Phti, M , S, 
 
 P ?<'$(£_ 
 
 The War Journal 
 
 of a 
 
 Missionary in Persia 
 
The War Journal 
 
 of a 
 
 Missionary in Persia 
 
 Edited by Mary Schauffler Platt 
 Foreword by W. A. Shedd 
 
 Price, Five Cents 
 
 The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church 
 in the U. S. A. 
 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
 
Dr. Packard and Koordish Chiefs 
 
Foreword 
 
 The following journal gives a vivid account of 
 the months of distress and peril that the native 
 Christians and missionaries at Urumia, Persia, 
 passed through last winter and spring. To one who 
 went through it, every incident mentioned and every 
 harrowing detail brings before the mind the pano- 
 rama of terror, privation and disease that passed be- 
 fore our eyes day by day. No history can ever 
 exaggerate the horror of it all as a whole. 
 
 Possibly a question may arise as to the right of the 
 missionaries to use the money deposited with them 
 by the native Persians. This money was left with 
 the clear understanding that it might be used at the 
 discretion of the missionaries, although it was stipu- 
 lated that it ultimately would be returned to the 
 depositors. The Mission emerged from those 
 months in debt about $30,000, which has since been 
 entirely repaid. 
 
 Another winter is at hand, and the number of 
 Christians in the immediate Urumia district who arc 
 without food is not less than 15,000. Most of these 
 have lost their homes and clothing, as well as food 
 supplies. Besides these, 25,000 absolutely destitute 
 Nestorians have come across the border from Turkey, 
 and the probabilities are that as many more will be 
 added to this number of refugees. To these may 
 be added Armenian refugees from Turkey and other 
 destitute Christians in Salmas and elsewhere. Here 
 is a definite and desperate need, which the Relief 
 Committee in Persia, consisting of the Honorable 
 Gordon Paddock, American Consul at Tabriz, and 
 missionaries of the American Mission, with a number 
 of the Anglican Mission, can meet effectively if they 
 have the funds. Can there be a more cogent appeal 
 than this? What is your answer to the concluding 
 question of this journal: “Will the Christians of 
 America pay the bill?” 
 
 William A. Shedd. 
 
 November, 1915. 
 
 3 
 
For the Dramatis Personae of 
 this narrative, see Urumia Station 
 in the Year Book of Prayer for 
 Foreign Missions, Presbyterian 
 Church, U. S. A. Price, ten cents. 
 
The Journal 
 
 Urumia, Persia, Saturday, January 9, 1915. 
 Dear Friends: — 
 
 I want to start a letter telling you of the events of 
 the last week, though I cannot tell when it will reach 
 you. As you know, the Russians had taken posses- 
 sion of this part of Persia, and were maintaining 
 order here, so that for the last year conditions were 
 more orderly, peaceful and prosperous than for long 
 years before. They had a consul here who was very 
 capable, and tried to do justice to all. 
 
 When war was declared between Russia and 
 Turkey, we knew that this meant war for Urumia, for 
 we are right on the Turkish border, and only a few 
 years ago Turkey tried to get this section for herself, 
 but failed. We were told by the Russians in author- 
 ity here that they would hold Urumia against all odds, 
 so the city was fortified by trenches and defences on 
 every side, and several thousand reinforcements came. 
 
 On New Year’s Day, according to our custom, we 
 received our friends. As many as a hundred and 
 forty of our Moslem and Christian friends, men and 
 women, called “to bless our New Year.” On Satur- 
 day, the 2nd, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, we 
 were informed that the whole Russian army was 
 withdrawing; some had gone in the night, the rest 
 would leave immediately. There was a panic at once 
 among the Christian (Syrian and Armenian) popu- 
 lation.* The Osmanlis, or Turks and Koords, were 
 but a few miles away, and the Christians were abso- 
 lutely defenceless. 
 
 * Editor’s Note. — The term Syrian, as used here, applies 
 tc the Christian nation who speak the Syriac language, and 
 who are Nestorians by religious belief. In America they 
 call themselves Persian-Assvrians. 
 
 5 
 
At once, as soon as the Russians had gone, with 
 large numbers of Syrians and Armenians leaving at 
 the same time, the evil-minded Moslems all over the 
 plain began to plunder the Christian villages. When 
 the people were trying to flee to the missionaries in 
 the city, they were robbed on the roads of everything 
 they had, even of their outer clothing. In some of 
 the villages the Moslem masters placed guards to 
 prevent the people from going themselves, or bring- 
 ing their possessions to the citv, saying they would 
 protect them. When they tried to get away, these 
 same guards robbed and stripped them. 
 
 The crowds had begun to pour in at our gates on 
 Sunday; the city people were taken in by night and 
 many others from near by. Sunday morning we put 
 up the American flags over the entrances. On Mon- 
 day morning Dr. Packard, with American and Turk- 
 ish flags, accompanied by two Syrians, started out 
 to meet the leading Koordish chief. He arrived at 
 Geogtapa in time to prevent a terrible massacre. 
 The people of Geogtapa who had not fled to the city 
 had gone to our church and the Russian church, both 
 of which are situated on a high hill formed of ashes, 
 a relic of Zoroastrian times. The churchyards are 
 enclosed by high mud walls. All finally went to the 
 Russian church, which was on the highest ground. 
 They barricaded the strong doors, and when the 
 Koords attacked the men defended the fort with 
 their guns and the women crowded like sheep into- 
 the church. When Dr. Packard arrived a lively 
 battle was going on, with little chance for the Chris- 
 tians. He had great difficulty in getting to the chiefs 
 without being shot; but he finally reached them, and 
 they knew him. Some of these Koords had spent 
 weeks in our hospital and had been operated upon 
 by Dr. Packard, so they listened to him while he 
 pleaded for the lives of the people inside. After 
 several hours’ entreaty, they agreed to let the people 
 go with him if they would give up their guns and 
 ammunition. 
 
 6 
 
I was talking yesterday with Layah, our Bible 
 woman, who was inside the church. She said when 
 Dr. Packard first tried to signal them they did not 
 know him and kept on firing, but when they recog- 
 nized him a shout went up: “It’s the Hakim Sahib! 
 Thank God! We are saved!” I asked her what the 
 Koords did when they came out, and she said they 
 stood bv and helped them, saying: "Come on! Come 
 on! Don’t be afraid!” In the rush, Layah fell and 
 broke her arm, and is now lying on Miss Lamme’s 
 sofa resting. 
 
 All day Monday the refugees had come in, until 
 it seemed that every room and storeroom was full, 
 many of the rooms not lying-down-full, but sitting- 
 up-full. But that night, when Dr. Packard came, he 
 brought over fifteen hundred more with him, and 
 they had to be stowed away. This is Saturday, the 
 sixth day these thousands have been here in our 
 yards, not less than ten thousand — perhaps twelve or 
 fourteen thousand. We have taken several small 
 yards and houses adjoining ours, and the English 
 Mission yard adjoining the seminary yard is also full. 
 Of course, the two Englishmen of the English Mis- 
 sion had to leave with the Russian army, and with 
 them a large number of prominent Syrians, who had 
 been sympathizers with Russia. Here in the city 
 there has been plundering and some destruction of 
 property, but no general disorder — unless it be in the 
 Armenian quarter. The fine brick quarters which 
 were built as barracks for the Russian army I under- 
 stand have remained intact, because the invaders are 
 afraid to go near them for fear they may be mined. 
 
 From the first the Sheikh promised protection to 
 us and our people, and when the Osmali officers came 
 they immediately took possession of the city, and 
 have tried to keep order and prevent plundering by 
 Moslems. The other day a Moslem, terriblv 
 wounded by a Turkish guard while robbing, was 
 brought here for treatment. This is an illustration 
 of our position: Here is a Mussulman thief, plunder- 
 
 7 
 
ing Christians, shot by the Osmanli guard, and then 
 brought to 11s by his friends that we might care for 
 him. 
 
 Although we were promised safety for all within 
 our gates, there is no certainty. On Wednesday 
 morning I lav in bed a little longer than usual, and 
 about half-past seven suddenly an awful cry of fear 
 and despair went up from thousands of throats, and 
 the crowds rushed toward the church, then swayed 
 back, not knowing whither to fly. From the church, 
 where human beings are packed in like sardines, they 
 began jumping from the windows. My first thought 
 was that the Koords had broken in through our back 
 gate, which opens into the Moslem quarter, and that 
 the massacre was about to begin; but the poor, ter- 
 rified people soon quieted, and before I could get 
 dressed I knew it must have been a false alarm. The 
 poor, hunted creatures think if they can only hold to 
 the skirts of a missionary they will be safe. 
 
 On Thursday, Hannah, the wife of one of our pas- 
 tors, reached us after great suffering and exposure. 
 They lived in Nazi, and heard the report that the 
 Russians were leaving. They couldn’t believe it, but 
 Sunday afternoon Koords from the west came and 
 began plundering. The people all fled to a walled 
 village, where they thought they might be safer and 
 because our preacher there, Kasha Oner (Preacher 
 Abner), had many friends among the Koords, being 
 a mountaineer. On Monday, a Koord visited them, 
 pretending that he had been sent by the Turks from 
 the city, telling them they need have no fear, as they 
 would be protected. But it became evident that he 
 was a spy. Afterwards a band of Koords came, de- 
 manded the guns, and drank tea with the people; 
 then others came and they began robbing and killing. 
 The people gathered together like a flock of fright- 
 ened sheep, and many were slaughtered. The most 
 of them got through the great gateway while the 
 Koords were plundering, and that night they spent in 
 the mountains without food or shelter and very little 
 
 8 
 
covering. One of our girls, Katie, who had gone 
 home on Friday for her Christmas vacation, was 
 among them, and saw her mother murdered and had 
 to leave her body lying by the gate as they ran. The 
 next morning more than four hundred of them 
 started toward the city, cold, hungry, exhausted; 
 many, having lost their shoes in their flight, had 
 frozen and bleeding feet. Hannah came here, her 
 feet were dressed, and she is lying comfortably on a 
 mattress on Miss Lamme’s floor. Her husband and 
 daughter were already here. I he rest of the party 
 were taken in at our college compound, two miles 
 west of the city. 
 
 The pitiful tales we hear of murder, of narrow 
 escape through snow and mud, hungry, sick and cold, 
 are numberless. 
 
