Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/214

208 in the six provinces where the scheme of reforms were to be practiced, and the manner, the duration, etc., were all alike; for example, in each place Kurds and Turkish irregulars and the regular soldiers were sent together; in each place the Christians were disarmed by full promise of protection; in each place the massacres and plunder had a certain limit of time; also began and ended with military bugle-sound; in each place the Turks were told they were obeying the Sultan's order; in each place only Armenians suffered, while other Christian people and foreigners were specially protected; in each place the most influential and young men were selected.

These atrocities were composed of murder, plunder, rape, torture, imprisonment and forcing to Islam. It was very evident that local Turkish authorities in each place had a detailed list in their hands as whom they were to plunder, which house to burn after plundering, which persons to be killed and which to be imprisoned. Those who attempted to protect themselves were horribly dealt with, and those who were destined for death could not find safety even in their Moslem neighbor's houses or in the government houses. Enforcement to Islam was more eagerly practiced in villages and small towns. Rape and outrage was left to the will of the mob; but as a rule the women and children were not sought for murder in the later massacres. Almost all the slaughtered bodies were destroyed by the Turks themselves. Very few aggressors among Mohametans lost their