoned by mistake. He begged for his liberty, explaining that everyone knew he was a Greek, that he was married and was a rich merchant. But no heed was paid to him, and he was killed. There was time to massacre all the seventy persons; it did not take more than an hour. There were plenty of executioners, and they worked quickly. Thirty men were bound, and then when they saw that this took too long, they stopped binding us.

Among the executioners was Charalambi Popov, a Grecized Bulgarian, the same baker in whose house I was arrested. The others were inhabitants of Serres, and two vlachs belonging to the Greek party from Poroi. One named Christo often came to Strumnitsa, and many a time I have gone surety for him. The other who is lame is named Tzeru, and knows no Greek. He killed with a yataghan, with which he severed the head from the body. The others used Martini bayonets, but some had Bulgarian Mannlicher bayonets. * * * I was taken with three others, two of them men from Dibra, and none of us were bound. We mounted the stairs, crossed a large hall and entered a big room. I went first and the executioner followed with his bayonet in his hand. * * * We were half dead with fear, and could hardly walk. Through the door of the room I could see slaughtered men, and some who were still alive and groaning. One was decapitated. The room was full, and the bodies lay two or three on top of each other. There was no room for me. Then the executioner made me go to another little room which was empty. It was my acquaintance the vlach, Christo. I took one step into the room, and at the next step he struck me in the neck. The force of the blow was broken by my collar, but I fell on my face. He then put his foot on my back,' and struck me six blows with the bayonet, on my back, behind my ear, under the right jaw, and in the throat. When the sisters of charity afterwards gave me milk, it flowed through this last wound. I don't remember crying, and did not feel it when the index finger of my right hand was cut off, nor did I lose consciousness * * * In the big room three or four people were killed at once, but in this little room the other victims had to look on while I was dealt with. I heard one of the men of Dibra struggling at the door of the room and trying to snatch the bayonet, until another executioner came up to help, and then they beat him pitilessly. He cried out, "What harm have I done to you. Leave me alone." Then they caught his hands, and flung him on top of me. I felt a heavy weight. They cut his throat and finished him by thrusts in his back. His blood flowed all over me and soaked my coat until I felt the warm stream wetting my body. He died on the spot and never stirred. Two others were then brought in and killed on top of us. They did not struggle; they were already half dead from fear. Then came more.

Some time afterwards there was a dead silence.  I heard nothing but the firing of rifles and cannon. When ? realized that there was none left in the building I decided to

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get out from under the heap of bodies which had been weighing on me and drenching me with blood for about an hour. I rose with difficulty, sat down in a corner, and dressed my wounds, knotting a handkerchief round my neck from which the blood was flowing. It hurt a good deal, but I drew the handkerchief tight. I got up, found that I could walk, and went into the next room. There I found Christo Dimitrov sitting among forty dead bodies. He got up and began to walk, and others also stirred. * * * From the window no one was to be seen, and shells and balls were flying. A shell fell near our building and set it on fire, and we saw that we should be burned alive unless we went out * * * Eight men gathered at the door. There were about twenty wounded men who might have been saved, if there had been anyone to help. One, the ninth, Ilia, a tilemaker of Gevgheli, came down the stairs, but fell near the door. * * * [He goes on to relate how he found the Bulgarian troops and was placed in a vehicle, and ultimately, after much suffering, reached Mehomia and eventually was nursed at Tatar-Bazardjik.]