 Monday, January nth . — Several families from 
 Degala are camped in our parlor, and night before 
 last V'ictoria, one of the women, came to me and said 
 an old woman had just come in who didn’t seem able 
 to answer anything she asked her. I found her 
 crouched in a corner of the hall. She said she was 
 so cold. At first she couldn’t eat, but after drinking 
 some tea improved. We had absolutely no place but 
 a stone floor for her; but we took up a carpet from 
 my bed room, rolled her up in it in the upper hall- 
 way. and she went to sleep. She was the janitress 
 of our church in Barbarud, fifteen miles to the south. 
 The Koords did their worst there several days ago, 
 and she had escaped, barefooted, almost naked, and 
 without food. She died a day or two later. 
 
 One poor woman, who had both husband and son 
 killed, has gone crazy, and we haven’t any place to 
 put her but a dark closet under the stairway. At mid- 
 night I was awakened by her pounding on the door. 
 She has a nursing baby. Thank God. to-day they 
 took her to the hospital, where they can care for her 
 a little better than here. (She died two days later.) 
 At the College compound, where the hospital is. they 
 
 9 
 
have only about two thousand, and we have perhaps 
 twelve thousand, and every day more are coming. 
 Those who have been hiding with Moslem friends 
 are coming to us day by day, and we haven’t any 
 place to put them. We have not been able to take 
 the dead from our yards, so we are burying them in 
 the little yard by the side of the church — twenty-seven 
 so far. Some die every day, and there is no shroud 
 or coffin for them. 
 
 Evening . — We have just had a Praise Meeting in 
 the parlor with fifty or sixty who could gather from 
 the halls and rooms near, and we feel more cheerful. 
 We thought if Paul and Silas, with their stripes, could 
 sing praises in prison, so could we. 
 
 Wednesday, January 13th . — Since Monday the 4th 
 we have been giving out bread. In the morning we 
 sell to those who have money, and in the afternoon 
 give free bread to those who cannot buy, disposing 
 of over four tons of bread a day. Practically all the 
 refugees from the city have their own food, and some 
 from the villages, too. We buy our bread from the 
 bazaar (market), and a very efficient and willing 
 young Syrian has been attending to the weighing 
 and giving out, while groups of other young men 
 have been selling and distributing. The only things 
 we have had for carrying the bread are our clothes- 
 baskets and old tin bathtubs, and they are doing good 
 service. We have received some gifts of food for the 
 refugees from Moslems. One man gave over six 
 hundred pounds of meat, which we cooked and gave 
 out in one section, but it is very difficult to distribute 
 anything except bread among so large a number. 
 I am speaking only of what we are doing here in 
 this compound, where by far the larger number of 
 refugees are. They are doing similar work in Sar- 
 dari (the Boys’ School premises) and at the College 
 compound. Mr. McDowell is looking after sanitary 
 conditions, and the streams of water flowing through 
 the yards, which furnish the only drinking water for 
 the crowds, and conditions are much improved. 
 
 10 
 
There are hundreds of mountaineers who have no 
 place to go. Before this affair they were distributed 
 among the villages and we had established a number 
 of schools especially for them. These people had 
 been driven from their homes by the Koords early 
 in the fall. Many of them seem little above animals, 
 dirty, lazy, satisfied with any hole to lie in, and just 
 enough bread to keep their stomachs comfortable. 
 Of course, they arc not all of this sort, but we have 
 several hundred that are. They are chiefly crowded 
 into the church and our large school room. The 
 people who are suffering most are those who have 
 been accustomed to the comforts and decencies of 
 life, who are crowded together like cattle, without 
 sufficient clothing or food. 
 
 The day after the flight from Geogtapa we went 
 with a basket of bread to one of the larger rooms of 
 the Press, which was filled with self-respecting people 
 who had the day before been in comfortable circum- 
 stances, but who had fled with nothing, or had been 
 robbed of whatever they had tried to bring with 
 them. When they saw the bread for distribution, 
 they began to cry and cover their faces, and we had 
 to drop the bread into their laps — they didn’t reach 
 out for it. Of course, we assured them that, under 
 such circumstances, it was no shame to eat the bread 
 of charity. 
 
 When the people began to flee, they wanted to 
 deposit their money with us, and our Treasurer 
 accepted it on condition that we could use it without 
 interest and repay it when normal conditions are 
 restored'. It is with this money that we have been 
 enabled to buy bread and save these people from 
 starvation. 
 
 Children are being born every day. We ha^e 
 managed to give two small rooms to these women, 
 many of whom haven’t even a quilt. Children were 
 born even in the crowded church. One of the 
 women who was reporting these cases complained in 
 a very aggrieved tone that some were “even bringing 
 
 ir 
 
two,” as if one wasn’t enough to satisfy anybody under 
 existing circumstances. 
 
 This is the first day that we have been able to get 
 donkeys to haul away the refuse. I hope we shall 
 soon be able to take the dead to the cemetery. 
 
 Thursday, January 14th. — Mr. Allen returned last 
 evening from his trip to the villages of the Nazlu 
 river. Several thousand fled toward Russia; many 
 have hidden with Moslems, who are now trying to 
 force them to become Mohammedans and to give 
 their girls in marriage to Moslems. In Ada perhaps as 
 many as a hundred were killed, most of them young 
 men. It is told that they were stood up in line, one 
 back of another, by the Koords, to see how many 
 one bullet would kill. I went down to see the woman 
 in the room under mine who had received word of 
 the killing of her brother in Karajaloo. Everywhere 
 there is wailing and sadness, and her lamentation for 
 her dead brother is the wail of thousands of hearts: 
 “Oh, Yeremia (Jeremiah), my brother! 
 
 The pillar of our house; a father to all, ah, Yeremia, Yeremia ! 
 Thou didst comfort us all ! A giant in body and giant in spirit. 
 Oh, Yeremia, my brother, oh, my brother, Yeremia, my heart 
 is broken for thee ! 
 
 My brother! Oh, my brother, thy house is left desolate; thy 
 little ones orphans. 
 
 Oh, Yeremia, Y'eremia ! thou wert a righteous man, merciful 
 to the poor !’’ 
 
 Saturday , January 16th . — Yesterday some Abijalu 
 people were in asking for bread, although a week 
 ago they were among the well-to-do. The same 
 story of robbery, exposure and horror. When a 
 Koord tried to carry off Shamasha’ Sayad’s daughter, 
 she jumped into the well and stayed there for hours 
 in water up to her chin. Some one said a few days 
 ago, “Blessed are the dead,” and I echoed the 
 sentiment. 
 
 Monday, January 18th. — In the midst of panic, dis- 
 tress and death, we have had two weddings. Both 
 
 12 
 
had been arranged to take place on the Syrian New 
 Year, January 14th. Dr. Shedd performed the cere- 
 mony in both cases. Both brides had their trous- 
 seaux ready, but felt these were not proper times for 
 the display of finery, so wore ordinary dresses. 
 
 These last few days a number of the city families 
 have returned in fear and trembling to their homes, 
 taking just a very few things with them. This is 
 relieving the over-crowded rooms somewhat, and 
 Miss Schoebel this afternoon is trying to drive the 
 people out into the sunshine long enough to have 
 the rooms swept — or, rather, shovelled. It con- 
 sumes all one’s energies to try to get any one to do 
 anything. All the responsibility and much of the 
 actual labor has devolved upon the missionaries. Of 
 course, many of our best men fled to Russia, and of 
 those who are left there are few leaders. There are 
 some notable exceptions, though, both here and at 
 the College — e, g., Jacob David, who without mis- 
 sionary assistance has charge of eight hundred and 
 fifty refugees and is doing finely. Another, a young 
 shopkeeper, has had charge of the weighing and dis- 
 tribution of bread, with much of the buying, from 
 the beginning. He has done the work with surpris- 
 ing efficiency and self-devotion. Bands of young 
 men have been ready, day after day, for distributing 
 bread. The nights have been divided into three 
 watches, and groups of men have taken their turns 
 in acting as watchmen. Mr. Neesan, who has charge 
 of the English Mission yard, one night found the 
 watchmen asleep, so the next day they were tied to 
 trees, and a placard placed over them with the in- 
 scription: ‘‘Unfaithful Watchmen,” as a warning to 
 others. Guarding the streams is a very necessary 
 and a very difficult task. Mr. McDowell finds it ex- 
 tremely hard to get any one among the hundreds of 
 Syrians here who can be trusted to oversee such 
 work, or who can be kept on a job longer than an 
 hour or so at a time. 
 
 We are urging some now to return to their homes. 
 
 13 
 
Many are so afraid, and we cannot give them 
 assurance of safety. Some Koords have gone, but 
 many are still about. The people come to the indi- 
 vidual missionaries and beg for just one small room 
 for their families, each one with his own special plea. 
 When we tell them the greatest danger for them just 
 now is to remain crowded in such narrow bounds, 
 it makes little or no appeal to them. They are nine- 
 tenths fatalists anyway, and think that it all depends 
 upon the “will of Allah.” They say, “Let us die by 
 the hand of God and not of the Koords.” 
 
 We have been having unusually fine weather; only 
 two bad days, and they were not cold. A Moham- 
 medan was heard to say: “Do you see how God loves 
 these Christians? Who ever saw such weather in 
 the middle of winter?” 
 
 Dr. Shedd is the representative of our station 
 before the government; he and Dr. Packard have had 
 that end of the work, daily pleading before Persian 
 and Osmanli authorities for the Christian population. 
 It was told us that a prominent Moslem had said: 
 “Dr. Shedd is the best Christian in the city! Just 
 see how he comes every day through the deep mud 
 to plead for those people!” 
 
 Wednesday, January 20 th . — A few people from the 
 city went to their homes, and our hopes began to 
 rise; but yesterday and to-day others came in from 
 the Na7.1u river and from Chargoosha. Thirty-six 
 dead were carried to the trench in Mart Muryam* 
 (St. Mary) churchyard yesterday; the larger part of 
 them were children. 
 
 Lucy, daughter of Kasha (preacher) David of 
 Ardishai, came in yesterday with her baby from 
 Gulpashan, where they had been refugees for some 
 time, living in terror of Koords by day and night. 
 They also feared the Moslem neighbors and the 
 Turkish guards sent in to protect the village. Her 
 
 * Christian quarter of the city, adjoining the mission property. 
 
 14 
 
own village was Chargusha. In terror the people 
 fled to the roofs as the village was surrounded by 
 Koords, and there was no avenue of escape. The 
 Koords came to the roofs and commanded the people 
 to go down. Lucy, with one Koord below her on 
 the ladder and two above her, her baby on her back, 
 got down. In the yard she saw her younger sister, 
 Sherin, a pretty girl of about fifteen, being dragged 
 away bv a Koord. She was imploring Lucy to save 
 her, but Lucy was helpless. When she was telling 
 me this with tears and sotis, she said: “Every night, 
 when I try to sleep, I hear her entreaties, ‘Oh, Lucy, 
 I’ll be your sacrifice. Save me, Lucy!’ I failed to 
 her, ‘Pull your head-kerchief over your face; don’t 
 look into their faces.’ She tried to conceal her face, 
 and daubed it with mud, but she has such beautiful 
 dark eyes and rosy cheeks! The Koords grabbed 
 the young women and girls, peering into their faces, 
 till each one found a pretty one for himself, then 
 dragged her away. If they had only killed my sister 
 we could say, ‘She is dead, like many another — it is 
 finished;’ but that she should be in the hands of a 
 Koord — we cannot bear it!” Some of these captives 
 have been recovered, but there is no word of Sherin. 
 
 Saturday, January 23rd . — Yesterday we counted 
 three thousand three hundred in the church, and 
 many have gone out, so there must have been four 
 thousand people there these last two weeks. Is it any 
 wonder that children are dying by the score? Morn- 
 ing and afternoon there are burials; at other times 
 the bodies are collected and laid in a room near the 
 gate. To-day Mr. McDowell succeeded, after long 
 efforts, in getting a cart for scavenger work. (It 
 came but one day.) We have not been able to get 
 even donkeys, except five or six. The scavengers 
 would not come into the yards of Christians for such 
 work, even though Mr. McDowell offered to pay 
 well. We cannot open our back windows, the stench 
 is too dreadful. I suppose the mere mention of such 
 
 IS 
 
things is quite shocking even to read; but we have 
 been living in such surroundings for nearly three 
 weeks, and see only a little light ahead. We are hop- 
 ing we can distribute some of the mountain refugees 
 in empty houses here in Mart Maryam and the Chris- 
 tian quarter. 
 
 Many Moslems who pretended to accept food and 
 goods of Christians for safe keeping, are now claim- 
 ing them as their own. One of our preachers, after 
 ihaving been plundered of. about everything by his 
 Moslem neighbors, was received as a refugee into 
 one of their houses and was fed from his own dishes, 
 of his own food, and put to sleep in his own bed. 
 
 Dr. Packard has been gone for several days to the 
 Nazlu villages, to gather together the remnants of 
 the people scattered in Moslem villages, or in hiding, 
 and to see if it be possible to put them into a few of 
 their own places again. Most of the Koords have 
 left, but the Syrians are unarmed, and, just as from 
 the beginning, their Moslem neighbors are their 
 greatest enemies. If it isn’t a Jehad (Holy War), it 
 is very near it. It must have been planned before- 
 hand, for there has been concerted action from one 
 end of the plain to the other, though here and there 
 some Moslems have been friendly throughout, have 
 done many kindly deeds and saved many lives. 
 
 Later . — Just at this point we had an interesting 
 diversion. A band of Turkish soldiers came into our 
 yard and said they wanted to search our premises 
 for wounded Russian soldiers. They searched the 
 houses of the Allens, the Mullers, and our house ; 
 then the schools and all outside buildings, store- 
 houses, even to the smallest closets. You might 
 have thought they were searching for a lost hair from 
 Osman’s beard! I have an idea they thought we 
 were concealing arms or ammunition, though ten 
 days ago they collected all we could find anywhere 
 among the people, and gave them up to the Osmanli 
 commander. As we had nothing hidden, of course 
 we had nothing to fear, though some of the people 
 were scared. 
 
 16 
 
A dozen times a day I pray, “Oh, Lord, how long:'" 
 All the first days it seemed as if it must be a horrible 
 dream from which I would waken ; but it has become 
 a three weeks’ reality, with little hope of a near dawn- 
 ing. It looks as if our long night might stretch out 
 till the dawn of peace in Europe. And for these 
 things who shall answer, if not the powers of Europe? 
 
 We have read that America has done so much for 
 the sufferers in Europe; surely they will not be too 
 poor to help this little corner of misery, with its 
 twenty-five or thirty thousand sufferers, and with 
 absolutely no one on earth to look to but the Ameri- 
 can Mission! For months we have not been per- 
 mitted to write of conditions here, and now we are 
 entirely shut off from the world, even from Tabriz. 
 Anything we write “must be in French, just to say 
 we are well.” Our last word from Tabriz, the near- 
 est mission station and residence of the American 
 Consul, was written December 31st, and this is Janu- 
 ary 23rd. 
 
 Sunday, January 24th . — The fourth Sunday, but no 
 Sabbath. To-day nearly all the people were taken 
 out of the church and distributed among the empty 
 houses near the Russian Mission and in the old 
 church. I went with some of the young men who 
 are helping with the distribution of the bread to 
 count the people in each place. In one house there 
 were two hundred and fifty; these are all mountain- 
 eers. We give to each one sheet or loaf of bread 
 per day; about ten ounces. Not very extravagant 
 feeding, you see! 
 
 Tuesday, January 26th . — On Sunday a Jew brought 
 11s word from Usknuk that Kasha David’s daughter. 
 Sherin, is there in the house of a Koord, and that 
 every effort is being made by gifts, persuasion and 
 threats, to make her turn Mohammedan, but that she 
 always answers, “You may kill me, but I will never 
 deny my faith.” We are making plans to try to get 
 
her back. Dr. Packard reported on his return from 
 the Nazlu villages that in one place practically the 
 whole place has become Moslem, has given up their 
 church to be a mosque, and some even cursed their 
 former faith. But, of course, such people never had 
 any religion, and changing the name of it is a matter 
 of convenience. 
 
 Wednesday, January 27th .- — Miss Lamme and I 
 went to-day to the Jewish quarters to look up Syrian 
 refugees there. We found them in large numbers in 
 the Jewish houses, where they had been kept and in 
 some cases fed. Yesterday the French Mission sent 
 away from their yards two hundred and fifty or more 
 persons, who first went to the governor. He tele- 
 phoned to Dr. Shedd, and we had to receive them. 
 They were put into Dr. Israel’s house in Dilgusha, 
 outside the city walls. All the houses there have 
 been completely plundered; many have been robbed 
 of doors and windows. No one thinks of returning 
 to homes there, but a great many have returned to 
 Mart Maryam. 
 
 Later . — Everywhere about the yards people are 
 basking in the wonderful sunshine, which is more 
 like April than January. The common sight every- 
 where is the everlasting hunt for vermin, friends and 
 neighbors graciously assisting one another. I sup- 
 pose it is a vulgar subject to mention, but “we’ve got 
 ’em,” and must go on living in hourly contact with 
 thousands of others who swarm with them. 
 
 Friday, February 5th . — We can’t complain of the 
 monotony of life, for we never know what will happen 
 next. Tuesday morning I had a wedding in my 
 room here. The boy and girl were simple villagers. 
 He had gone to Russia and brought back a little 
 money, with some foreign clothes. Then his folks 
 began to look around for a wife for him. He was 
 betrothed several months ago to Anna of Ardishai, 
 and, according to custom, gave her the monev to buv 
 
 18 
 
her trousseau. For several weeks she had been sew- 
 ing, until at last the wonderful silk dress, white silk 
 head-kerchief, veil and all the necessaries, were 
 ready. The wedding was set for the Syrian New 
 Year; but — the Koords came and carried off wed- 
 ding clothes and everything else in the house. They 
 all fled here, and were married in the old, dirty gar- 
 ments they were wearing when they ran for their 
 lives, for this was a month ago. In the flight the 
 bride’s mother was lost, probably killed, as nothing 
 has been heard of her since. Their only present was 
 a little tea and sugar that I tied up in a kerchief and 
 gave to the bride, that they might invite a few friends 
 to drink tea instead of to eat the dinner they had 
 intended giving. 
 
 There are a great many people who have been 
 accustomed to good living heretofore, but for months 
 have had no cooked food, so I invited a number of 
 these to dinner on Wednesday. We had a meat 
 stew, bread, cheese, pickles and tea, all they could 
 eat. There were thirty-five for dinner, and twenty 
 for supper. There was enough left over to feed fifty 
 or more poor and sick ones outside. The whole 
 thing cost about four dollars and fed a hundred peo- 
 ple. We spread long cloths on the parlor floor and 
 ate with wooden spoons from enamel plates borrowed 
 for the occasion from the school. The matron and 
 school girls did the cooking and serving. 
 
 But for our next door neighbors the scene quickly 
 changed again from weddings and dinners to one of 
 
 terror and flight by night. The house of Dr. 
 
 adjoins ours, and the roofs are continuous. For 
 several days there had been rumors that their house 
 would be plundered by the Turkish authorities, and 
 they had not dared to undress and go to bed in peace, 
 but Wednesday they felt more safe and went to bed 
 early. 1 myself had gone to bed, but not to sleep. 
 Just before eleven o’clock I heard loud knocking on 
 their gate, and then a rapid trampling of feet on the 
 roof over my room. Pretty soon there was quite a 
 
 19’ 
 
commotion in our front yard. I jumped up, and saw 
 in the yard a dozen or more Turkish soldiers, who 
 entered through our front door and went up to the 
 roof through our halls. I dressed as quickly as I 
 could and went to Miss Coan’s room on the roof, to 
 
 find that some of the women from Dr. ’s family 
 
 were already there. In a few minutes the rest of 
 the women and children from there climbed the wall 
 or slid from the roof on to our balcony, and I let 
 them in through the window into our parlor. They 
 were crying and frightened nearly to death, but kept 
 quiet. The Turks searched the house, but took noth- 
 ing. saying they had come to take evil men, not 
 things. They came back through our house again. 
 The orders have been in our yard that the gate 
 should never be opened at night but by one of the 
 gentlemen; so. when they first knocked, the guard 
 came and called Mr. Allen. He let them in and went 
 
 with them to Dr. — ’s house. In the meantime, 
 
 a Syrian had aroused Mr. Muller, and when he tried 
 to get out of his front door he found a Turk guarding 
 it. He tried to push out, saying that he was the 
 master of the house, but the Turk struck him and 
 refused to let him pass. When the gang returned 
 from our neighbors’, they insisted on searching Mr. 
 Muller’s house, even going into the bedroom where 
 Mrs. Muller was in bed and Ruth was sick. Mean- 
 time a second band came and pounded on our gate, 
 but our guards had run away, and finally one of the 
 men climbed a telephone pole to the roof, got down 
 inside and opened the gate. The officer tied up the 
 Persian guards as a punishment for not opening the 
 gate. Afterwards they went into the Allen house 
 and even asked to have the piano played. It is mad- 
 dening to have our premises and houses invaded in 
 this way, and by such a lot. but we are helpless, and. 
 for the sake of what we may be able to do for the 
 safetv of the people, our gentlemen have to smile and 
 trv to turn away their wrath with soft words, even 
 though they are threatened and called liars bv the 
 
 20 
 
representatives of the invading government. I don’t 
 believe the Mission in the seventy-five years and 
 more of its existence has ever been placed in so dif- 
 ficult and humiliating a position. 
 