No. 57.—EXTRACTS FROM A DEPOSITION BY DR. P. G. LAZNEV, a Russian physician in charge of the Bulgarian Hospital at Serres.
After complaining that the Greek women of Serres pillaged the hospital, and stating that the Greek andartes behaved well in their dealings with it after the Bulgarian evacuation Dr. Laznev continues:

"On July 11, the Bulgarian infantry with mountain guns appeared on the heights which command the hospital, and a fight ensued between them and the Greek insurgents who were sheltered behind the hospital. The insurgents were driven back, and the hospital was in the possession of the Bulgarians. That lasted only for a half an hour, for stronger detachments of Greek infantry and cavalry arrived, and a continuous exchange of rifle and gun fire went on from three to six p.m. As before, the hospital was the center of the fighting. Our windows were broken and I was obliged to lay the sick on the floor in order to shelter them. One of them was wounded. Neither Greeks nor Bulgarians would listen to my remonstrances. At the end of the fight the Bulgarians withdrew. About an hour before their withdrawal the town was set on fire. Then came the victors, fatigued and excited by the fighting. They burst in, knocked our orderly down and beat him cruelly, threatened to kill the sick 'because the Bulgarians had burned the town'; struck my assistant Komarov on the chest and shoulders with the butts of their rifles, and pointed the barrels of their rifles at my breast. Finally I induced them to go away. Others meanwhile pillaged the upper story of the hospital, and stole everything, including my personal property. [Details follow of the difficulties which the doctor experienced in dealing with the Greek authorities.] As to the burning of Serres, I am obliged to declare that I do not know its causes. I can only make guesses. It may have been caused by the Bulgarian shells. As a strong wind was blowing, a fire started in one place would spread easily to the neighboring buildings. I can not accept the theory of the Bishop of Serres (that the Bulgarians first sprinkled the houses with petroleum and then two days later set them on fire). In that case the conflagration would have started simultaneously in the several quarters of the town."

No. 58.—DEPOSITION OF ILIA PETROV LIMONEV, a fisherman of Doiran, serving in the 70th Bulgarian Regiment (Fourth Battalion, Fifteenth Company), was imprisoned in the School at Serres, and succeeded in breaking out and disarming the sentries. His narrative contains two interesting details. His detachment, reduced to thirty-two men, was separated from its battalion, and retreated through Demir-Hissar to the village of Kavakli. On July 6, it was surrounded by a Greek company numbering 200 men, and surrendered. "After disarming the Bulgarian soldiers, the Greeks bound them and massacred them. In this

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fashion twenty-four Bulgarian soldiers were slaughtered in the most barbarous fashion,. when at length a Greek officer arrived, and said that that was enough. The eight men who survived, including Limonev himself, were brought to Serres on the 8th, cruelly beaten and shut up in the girls' school." Among the sixty Bulgarian civilians imprisoned with them in an upper room, were four women, one of them very old. Describing what he saw after his escape, Limonev states that the Greek artillery mistook the Greek refugees-near the station for Bulgarians, turned their machine-guns upon them, and killed an immense number.

No. 58a.—DIMITRI AUGUELOV, wine merchant of Serres, arrested on July 7, was shut up in the school, escaped with a Jewish prisoner on Friday, and was concealed by Jews of the town.

No. 58b. STRATI GEORGHIEV, of the Dibra district, was arrested on July 10 by ten armed Greeks and five Turks. A Turk told him that all who wore the costume of Dibrai would be put to death, because they were Bulgarians. Among the corpses on Friday he saw an old woman with her head cut open, and three young women, all killed. There were fifty corpses in the room. He escaped with Belev and the others, severely wounded..

No. 59.—EVENTS AROUND DEMIR-HISSAR.
A group of Bulgarian villages in the neighborhood of Demir-Hissar was the scene of a systematic massacre. Most of the inhabitants of these villages, German, Kruchevo, Kirtchevo, and Tchervishta, had fled early in the second war. Letters were then sent out over the signature of Dr. Christoteles, an influential Greek doctor of Demir-Hissar, which invited them to return and assured them of safety. (See No. 44.) Marko Bourakchiev, of Kirtchevo (180 houses) had returned to his village with about eighty other families. On the arrival of the Greek troops on July 15 (he states), the villagers made them welcome and brought all they called for. Suddenly he heard the roll of a drum and an indescribable tumult followed, amid which he heard the cries and groans of the dying. He left his house and saw his neighbor Stoiana Tchalikova in a pool of blood, dead of bayonet wounds, and the corpse of little Anghel Paskov. He went back to his own house and saw two or three soldiers searching his grandmother for money. She had none and they cut her throat and plunged their bayonets into her breast. They then seized him and took him into another house, where were other soldiers and andartes. They began to discuss something which seemed important. He was forgotten and a soldier made him pour out water for him to wash his blood stained hands. Then the soldier made a sign to him,. and pointed to the door. He fled as fast as he could, and those who pursued failed to overtake him. From a hill he saw the village in flames.