 Still the ghastly procession of the dead marches on. 
 Between seven and eight hundred have died so far. 
 A great many are able to get plain wooden coffins 
 for their dead now, but the great mass are just 
 dropped into the great trench of rotting humanity. 
 As I stand at my window in the morning I see one 
 after another of the little bodies carried bv, wrapped 
 mostly in a ragged piece of patch-work ; and the con- 
 dition of the living is more pitiful than that of the 
 dead-— hungry, ragged, dirty, sick, cold, wet, swarm- 
 ing with vermin — thousands of them! Not for all 
 the wealth of all the rulers of Europe would I bear 
 for one hour their responsibility for the suffering 
 and misery of this one little corner of the world alone. 
 A helpless, unarmed Giristian community turned over 
 to the sword and the passion of Islam! 
 
 This morning my attention was called to a girl of 
 twelve, who was too sick to be kept any longer in 
 a room with other people. A young Syrian woman, 
 who was helping with the sick, wanted to put her into 
 that closet under the stairway from which none ever 
 come out alive. I said, "She will die in there.” She 
 replied, "Of course she will die, but we will have to 
 find a place for her until she does.”. We put her 
 there temporarily until we found a small room where 
 there were only twenty. These we distributed among 
 other crowded rooms, brought Marganeta there, laid 
 her on some matting and covered her with an old 
 carpet. Poor child, she has a sweet face, but life 
 has treated her cruelly. 
 
 Dysentery has been bad for a long time, and when 
 the sick get helpless and offensive, it is almost im- 
 possible to get any one to care for them unless they 
 have near relatives. Dysentery and measles have 
 both been epidemic for a long time, and nearly all 
 deaths are directly due to one or both of these 
 diseases. 
 
 21 
 
We had a real respectable funeral in the front yard 
 this afternoon. A good old woman from Degala 
 died, and her pastor had a service for her. This is 
 only the second real funeral service I have seen, 
 though a preacher is always present at the two burials 
 daily, and conducts a service at the cemeterv. 
 
 Friday, February 12th. — To-day we have begun a 
 new method of giving out bread. We have printed 
 blanks, which we fill out and ask the heads of families 
 to sign, promising to pay us later for the bread. All 
 day thousands have been crowding the big tent in the 
 yard, where a number of young men have been filling 
 out and giving these tickets for bread. The problem 
 is a big one. Undoubtedly some could find bread 
 who are taking it free, but we cannot decide most 
 of the cases. Then we are spending thousands of 
 borrowed money, and as yet no response to cur 
 cablegram sent long ago to America! The numbers 
 asking for bread are increasing daily, but if we should 
 refuse it, hundreds would die of starvation. 
 
 Again the yards are wet and muddy from melting 
 snow. The last two days have been very hard for 
 the thousands without fuel and with very little cloth- 
 ing. One of the verses that helps to keep my faith 
 steady these days is: “He that spared not His own 
 Son.” 
 
 The death-rate has been considerable reduced: for 
 two weeks or more it averaged over thirty a day. 
 
 Mr. Allen is off on a trip to the villages of the 
 upper Nazlu river, to see what is left there, and to 
 give help or encouragement to any one who may be 
 left. A while ago when Mr. Allen visited the villages 
 on the Baranduz, one of our Bible women told him 
 of a certain spot she wished him to visit. She lived 
 in Kurtapa, and as she was about to flee with a bag 
 containing nine tomans* of money, the robbers ap- 
 peared at the door. She quickly threw the bag 
 
 *A toman is about one dollar. 
 
 22 
 
down beside a broken earthen tub and the thieves 
 did not see it. Mr. Allen went to that village, found 
 the room and the broken tub with the bag of money 
 beside it, and brought the money to its owner. 
 
 Last week, the Shahbanda, or Turkish Consul, who 
 is now chief authority, demanded six thousand 
 tomans of the Syrians. With great trouble this was 
 partly collected and partly borrowed by the help of 
 the Sarder (Persian Governor), who demanded six 
 hundred more for his share. The Shahbanda prom- 
 ised that if this were given, the shops and houses 
 of the Syrians in the city would not be disturbed. 
 It remains to be seen how much his word is worth. 
 
 To-morrow completes six weeks of this siege and 
 semi-siege condition. We keep on praying, but see 
 no signs of deliverance. We are shut off from the 
 world, and thousands are held in this bondage by 
 a few hundred Osmanli troops and a few wandering 
 Koords. I realize now that Persia is dead — or 
 worse; she has no manhood nor moral character left. 
 
 Wednesday, February i/th . — A few days ago the 
 Turkish Consul arrested all the men at the French 
 Mission. After some examination, a hundred were 
 sent away, leaving about sixty-three at the Consulate. 
 A gallows with seven nooses was erected at the 
 "Koordish Gate” of the city, the one near us, and on 
 Sunday the ropes were put in place. The people 
 here on Sunday were very badly scared. The women 
 of the men under arrest came and wept and besought 
 Dr. Shedd to do something, but he could do nothing. 
 That evening the people gathered in the church for 
 prayer, and continued praying until midnight. Each 
 night since similar meetings have been held. As yet 
 no one has been hanged, but the Turkish Consul is 
 demanding money for their release. The second day 
 after the arrest of these people, a Turkish soldier 
 was sent to us to ask us to send bread for the pris- 
 oners, and we have been feeding them ever since. 
 When their women-folks went to see them they were 
 
 2 3 
 
charged two krans (eighteen cents) admission. It 
 has been reported that the prisoners have been tor- 
 tured in various ways known to the Turks, in order 
 to extort money from their families. 
 
 The Turkish Consul has demanded the ten thou- 
 sand tomans of English bank money committed to 
 us when the bankers fled. The matter has been re- 
 ferred to our Consul in Tabriz. If it should have to 
 be surrendered, we would be in straits, for that is 
 all we have to buy bread with for these thousands 
 of hungry people. Weeks ago we appealed to 
 America, both to the Red Cross and to our Board, 
 but there is no reply. 
 
 It was reported to me that there were refugees 
 here who have stores of flour, meat, butter, etc., and 
 yet were taking bread from us. So yesterday I made 
 an investigation and found small quantities; but if 
 the whole were sold, it would not amount to twenty 
 dollars, and the owners would be reduced to nothing 
 but dry bread, and, though this might do for a limited 
 time, they cannot “live by bread alone” week after 
 week. Undoubtedly this terrible epidemic of dysen- 
 tery which has carried off hundreds is due largely to 
 lack of proper food and want of variety of food. As 
 I made the rounds of our own yards yesterday and 
 visited the people herded in one of the dark store- 
 rooms of our Persian Girls’ School, it seemed to me 
 that their condition of cold, hunger, filth and sickness 
 was about as miserable as they could get in this 
 world. One great difference that was apparent in 
 all the rooms was the absence of small children, hun- 
 dreds having died during these last months. 
 
 The evangelistic work is now well organized, and 
 everywhere there are at least daily meetings for 
 every one. The women workers under Miss Lamme 
 visit outside places. Mrs. McDowell, with native 
 women, also visits outside places where there are 
 large numbers of refugees herded. Mr. McDowell 
 tries to keep the preachers at work. too. 
 
 Last week a group of one hundred and fifty or 
 
 24 
 
more mountaineers who are staying at Sengar, two 
 or three miles from the city, came clown with one 
 of Kurdu’s men, asking us to feed them. 1 hey said 
 that heretofore they had been provided for by Kurdu, 
 a koordish chief, for whom they had been working, 
 carrying away for him the plunder he had collected 
 here, and that now he w r as leaving and we must feed 
 them. We put them off several times, but finally 
 accepted the addiitonal burden. Every one who gets 
 tired of his job of charity or responsibility throws it 
 upon us, and there seems no end, and this is the 
 seventh week. 
 
 Thursday, February 18th . — Yesterday afternoon I 
 went out to the College compound for the first time 
 since Christmas. We had to drive under the gallows 
 at the city gate. It creates rather unpleasant feel- 
 ings to think that perhaps some of our friends may 
 be suspended there. 
 
 Our Mission is being treated with more considera- 
 tion than at first, and we are hoping that perhaps 
 the Turkish Consul has heard from Constantinople, 
 and that our own government has been exerting in- 
 fluence at Berlin and Constantinople. For weeks 
 we have had no word from the outside world; but 
 we "Rest in Jehovah and wait patiently for Hint." 
 
 Friday, February iQth . — This has been a snowy day 
 again. The people have been making it a day of 
 fasting and prayer — as if every day w r ere not a fast 
 day ! 
 
 Saturday, February zotli . — All day negotiations 
 have been going on in regard to the English bank- 
 money. When Dr. Shedd and Dr. Packard were 
 called to the Turkish Consulate, they found there the 
 former Urumia Consul, who had fled from here last 
 fall when war between Russia and Turkey was first 
 declared. He had gone south to Soujbulak. It 
 looks as if he were perhaps fleeing now in this direc- 
 tion, which would mean that the Russians were in 
 
 25 
 
Soujbulak; we have heard this report. It is being 
 reported that the Koords were making preparations 
 to-day for leaving here. It may be that the Consul’s 
 haste to get this money is another evidence that he 
 is expecting to leave soon. He told the gentlemen 
 to-day that he thought, as Americans, they ought to 
 make a contribution toward the cause of Turkey. 
 They have felt that a compromise on the ten thous- 
 and is the best way out, and suggested that he take 
 two thousand; but he refused to take less than five 
 thousand, and promised that he would not take it 
 before to-morrow, so if something does not develop 
 before to-morrow we shall probably be poorer for 
 that amount. We are hoping that it may be taken 
 without any show of force or violence. Of course, 
 we cannot make any resistance. 
 
 To-day we finished going over all the bread tickets, 
 arranging the names according to villages. Then 
 we called in responsible men from each village and 
 went over the lists, to find out those who would be 
 able to help themselves soon, and those who had 
 reported more members of families than they have. 
 I am sorry to say that we found scores who were 
 cheating in various ways, and now we have to get 
 hold of all of them — a big business for some days to 
 come. We are distributing 14,000-15,000 loaves of 
 about ten and a half ounces each day; but there are 
 so many getting more than a loaf each that there are 
 probably not more than eleven thousand persons 
 receiving. 
 
 An epidemic of typhoid has broken out at the Col- 
 lege among the refugees — twenty-seven cases. To- 
 day, even in the midst of troubles, the Evangelistic 
 Board met to consider a reorganization of. the work. 
 When the people are able to return to the villages, 
 they will probably have to settle temporarily in a few 
 of the larger ones. 
 
 Sunday, February 2Tst. — To-day there are three or 
 four services in the church This morning it was 
 
 26 
 
packed for a communion service and many were 
 turned away. Another communion service is ar- 
 ranged for this afternoon, and then again next Sun- 
 day, to give an opportunity for all communicants. 
 
 Tuesday, February 23rd . — Last night one of the 
 most terrible things that has yet happened, occurred. 
 In the evening ten or a dozen of the prisoners from 
 the French Mission, taken ten days or more ago by 
 the Turkish Consul, were discharged, and we all felt 
 that probably the rest would soon be set free, as there 
 was no special charge against them. But this morn- 
 ing five men, two of them Moslems, were found 
 hanging from the gallows at the Koordish Gate, and 
 forty-eight others were shot beyond the Charbosh 
 Gate. No one has dared to go out yet and get the 
 bodies, though Dr. Shedd has asked permission of 
 the Turkish Consul. For two days we had felt so 
 much more hopeful, but to-dav a terrible fear has 
 fallen on the people. There is much silent weeping, 
 but little violent demonstration, though the mothers, 
 wives and families of the murdered men are here. 
 The question in everybody’s mind is, “What will the 
 Turks do next?” Forty or fifty shots were distinctly 
 heard in the night between one and two o’clock, but 
 no one guessed what they meant. We had begun 
 yesterday to take bread tickets from a few of the 
 people to try to force them to go to their villages 
 or find money in some way to provide for themselves; 
 but now r they are too frightened to leave and every- 
 thing is set back again. Two or three days ago the 
 Turks took some things from the French Mission 
 property here, carpets, etc., and we hear that they 
 are plundering more to-day. Sunday we received a 
 card from Tabriz saying that everything was quiet 
 there, and that $5,000 relief had been received, and 
 Mr. Labaree was going to the Caucasus to relieve the 
 refugees who had fled from Urumia to Russia. 
 
 Wednesday, February 24th . — The French mission- 
 aries and the nine nuns were very much alarmed for 
 
their personal safety. They asked that one of our 
 men go there and put up an American flag; but, of 
 course, we could not do that. Yesterday the Turkish 
 Consul sent word that if we wanted the bodies of 
 the three Christians hanging at the gate, we had per- 
 mission to take them. Mr. McDowell and Mr. Allen 
 went with some Syrians, took down the bodies, and 
 buried them. There has been a little more disorder 
 than usual, and the people are terrified again. I have 
 had to give back many of the bread tickets that we 
 had collected. There are hundreds of people who 
 have fields and vineyards, but who cannot borrow a 
 dollar. These tickets are really promissory notes 
 which they have signed, promising to pay later, but 
 we need cash now, and our bread line does not de- 
 crease — rather, increases. I wonder what a trained 
 Red Cross worker would do with a mob that will 
 not stand in line or stay put anywhere; who, when 
 you go over the case and give the answer, refuse to 
 take it, but stand about and weep briny tears by the 
 hour. They have no sense of honor, don’t know how 
 to tell the truth, can’t tell the same story twice, and 
 do not know much of anything except that their 
 stomarchs are empty. They try to get bread in the 
 names of the dead, and when accused of evading the 
 truth, will declare in the most injured tones, “We 
 wouldn’t lie.” There is much that would be funny 
 in these investigations if it did not get monotonous. 
 
 Saturday, February 27th . — When Mr. McDowell 
 returned from the burial of those shot on Jewish Hill, 
 he reported that they had found forty bodies and 
 identified all but five .or six. 
 
 On Wednesday night, a still more horrible deed 
 was committed at Gulpashan. This village and 
 Iriawa have been kept partly through the efforts of 
 a German; but on Wednesday night a band of Per- 
 sian volunteers arriving from Salmas or beyond, went 
 there, took fiftv men, and, according to reports, shot 
 them in the gravevard near by. Thev then plundered 
 
 28 ' 
 
the village, took girls and young women, outraged 
 them, and acted in general as one might expect Satan 
 to do when turned loose. 
 
 The horror and sadness of everything has been 
 brought nearer to us in the death of Mile. Madelaine 
 Perrochet, a young Swiss girl who came with the 
 Coans four months ago to teach the missionary chil- 
 dren. She was only twenty-one, so bright, so pretty, 
 that we had all learned to love her dearly. She spoke 
 English well, and, of course, French and German. 
 She died Thursday, after dinner, and yesterday, Fri- 
 day, we had the funeral service in Dr. Goan's living 
 room, led by Mr. McDowell. We could not take her 
 out to our little cemetery at Seir, so she was buried 
 in Dr. Goan’s garden, just at the right of the en- 
 trance to the long grape-arbor. In his prayer Mr. 
 McDowell used the words, "We are not only walking 
 'in the valley of the shadow of death,’ but we are 
 dwelling there in these weeks.” 
 
 Just now two of the young Syrians who are the 
 chief men in helping with the bread, came in and 
 told me that they had received warning secretly that 
 they had better leave here and hide with some 
 friendly Moslems, as the Turkish Consul is going to 
 take out all the young men from our yards and other 
 places in the city and kill them — "wipe them out.” 
 I cannot believe that it can be true, but we cannot 
 know. If they enter our yards by force and murder 
 men, then there is no further safety for any of us. 
 As one of these young men just said. "Let us com- 
 mit everything into the hands of God, and then wait 
 and be ready for whatever comes.” 
 
 Typhus is raging at the College. Yesterday there 
 were seventy cases at the College Compound, and 
 over a hundred others on diet, with the probability 
 of a large part of them developing tvphoid. It is 
 impossible to take care of so many cases or properly 
 feed them under such conditions. At the hospital 
 they are buying all the milk and mesta (matzoon) 
 they can get. Mrs. Cochran has had charge of the 
 
 29 
 
feeding there, as well as doing much else, and yester- 
 day she went to bed; to-day there are symptoms of 
 typhoid. Mrs. Coan and Miss Coan took care of 
 Mile. Perrochet, and the last week or two had the 
 help of a Syrian woman wdio has had a nurse’s course 
 in America, Miss George. She has proved very 
 efficient and a great help and comfort. 
 
 Saturday Night . — There was a great deal of anxiety 
 lest something happen here; but we woke Sunday 
 morning in safety and saw a rainbow in the northern 
 sky, though there was no rain. The reports of Mr. 
 Allen from Gulpashan were too black to be written. 
 The soldiers sent out by the Consul to protect the 
 villages against Koords and Moslem looters left 
 unviolated hardly a woman or girl of those remain- 
 ing in the village, and a number of girls were carried 
 off. It seemed quite apparent that they understood 
 that the whole business of protecting was to be a 
 farce. When Sunday morning Mr. Allen returned 
 and wanted to bring people with him, he was not per- 
 mitted. Those who had been murdered in the ceme- 
 tery a few nights previous had been buried under a 
 few inches of earth, and when he wanted to have 
 them uncovered to identify and bury deeper, he was 
 refused. The soldiers had had them all sit down on 
 the ground and then shot at them. They then looked 
 them over, and any who were found to be breathing 
 were shot the second time. The only reason for all 
 this was that they bore the name of “Christian.” 
 What has the Christian world to say? 
 
 Mr. McDowell went to Iriawa and found similar 
 conditions. We were very glad to see him and Mr. 
 Allen safely back, for they undoubtedly were in jeo- 
 pardy themselves and were treated insolently by the 
 soldiers. 
 
 Mrs. Cochran is better, and we feel now will not 
 have typhoid. It is a tremendous relief. Only seven 
 died here in this quarter yesterday. The death list 
 here has passed the thousand mark, and, including 
 
 30 
 
the Boys’ School yard and the College, fifteen hun- 
 dred. All the past week three young men and myself 
 have been kept busy all morning and into the middle 
 of the afternoon examining bread tickets, hearing 
 pleas, and giving out new tickets as the new refugees 
 have come in. The last several days we have pur- 
 chased, exclusive of the College, nearly ten thousand 
 pounds of bread daily. 
 
 Friday, March $th. — Mrs. Cochran has typhoid, but 
 so far in a light form. Mrs. Coan and Miss Coan 
 are taking her work as best they can, and caring for 
 her, too, with the help of the Syrian nurse, Miss 
 George. Dr. Packard has been in bed two or three 
 davs, but we do not know if it is typhoid or not. Mr. 
 Allen went to Gulpashan with permission from the 
 Turkish Consul to burv those who had been mur- 
 dered. He found fifty bodies. When he came back, 
 a crowd of sixty-four, mostly women and girls, came 
 with him. Our yards and rooms, including the 
 church, are crowded again, but with cleaner people. 
 Most of the mountaineers are out. Two families of 
 mountaineers who are friendly with the Koords 
 started out yesterday for their homes. It is spring 
 now, and time for plowing and sowing, and unless 
 the people can soon get to their villages there will 
 be a dearth of wheat and other grain next year. 
 There are repeated reports of the approach of the 
 Russian army, and some Germans here have said 
 that they were soon expecting to go on a journey. 
 If the Turks should have to flee, there is no telling 
 what they might do before going; but we do not dare 
 to let our hopes of deliverance rise, for it makes the 
 long wait harder. 
 
 A few days ago the ex-Turkish Consul sent word 
 that if there were any girls held captive that we 
 wanted to get, he would find them for us. That 
 looks as if there had been a quarrel — or perhaps it 
 is a trick to trip us into being unwise. It takes the 
 wisdom of the serpent as well as the simplicity of 
 the dove! 
 
 3i 
 
Saturday, March 6 th. — Dr. Packard has developed 
 typhoid. There is only Mrs. Packard to take care of 
 him, and she is far from strong, and there are four 
 lively boys to care for and keep out of mischief and 
 danger. Since Mlle.’s death it leaves the children’s 
 education on the mothers, and Mrs. Packard has been 
 trying to take the bulk of it. 
 
 This morning I made out the second month’s report 
 of the bread funds which have passed through my 
 hands. So far we have spent approximately $7,500. 
 Over $600 have been collected in sales, which leaves 
 nearly $7,000 debt for us. This does not include 
 College or Boy’s School yard. All of this has been 
 spent for dry bread alone, two hundred twenty-three 
 and a half tons, all brought in on the backs of carriers. 
 About one hundred fifty pounds is a man’s load. This 
 month we have distributed four and a quarter tons a 
 day. 
 