Dimitri Guidichov and Ivan Radev, who also escaped from the village, relate that the men were shut up in two houses and burned alive. Forty women were shut up in the house of Anghel Douriov and there beaten, undressed, and violated. Four women (named) were killed, and four (named) were carried off by the soldiers. Twenty peasants of Tchervishta and Kruchevo were also massacred at Kirtchevo, together with two priests.

Paul Chavkov adds that he saw the soldiers taking seven or eight women naked to Gorno-Brodi. (See also No. 44.)

No. 60.—At German the same procedure was followed. Thirty families returned as the result of Dr. Christoteles' letter and welcomed the Greek troops. The men were shut

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up in the church and the women in the priests' house. One of the men, Dimitri Georghiev, escaped from the church and afterwards met Apostol Kostov of German, to whom he told his story. One woman also escaped, Stoianka Konstantinova, aged twenty. It is not known where she is at present. Some distance outside the village, as she was fleeing, she met her uncle, Thorma Ivanov, who was returning to it. She could hardly speak in her terror, and her uncle quotes these words: "I can't, I can't tell you anything. There's no describing what I've seen. God! how they tortured us, undressed us naked, while we cried and wept. * * * I am saved, but the others. * * * The village is burning. They were killing in the streets. Cries and the sound of shots were coming from the church. All the men were massacred there." The uncle and the niece fled together. He reached Bulgaria, but she remained behind on the way with some other peasants of German. (See also No. 46.)

No. 61.—ILIA KONSTASTINOV, of Tchervishta, relates that when the peasants of his village returned in response to the doctor's letters, twenty of their notables, himself among them, were taken to Kirtchevo. He saw them all massacred, the women led away, and the village burned, but managed himself to escape.

No. 62.—The same thing happened at Kruchevo. Nearly all the inhabitants returned and welcomed the Greek troops. The officer made them a speech, in which he told them that they were all Greeks and not Bulgarians. That same evening, the soldiers forced their way into all the houses (800 houses), pillaged everything and violated all the women and carried off the prettiest girls.

Ivan Bojov and Haralampi Jankoulov relate some incidents which they witnessed in the sack of Kruchevo. The soldiers (1) robbed George Tochev of fT250; (2) robbed Ivan Kakidine and killed him and his wife; (3) killed the widow, Ransa Hadjieva, because she had less money than they demanded; (4) killed Soultana Xalianova because she locked her house to protect her two daughters and daughter-in-law; (5) violated and then killed Vela Harmanova and Ransa Souchova; (6) took the daughter of the priest, Theodore Staev, gouged out his eyes, and two days later took him to Kirtchevo, where he was killed with the other notables.

No. 63.—SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE COLLECTED BY PROFESSOR MILETITS.

(a) Athanase Ivanov of Kukush who fled from the town on July 4, saw from his brother's house at a distance of three or four hundred paces the slaughter of two old men, three women and a little girl, by the Greek cavalry. The Greeks were then driven back by Bulgarian cavalry and the witness fled with the latter.

(b) Kolio Delikirov and Ivan Milev, of Akangeli, state that the Greek officer (see Nos. 39-43) ordered the villagers to bring their arms and all the money they possessed. The arms were given to the Turks, and the money kept by the Greeks. Four peasants (named) brought each of them from £T100 to £T150. While the arms were being given up, a rifle went off by accident, and the Greek soldiers fell upon the peasants, who fled in every direction. But they were soon surrounded and bound. Fifteen only were released, in order to fetch food for the soldiers; some of these fled and hid. Those who remained in the hands of the Greeks were massacred. * * * The young women were taken to a place called Karakol and violated. Two girls from Pataros, who were in the house of the teacher, Dimo Christov, were violated until they died.