 Evening . — There is considerable fear to-night 
 among the Christians that the Turks may strike a blow 
 before they go. We have twenty-five extra guards 
 of Persian soldiers. All day Moslem villagers have 
 been fleeing to the city in fear of what the Russians 
 may do when they come. We do not know how near 
 they are, for we have no means of communication. 
 It would seem strange to lie down in quiet and peace, 
 knowing that all fear and terror to these poor people 
 were passed. 
 
 Sunday, March yth. — Dr. Packard is very sick with 
 typhoid ; yesterday his temperature was 105. He 
 seems quieter to-day. Dr. Pera, former hospital assis- 
 tant, has promised to take care of him every day from 
 9 A. M. to 4 P. M., and Mrs. Packard will be night 
 nurse. Mrs. Cochran seems to be getting along 
 quietly. Thirty cases of typhoid are reported in one 
 of the houses in the suburbs, which a few days ago 
 we filled up with refugees brought from the College 
 Compound. They probably brought the germ with 
 them. The only reason it is not raging here is the 
 eternal vigilance of Mr. McDowell in looking after 
 
 32 
 
sanitary conditions and the water courses. He has 
 frequently to appeal to the governor to get donkeys 
 for carrying off refuse, though he pays well. As the 
 church is full of refugees, two meetings are held daily 
 in the Seminary yard. Kasha Moshi of Geogtapa 
 makes a fine out-door preacher. 
 
 Just now, as I came from dinner, a woman met me 
 leading a little girl by the hand, and in her most wheed- 
 ling tones tried to present her to me as a gift, saying 
 she was her great-grandchild. I laughed and said I 
 already had one hundred such gifts. She felt that I 
 was not properly appreciative ! There are scores of 
 people who would like to dump their responsibilities 
 under these conditions. We have had a number of 
 cases of relatives deserting old and helpless women 
 and leaving them for us to care for until they died. 
 
 Monday, March Sth . — Yesterday there was general 
 fasting and prayer until noon for Dr. Packard’s and 
 Mrs. Cochran’s recovery. There is a beginning of 
 what we hope may be a deep and permanent spiritual 
 awakening. In such times one lives in the presence 
 of eternal realities, and Heaven seems quite near. It 
 is marvelous how the Word of God speaks to us in 
 every condition and experience through which we 
 pass. 
 
 Tuesday, March g\h . — On Sunday a Mohammedan 
 orator made a speech in a garden in Dilgusha to a 
 crowd of several thousand people, practically all 
 Moslems. He said that Italy and Persia had joined 
 in the alliance with Germany, Austria and Turkey, 
 and. of course, are in the way of victory. America 
 had taken no part in this war, but is doing good all 
 over the world without regard to race or religion, car- 
 ing for the sick and wounded, feeding the hungry and 
 befriending the needy. The American missionaries 
 here, he said, have done and are doing this, and every- 
 one should honor them and stand up for them. At 
 this there was great applause. 
 
 Last night a body of Askars entered the house of 
 33 
 
Dr. , whose yard adjoins ours, and demanded 
 
 Mar Elea, a Russian Bishop, who has been in hiding 
 these last weeks. They didn’t find him, but took 
 about two hundred dollars’ worth of money and 
 jewelry and frightened the people nearly to death. 
 Our watchman called Mr. McDowell and Mr. Allen, 
 and they tried to go over to the help of the women. 
 Mr. McDowell climbed the ladder from this side to go 
 over into their yard; but at the top met a gun in the 
 hands of an Askar, who demanded his retreat. Mr. 
 McDowell, out of respect for the gun, didn’t insist on 
 having his way. That yard is not in our hands and we 
 have no flag there, so, of course, we couldn’t do any- 
 thing. This has scared the people again. This morn- 
 ing one woman brought me some jewelry and papers 
 to keep for her. She had been in America and only 
 returned last spring, and was bewailing her stupidity 
 in returning. She says she is only waiting for a way 
 to open for her to go back, never to return. Hundreds 
 are saying the same thing, and I think there will be a 
 large emigration to America when the way opens. I 
 wouldn’t mind emigrating myself for a while ! 
 
 Friday, March 12th . — We cannot complain of the 
 monotony of life for these last two or three days. It 
 was on Monday night that the Turks tried to get the 
 Bishop, but he escaped over the church roof. The 
 next afternoon they suddenly appeared again, and this 
 time found him hiding on the church roof behind a 
 parapet. He tried to get down an old ladder standing 
 by the wall, but the Askar who was at the other end 
 of the roof, raised his gun and told him he would shoot 
 if he attempted to run, so he was captured. It is said 
 that he had two thousand tomans in gold and Russian 
 paper money on his person. This, of course, was 
 taken. The most unfortunate incident of that capture 
 was the arrest at the same time of Dr. Lokman. At 
 Mr. McDowell’s request, Dr. Lokman (Syrian) had 
 
 gone over the wall into Dr. ’s house to find out 
 
 if there were any typhoid cases there, and was caught 
 by the Askars. Our mission at once began to make 
 
 34 
 
efforts to secure their release. The Turkish Consul 
 demanded $1,000 for Dr. Lokman and $10,000 for 
 the Bishop. In the evening he sent word that unless 
 they were immediately redeemed they would be shot 
 at midnight. lie ordered the Persian governor to send 
 eight men to assist at the shooting. In the meantime 
 they had gotten hold of another man or two. When 
 word came about Dr. Lokman there was some hustling 
 to find the money. “Brides” (young married women) 
 were asked to give up the gold pieces from their 
 dowry, and in a short time the $1,000 was sent. 
 When Dr. Lokman was notified of his release he was 
 sleeping soundly without any realization of the doom 
 hanging over him. When he reached our yards and 
 his family and friends congratulated him, he felt like 
 one raised from the dead. Just as soon as he heard 
 that the others were still in danger, he said, “Well, we 
 must try to do something to release them.” He is one 
 of the most prominent Syrians here and influential 
 with the Persian government. From the first day of 
 these troubles he has been on hand to help in govern- 
 mental affairs in every way possible. All day yester- 
 day efforts were being made to get money to redeem 
 the others. 
 
 These last two nights our yards have been overflow- 
 ing with people from the Christian quarter here, and 
 already the Moslems from the villages are crowding 
 into the city for fear of the Russians. As one of our 
 bakers said yesterday, “The city gates cannot let them 
 in fast enough.” The city is in a panic for fear of 
 what the Russians will do to the Moslems when they 
 arrive. Heaven grant that they will act in the spirit 
 of Christ and not of Mohammed ! Everywhere the 
 Moslems are now anxious to show themselves friends 
 of Christians. David gives expression to my senti- 
 ments concerning the wicked in Ps. 59. 
 
 The Germans, I understand, have already left, except 
 one of the leaders, and he is ready to go in haste. 
 Yesterday I had to stay in bed with a headache, and it 
 seemed to me that the very air was vibrating with 
 expectation and excitement. Ten thousand times a 
 
 35 
 
day the petition arises, “O Lord, deliver us.” Ten 
 weeks to-morrow ! It seems impossible to hold out 
 much longer. “O Lord, deliver us from the hand of 
 the wicked.” Dr. Packard is still quite sick. Mrs. 
 Cochran seems to be getting along slowly. They have 
 so many cases of typhoid at the College that they have 
 put up the big tent in the school yard there for a 
 hospital. 
 
 Tuesday, March 16th.— To-day our hearts are 
 heavy and sorrowful. Dr. Packard is very sick 
 indeed, and it seems now as if Miss Coan has typhoid 
 or typhus, whichever this sickness is. Mrs. Cochran 
 appears to be getting along all right. We want Dr. 
 Vanneman from Tabriz, but there seems to be no way 
 to get a message through to him. Dr. Shedd asked 
 the Turkish Consul to help us get a messenger 
 through, but he said he couldn’t. The Russians are 
 between Urumia and Tabriz. We have twenty-five 
 or thirty cases of typhoid here in this compound. Mr. 
 McDowell is trying to empty a few rooms to put the 
 sick in, but it is very difficult. 
 
 Last night there was great fear again in Mart 
 Maryam lest the new arrivals might devise some new 
 evil for them, and many wanted to crowd into our 
 yard, but every place is full. We are feeding 15,000 
 persons daily, one loaf each. A note by secret messen- 
 ger came from Dr. Vanneman a few days ago, saying 
 that they had received $6,000 for relief. This means 
 a great deal, but it will pay only a third of the debt 
 we already have. The Turks still hold Shamasha 
 Lazar and Mar Elea (Bishop) for a big ransom. Our 
 funds are getting low, and Mr. Muller has borrowed 
 some money at 24% interest. Last week our hopes 
 of deliverance were high, but hope so long deferred 
 makes the heart grow faint. Mr. McDowell was try- 
 ing to get some sick people out of the big school-room 
 when he saw a tired and weary woman, with a baby in 
 her arms, sitting in one of the seats, and said to her, 
 “Where do you stay?” She said, “Just here.” ”How 
 long have you been here?” “Since the beginning (two 
 
 36 
 
months),” she replied. “How do you sleep at night?” 
 “I lay the baby on the desk in front of me, and I have 
 this post at the back to lean against. This is a very 
 good place. Thank you very much.” 
 
 The men don’t dare to go outside our yards for 
 fear of being arrested and held for ransom. One of 
 the Syrian physicians was asked by a missionary to 
 go outside and see some sick. He laughed and said, 
 “I’ll go if you will pay the bill.” 
 
 Thursday, March 18th . — It is such a relief to have 
 Dr. Packard come to himself again, though he is very 
 weak. Miss Coan’s fever still continues, and Miss 
 Lamme has gone to the College to help there. This 
 morning Mr. McDowell is down with fever, but we 
 hope it is only malaria. Shamasha Lazar, who has 
 been a prisoner for a week at the Turkish Consulate, 
 was released on payment of one thousand tomans cash 
 on the condition that he find the other $2,000 within 
 two days. 
 
 If there was mail or some other way open to Tabriz, 
 we could sell orders on Dr. Vanneman, our Mission 
 Treasurer in Tabriz, but the bankers will not buy such 
 orders now because they can’t dispose of them until 
 a way to Tabriz is opened. Day before yesterday we 
 tried to make a bargain with our twenty or more Mo- 
 hammedan bakers, who are supplying us with about 
 six tons of bread daily, to let us have it on twenty 
 days’ credit. They agreed to do it on condition that 
 at the end of ten days we would pay half ; but after 
 they left here they agreed among themselves that they 
 would not deliver bread yesterday, though they didn’t 
 tell us. In the morning, when we found that no bread 
 was coming, we sent out and got other bakers to 
 deliver for cash. When our regular bakers found we 
 were buying elsewhere, they came back, and after a 
 long discussion they promised to deliver for twenty 
 days, if we would pay half every five days. So it 
 stands ; we will see if they stick to their bargain. For- 
 tunately, yesterday we had half a day’s supply on 
 hand, and managed to buy enough to finish out. There 
 
 37 
 
is a cash famine, and anyone who has any money 
 wants to hold on to it in such uncertain times. 
 
 This morning a little after five, we were aroused by 
 shouts and a commotion near by. The Askars with 
 their officers had entered the English mission yard by 
 climbing a ladder from the street over the wall into 
 
 the yard of a Mr. , who is a Syrian, but an 
 
 English subject. The watchman gave the alarm, and 
 Mr. Muller and Mr. Allen were soon on the spot. Of 
 course they couldn’t do anything but reassure the 
 women. Eight or ten men were arrested and taken 
 away probably to be held for ransom. That property 
 has been connected with ours from the beginning of 
 these troubles, and the American flag has been over 
 the entrance. Mr. Allen said to the officer, “You don’t 
 intend to respect the American flag?” He replied, 
 “The Turkish flag is also there.” (It is under the 
 American flag.) This makes one feel doubtful for 
 the safety of our own yards. It is wonderful how 
 quiet these thousands of people can keep while such 
 things are going on. A number of women and girls 
 sleep in the parlor adjoining my room, and I opened 
 the door and told them not to leave the room. They 
 said, “No, we are only dressing”; but it was evident 
 that they were trembling with fear; and this is the 
 state we have lived in for eleven weeks. 
 
 One of the most pitiful objects of humanity that I 
 have ever yet seen came into the room to ask for a 
 ticket ; a boy of about twelve or fourteen wasted to a 
 mummy-like skeleton by hunger and sickness, so weak 
 he could hardly stand or speak, unbathed for these 
 many months. I asked where he had been staying. He 
 said, “In the school-room.” 
 
 The Turks have demanded ten thousand suits of 
 shirts and pajamas for the army. Eight thousand 
 were demanded from the Moslem women, and two 
 thousand from the Christian or Syrian women. As 
 the latter are practically all here with us and in the 
 Christian quarter, it fell upon the missionaries to take 
 the responsibility, so Miss Schoebel took charge. So 
 far fifty-five bolts of calico have been sent, and Miss 
 
Schoebel gave out to responsible women the material, 
 and they in turn found others to help with the sewing 
 (mostly by hand) and about eight hundred of the 
 shirts are ready. How would you like to sit down 
 and make clothes for Turks and Koords who had 
 robbed you, burned your homes, murdered your hus- 
 bands, brothers, and fathers, dishonored your women, 
 and carried your girls into captivity ? 
 
 Saturday, March 20th . — The prisoners taken from 
 the English Mission yards by the Turks were kept 
 about twenty-four hours, examined, and to the great 
 and unexpected joy of everyone were set free without 
 ransom. The Turks said they had heard that a 
 Russian spy was being kept in that yard, and, when 
 they found no evidence of this, set the men free. 
 Another thing may have had something to do with it. 
 Night before last several Turkish soldiers who were 
 sick with typhoid went to the College compound. 
 When informed that there was absolutely no place 
 for them, they returned to the Consulate, which is in 
 the former Russian Mission. The Shahbenda then 
 sent for Dr. Shedd. It was after nightfall and we 
 didn’t know why he was sent for, but were fearful 
 lest another blow was about to fall upon us. But he 
 asked him if we would be willing to care for their 
 sick, a dozen or more, who have typhoid. He was told 
 that there was no room in the hospital or College 
 building adjoining, which are already crowded full 
 of sick, but that we would do what we could. This 
 probably had something to do with the dismissal of 
 the prisoners. For two days no other arrests have 
 been made, and only the Bishop is now a prisoner. 
 The last ransom they asked for him was fifteen thou- 
 sand tomans. The Shahbenda has said that he is 
 going to take down all the American flags except the 
 one over our main entrance. We have several over 
 properties adjoining ours which are full of refugees, 
 and several of the naturalized citizens have American 
 flags up. 
 
 We are happy this morning that all our sick are 
 better. Mr. McDowell was up yesterday and Miss 
 
 39 
 
Schoebel has no fever this morning, so it looks as if 
 she had only malaria. Mrs. Cochran is getting along 
 finely ; Dr. Packard we hope has passed the crisis ; 
 Miss Coan seems to be having a light case. Our 
 rooms, hallways, and every place are crowded to the 
 limit again. The men are afraid to stay anywhere else 
 for fear of arrest. The Turks have given out word 
 that several thousand troops are coming, and are 
 demanding houses in Mart Maryam, and those put 
 out have nowhere else to go. 
 
 We are having trouble getting bread, as the bakers 
 refuse to deliver without cash on the spot. They say 
 the “blue eyes” (Russians) will return, “and then you 
 will not pay us.” Mr. Muller will try to-day to get 
 wheat on several months’ credit, and we will use that 
 instead of cash if possible. I am realizing what a 
 wonderful thing money is, and what a dreadful thing 
 it is to be without it, especially under such circum- 
 stances. As long as we could pay cash we couldn’t 
 stop some of the bakers from bringing more than we 
 wanted. We feel, with so many of our number sick, 
 so many others busy caring for them, the end of our 
 money in sight, and our physical strength almost 
 exhausted, that surely deliverance must be near. 
 Through eleven weeks we have looked for it in vain. 
 
 I just paid a visit to the school dining-room, which 
 is one of our hospital rooms. If there is another spot 
 on this earth of more concentrated human misery, I 
 hope I may never know it. One boy had just died. 
 The mother looked up at me so pitifully, and said, 
 “Lady, he is dead.” Another baby was lying on the 
 floor dying, under the influence of khash-khash 
 (opium). The mother has no milk for lack of food, 
 and the babv is dying of starvation. The mother said, 
 “Khanum, I am so sick, what shall I do?” I could 
 only reply, “I do not know.” Twenty others were 
 lying on the floor, without bedding, in various stages 
 of misery, groaning, weeping and appealing for help. 
 One child was lying on his father’s coat with a hard 
 bundle under his head, with the marks of slow star- 
 vation upon him. To-morrow he too will probably be 
 
 40 
 
gone, and we shall thank God that it is so. They are 
 so many, our strength and our means are so limited, 
 the rooms are so crowded, we can do little for them 
 and death is their best friend. One of our Bible 
 women is lying here, with her two daughters on one 
 side of her and her sister on the other. Her boy died 
 a few weeks ago. When I spoke to her she tried to 
 raise herself up and tell me about some of the other 
 sick in the room. We have been furnishing matting 
 for the sick to lie on, and using Mr. Sterrett’s supply 
 of wood for fires in the sick room; the rest have had 
 to do without fires except the few who have been able 
 to get wood for their rooms. In one of the typhoid 
 rooms yesterday I noticed a pile of charred wood in 
 the corner and asked about it. They said they had 
 sent to the village and brought in the half-burned 
 beams of their homes for fuel. That was all that was 
 left of their house, except a pile of mud. Others 
 have done the same thing. 
 
 Yesterday Rabi Nanoo, one of our Bible women, 
 went out as usual to hold meetings in the places where 
 large numbers of refugees, mostly mountain people, 
 are huddled together. She was stopped in the street 
 by an Askar who demanded her long coat. She told 
 him she had been stripped of everything when she first 
 fled from her village, and that the coat had since been 
 given her by one of the missionary ladies. He said, 
 nevertheless, it was not necessary for her, and 
 demanded that she take it off. Just then another 
 Askar came up who had been a guard at our gate. 
 He interfered, saying that he knew her as a deaconess 
 who went out every day to preach to the people, and 
 she was allowed to go on with her coat. 
 
 A while ago I took some soft-boiled eggs and several 
 pieces of bread to the sick ones in the dining-room, 
 and to Rabi Surra and her family. They are very 
 grateful for everything. I’ve no doubt if they were 
 properly fed most of them would be up in a week. 
 
 Sunday, March 21st . — Yesterday Mr. McDowell 
 called a meeting of all the native doctors to try to get 
 
 41 
 
them to help in the responsibility of caring for the 
 increasing number of typhoid cases. There are a 
 number of doctors who do practically nothing and find 
 excuses when anything is asked of them. It is hard 
 to understand how they can spend hours every day 
 sitting in their rooms or walking up and down the 
 pavement here while they might be doing something 
 to help in the care of the scores of sick people and in 
 the effort Mr. McDowell is making for the preserva- 
 tion of the health of the community. Our assistant 
 physician, Dr. Daniel Werda, is sick with typhoid, 
 and Dr. David of Soujbolak, who went out to the 
 hospital to help, has been brought home sick. Dr. 
 Pera, our former assistant, is at the College compound 
 now, helping with the sick missionaries and a few 
 special cases, and Dr. Joseph Khoshaba has consented 
 to go out there to help. Dr. Theo. Mar Yosep has 
 been our stand-by from the very beginning, and is 
 the only native doctor here in the city yards who has 
 really worked. He has been on hand every day. 
 
 Tuesday, March 23rd . — Sunday evening was the be- 
 ginning of the Persian New Year, Noruz, and as soon 
 as the cannon went off to announce that the New 
 Year had begun there was a great firing of guns and 
 torpedoes, more than usual. It was kept up for half 
 an hour or more, and many of the people were badly 
 frightened, thinking perhaps a battle was on. We 
 heard the next day that the Shahbenda was scared, 
 not knowing what it was. 
 
 The Shahbenda sent forty-eight bolts of muslin for 
 pajamas, and the women under Miss Schoebel’s direc- 
 tions are now sewing on them, having finished eight 
 hundred and fifty shirts. 
 
 The smells in our backyards are almost unbearable. 
 I can’t open my back window at all. The sun is quite 
 hot and dries things up : it also brings out the awful 
 smells. Last night the Shahbenda gave us permission 
 to send a messenger to Tabriz for Dr. Vanneman. 
 Our sick are all getting along fairly well. Dr. Packard 
 has passed the crisis and each day seems a little bit 
 
 42 
 
better. There are about twenty-five Turks in the 
 hospital now. 
 
 Thursday, March 25th . — We are trying to send 
 away some of the people by taking their bread tickets 
 to-day; but we cannot give them any assurance of 
 safety. They are so crowded here, and there is so 
 much sickness, and money is so scarce, that it seems 
 the lesser of two evils to send some of the people 
 away even though a few be killed. 
 