(c) Vanghel Kazanski, of Kazanovo, saw the Greek cavalry between Gavalantsi and Dragomirtsi riding down old men and women who were fleeing. They shot Mitza Kouschinov, and then dismounted, but he could not see what followed.

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(d) Mito P. Stoyanov, of Moritolovo, states that Greek cavalry killed the mayor and gendarme of the village with their sabres.

(e) Mito Nicolov and his brother, Petro, of Doiran, in their flight, saw three Bulgarian villagers fleeing from Kodjamatli overtaken by Greek cavalry and killed.

(f) Thomas Pop Stoyanov, son of the priest of Dolna Djoumaia, states that his father and twenty-five notables of the village were killed by the Greek troops, and that four women were beaten or violated until they died [gives names],

(g) Gotze Ivanov, of Popovo, who left his village on July 6, states that the Greeks gathered the arms of the peasants and pillaged. The men were separated from the women and on the first day thirty disappeared. The women and girls were gathered in the house of Colio Theodorov and violated. Slava Coleva was violated and then killed in the street. Only three men escaped alive. The village was burned.

(h) Eftim Mitev, of Moklen, states that fifteen shepherds of his village, whom he names, were caught by the Greeks near Kalapot and massacred.

(i) Nicholas Anastasov, of Alistratik, states that Greek troops killed nine Bulgarian villagers, after first imprisoning them, also two young women and four children.

(j) Ivan Christodorov, of Guredjik, states that he saw Greek soldiers enter the houses of the village and begin to violate all the women. He fled.

(k) G. Markov, of Pleva, states that forty men of his village were taken outside it by the Greeks and slaughtered.

(l) Blagoi Ikonomov, of Mehomia, names four men killed and two women violated in his town. There were others.

(m) Dinka Ivanov, of Marikostenovo, states that all the women in his village were violated. He fled, was fired on, but escaped.

(n) Ivan Stoitchev, of Sveti-Vratch, says that the same thing happened there, and also at Polenitsa.

(o) At Pancherevo. the people awaited the Greeks and welcomed them. and were rewarded by the killing of six, and the carrying off of ten, of whom three escaped.

(p) At Grada, all the women were violated. At Matchevo, four villagers were killed.

(q) At Roussinovo, a woman died as the result of violation, three men were killed, and two women and a girl were carried off by the Greeks. The village was burned.

(r) At Smoimirtsi. the priest and people went out to meet the Greeks. The priest was tortured and died. A man was killed.

(s) From Vladimirovo, fourteen girls and an old woman were carried off by the Greeks.

(t) The people of Oumlena met the Greek troops. All the women were violated. Two were carried off, and kept for six days by the officers. One old woman died of ill-treatment, two men killed and five houses were burned.

No. 64.—From the official reports of some of the Bulgarian prefects in the new territories, we extract the following statements:

(a) The losses due to the systematic pillage by the Greek army in the following places is estimated thus in francs:

MEHOMIA.  Grain, 356,850 fr.; cattle, 164 fr.; household goods, 402,200 fr.; merchandise, 160.24 fr.; total, 759,374.24 fr.

BANSKO. Grain, 350,000 fr.; cattle, 200,000 fr.; household goods, 340,000 fr.; merchandise, 200,000 fr.; total, 1,090,000 fr.

NANIA. Grain, 30,000 fr.; cattle, 35,000 fr.; household goods, 41,000 fr.; merchandise, 5,000 fr.; total, 111,000 fr.

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DOBRINISHTA.  Loss by burning, 1,145,000 fr.; by pillage of grain, 200,000 fr.; cattle, 40,000 fr.; total, 1,385,000 fr.

Further, in Mehomia, seven old men were killed, two women beaten to death, and eleven old women violated. At Bansko five men were killed and four old women violated.

(b) At Petrits, twenty of the Bulgarian citizens were tortured by the Greeks to extort money. The method was to bind their arms behind their backs and then to twist the ropes with an iron instrument, one specimen of which was left behind. Twenty names are .given, with the sums extorted, which range from £T3 to £T25. Four were killed. There were many violations, but the victims conceal their names.

(c) In the Strumnitsa district, occupied partly by Greeks and partly by Servians, ?'T90 in money was taken by soldiers from seven men [named] in the village of Rablich, £T160 at Smiliantsi, £T100 at Inevo, £T200 at Yargorilitsa, £T70 at Radovitsa, etc. Six men, three women, and several children [named] were killed at Loubnitsa, five men and a "woman [named] at Radovitch, two women [named] at Oraovitsa, and seven inhabitants [no names] at Pideresch.

No. 65.—EXTRACTS FROM AN OFFICIAL REPORT (communicated) by OFFICER CANDIDATE PENEV, Aide-de-Camp of the first battalion of the 26th Infantry.
On the road leading to Strumnitsa, between the villages Ormanovo and Novo Selo, an the defile on the right bank of the river, I found a soldier of the Tenth (Rhodope) Infantry crucified on a poplar tree by means of telegraph wires. His face had been sprinkled with petroleum and burned. I recognized that he was a soldier from the epaulettes which had been torn off and flung down near him. The body was already in a state of decomposition. Further to the west I found another soldier of the Thirtieth Infantry. His body was buried in the sand, and nothing was visible but the head, which had been sprinkled with petroleum and burned. The eyes, nose and ears had disappeared. A soldier of the First (Prince Alexander's) Infantry was hanging head downwards, with his feet bound with telegraph wire. The epaulettes lying in the mud showed that the unhappy man was a mechanician. His ears and hands had been cut off, and his eyes torn out. Further along the same road I found many other unburied bodies mutilated, belonging to soldiers of the Second, Sixth and Eighth divisions.

(NOTE.—It is proper to note that the authors of these disgusting outrages may possibly have been Turks.)

On the way the peasants told us with tears in their eyes of the inhuman treatment which they had met with from Greek officers and soldiers. At Ormanovo, the commandant of Petrits had all the men imprisoned in the police office, where they were kept without food for three days, and ill-treated by the Greek soldiers. They were made to pay £T1 (23 fr.) for a drink of water. All the women and all the girls over eight years of age, were shut up in a house and violated. The same thing happened in Bossilovo, Dabine and Robovo. In this last village the Greek soldiers bound the priest and violated first his daughter and then the other women before his eyes. They then shot the priest and his daughter and burned the village.

Two-thirds of the town of Strumnitsa has been burned, notably the "Grecoman" and Turkish quarters, and some Greek houses in the Bulgarian quarter, together with the public buildings and the barracks. At the moment when the Greeks were about to set fire to the Bulgarian quarter, where several houses were already in flames, Mr. Cooper, the American Protestant missionary, arrived from Salonica. Mr. Cooper went to the Greek commandant and begged him to stop the burning, declaring that he would appeal to the

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British consul at Salonica. The fire was stopped by order of the commandant. I have this statement from Mr. Cooper himself, who sent photographs of the town burned by the Greeks to the British consul. The new Bulgarian church, a solid stone building, is half destroyed by three bombs which the Greeks placed in it to blow it up. The Bulgarian hospitals are also in ashes, and the Bulgarian wounded who had remained there were left without care or food. The Greek sentinels appropriated all the bread, milk, etc., which the good women of the town brought to the soldiers. Finally the wounded soldiers were shut up in the Turkish tower, which was set on fire. Their charred bodies were still lying there on September 16, when the Greeks evacuated the town. * * * A school teacher informed me that on the night of August 23, she was taken to the barracks, where she was first outraged by the Greek commander and then by twenty-four soldiers, one after the other. She is now in a pitiful condition.
 

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