 Yesterday we gave each of the sixty sick persons 
 in the school dining-room a soft boiled egg, and in the 
 afternoon tea, which was served by two or three school 
 girls. Sugar and tea are so expensive, about three 
 times the regular price, that it costs about $1.50 just 
 to treat that one room to tea. The big school-room is 
 in just as bad a condition as the dining-room, only 
 with so many more tenants that it seems impracticable 
 to do anything there. I’ve no doubt that if hundreds 
 of these people were properly fed for a week they 
 would be on their feet, but it is beyond our means and 
 our strength. Just now the voice of Kasha Mooshi 
 Dooman of Geogtapa comes to me through the open 
 window of the paved school court where he is 
 preaching. Twice a day preaching exercises are held 
 in the school yard, and besides there are a number of 
 preachers and women who go around daily to rooms 
 and other yards for services. 
 
 Monday, March 29th . — We have had two or three 
 rainy days, which are very hard for the people. Some 
 of the sick are lying on the balcony with almost no 
 covering or bedding. I saw one of the awfulest sight 
 I have yet seen on the school balcony yesterday — a 
 woman stretched out on the bare bricks, half naked, 
 in the throes of death, the damp cold air blowing over 
 her, friendless, helpless. The whole school-room, 
 aisles, desks, corners, and platform, is filled with the 
 most miserable of the starving sick. We had the man 
 who has charge of our tea-stand take the samovars 
 there yesterday, Palm Sunday, and give each of the 
 
 43 
 
one hundred and fifty people two large glasses of tea. 
 It costs about $3, but $2 were given me by Syrians. 
 With the thousands of dollars of debt just for dry 
 bread, we don’t feel we can borrow money for special 
 food for the sick ones, except in limited quantities 
 for typhoid patients. We need space more than 
 anything else, rooms where we could put the sick on 
 straw mats with at least a quilt over them, a fire and 
 a little food besides dry bread, which many are too 
 sick to eat. It seems dreadful to think of two thousand 
 people dying here this way, but after twelve weeks of 
 it we cannot but feel glad every time one more of 
 these helpless suffering ones finds rest. Sometimes for 
 days I seem to be hardened past feeling, and then 
 again the horror of it all sweeps over me. We pray 
 and pray and cry out to God for deliverance, but no 
 help comes. We seem shut off from the rest of the 
 world and left to our fate. Nothing from the outside 
 world for three months ! We hear many reports, but 
 few materialize. We are told that word has come 
 that the Crown Prince has arrived in Tabriz and that 
 Urumia should celebrate, so there has been a great 
 deal of firing of cannon, display of banners, and 
 decoration. We have had our entrance decorated 
 with banners and rugs. There is a great deal of 
 rejoicing among the Persians, who desire to see the 
 Persian government strong enough to put out both 
 Turk and Russian. 
 
 A few days ago, Mr. Muller managed to borrow a 
 thousand tomans from a merchant in the bazaar. It 
 was counted out in two-kran silver pieces. This he 
 was bringing home on the back of a porter, he walking 
 close behind with a Persian soldier. Suddenly he 
 found himself surrounded by six Koords, armed to 
 the teeth with guns, cartridge belts, and daggers. Two 
 walked ahead and punched the money-bag to assure 
 themselves that it was really money ; the others pressed 
 close behind Mr. Muller as they followed him through 
 the streets. They asked him where he was taking the 
 money, but he walked on in dignified silence, not 
 deigning to answer, though trembling for the safety 
 
 44 
 
of the money. They reached our gate in safety, and 
 as he turned in, Mr. Muller thanked the Koords for 
 their safe escort. They laughed and passed on. Some 
 of the young Syrians who guard the gate report that 
 a few days ago a bunch of Koords in passing stopped 
 to talk and said, “We came down here to the plain 
 with the intention of killing you all, not one of you 
 would have escaped, but (pointing to the Stars and 
 Stripes over the gate) we don’t dare pass under that 
 flag!” Everybody feels that had we not been able to 
 give refuge to the Christians, there would have been 
 few left to tell the tale ; and so even yet we do not 
 dare to force the people out, and they all say, “We 
 would rather die here of hunger and disease than take 
 our chances with the Koords and Turks.” 
 
 Our sick missionaries all seem to be getting along 
 well, and we are very thankful. The typhoid here in 
 the city is usually light, and there are few deaths from 
 it, though many from dysentery. Measles almost dis- 
 appeared some time ago. 
 
 Thursday, April rst . — Rabi Nannoo of Geogtapa, 
 our best Bible woman, has died of pneumonia, after a 
 few days’ illness. For the three months that she has 
 been a refugee here she has been a fearless and 
 faithful worker, going out daily for religious meetings 
 to the houses where the mountaineers have been 
 huddled, looking after the sick, not hesitating to go 
 to any place where she could help. For several years 
 she has supported from her small salary her brother’s 
 four orphan children, and has been to them both 
 father and mother. Herself unmarried, she has given 
 her means and love unselfishly to these as if they were 
 her own children. There is no one to fill her place. 
 
 We have started to buy wheat on credit, as our 
 cash is very low and we are not able to get more 
 money. We have just bought four hundred bushels 
 from Rabi David of Degala for part of his debt to us. 
 When he was in prison and fined one thousand tomans 
 to save his head, we furnished part of the cash and 
 took his note. He can’t pay cash now, so he is paying 
 
 45 
 
in wheat, which we will have milled to give to the 
 hungry. What credit we can get for bread is for a 
 few days only. Most of the bakers need the money 
 to carry on their business. 
 
 Friday, April 2nd . — Bertha Shedd, ten years old, has 
 been sick with typhoid for several days, and now Miss 
 Lamme is beginning; the latter went out to the hos- 
 pital about two weeks ago to help there when Miss 
 Coan came down with it. Dr. Packard, Mrs. Cochran, 
 and Miss Coan are getting well. Oraham Badel, our 
 financial agent and general assistant in the City Com- 
 pound, is very low this morning. — Just as I was writ- 
 ing he died, leaving a wife and four little ones. 
 
 Several hundred Turkish troops have come into the 
 city, evidently in retreat, as there are wounded among 
 them. It is not evident from which direction they 
 came. Last evening one of the Turkish officers came 
 rushing in here in great distress. He had taken poison 
 by mistake, and came in here to be saved. He was 
 given an emetic, and his life was saved. They have 
 heard of germs and are very much afraid of typhoid, 
 and had some corrosive sublimate in a glass for 
 washing hands. This man saw it and, thinking it was 
 wine or whiskey, poured it down his throat. He was 
 terribly scared, and after being relieved of the poison, 
 it was suggested that, as his life had been saved, he 
 should try to save other lives. 
 
 Sunday, April 4th . — This journal is fast becoming 
 an obituary. At first the hundreds who died were the 
 poorest and the weakest, but now many from among 
 our best are going. Yesterday Dr. Daniel Werda, Dr. 
 Packard’s assistant, died of typhoid. For three days 
 Mrs. McDowell has been in bed with high fever. It 
 is not evident yet that it is typhoid. Last night our 
 cook went to bed with typhoid. Miss Schoebel is now 
 trying to make her comfortable and has her old mother 
 look after her. All day we have been trying to get 
 something to eat for the hundreds of sick who have 
 nothing for Easter. Easter is the Syrian “Great 
 
 46 
 
Feast,” and is to them what Christmas is to us. They 
 say, “The Little Feast (Christmas) was black, and 
 now the Great Feast is black too.” They had hoped 
 so much that deliverance might come before the feast. 
 We have given eggs and soup to about five hundred 
 sick, and before evening I hope a glass of tea will be 
 given to as many more. To-morrow we plan to give 
 soup to several hundred more that we didn’t reach 
 to-day. We don’t use relief money for anything but 
 bread, and so have only personal funds for the sick — 
 a very little. 
 
 Tuesday, April 6th . — We have dwelt so long in the 
 valley of death with the sick, the starving, the dying, 
 with the unending procession of little bodies sewed up 
 in a piece of cloth, friendless corpses carried out on 
 ladders, with gaping mouths and staring eyes, crude 
 unpainted cofifins, coffins covered with black chintz, 
 the never-ceasing wail, and eyes of the mourners that 
 are never dried, hands outstretched for what we cannot 
 give, and now so many of our own number are down. 
 I felt on Sunday as if I ought to get my own burial 
 clothes ready so as to make as little trouble as possible 
 when my turn came, for in these days we all go about 
 our work knowing that anyone of us may be the next 
 to come down. And yet I think our friends would 
 be surprised to see how cheerful we have kept, and 
 how many occasions we find for laughing ; for ludicrous 
 things do happen. Then, too, after dwelling so inti- 
 mately with death for three months, he doesn’t seem 
 to have so unfriendly an aspect, and the “Other Side” 
 seems very near and our Pilot close beside us. It is 
 at such times that one finds out just how much faith 
 in the unseen he has, and just how much his religion 
 is worth. I find the Rock on which I can anchor in 
 peace are the words of Christ Himself, “Where I am, 
 there ye may be also.” “If any man serve Me let 
 him follow Me, and where I am, there shall also My 
 servant be.” That is enough. To be where He is. 
 Recently as I have read sermons or books written for 
 the trying times of life. I have found them tame and 
 
 47 
 
insufficient for the occasion ; our own experiences are 
 so much more intense and go so much deeper that 
 nothing but the words of God Himself can reach to 
 the bottom. I have been re-reading Browning’s 
 “Prospice, ” but it doesn’t thrill me as much as it did, 
 for I have something better; “For I know whom 1 
 have believed ...” and I “am persuaded that 
 Death cannot separate us from the love of God which 
 is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 
 
 Afternoon .— This morning Mrs. McDowell’s rose- 
 spots appeared, and now we know that she has typhoid 
 or typhus (it was typhoid). Rabi Ister Alamshah has 
 consented to help in the care of Mrs. McDowell. Miss 
 Schoebel and I were perfectly willing to nurse her, 
 but it would mean throwing our work on some other 
 missionary already loaded up. Mr. McDowell will 
 give up some of his work and help in nursing Mrs. 
 McDowell. There are now six of our number sick, 
 and it is impossible not to feel that someone else will 
 come down in a few days unless it becomes possible 
 to send the crowds away. 
 
 Evening. — To-day Miss Lamme’s rose-spots ap- 
 peared, so her case is pronounced typhoid. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 Thursday, June 3rd . — Almost two months since I 
 last wrote in my journal. Sunday, April nth, I went 
 to bed with typhoid or typhus, and three days later 
 Miss Schoebel came down also. Rabi Elishua, a 
 teacher of the Persian Girls’ School, came to nurse 
 me at once. She kept up for three weeks and saw 
 me through the worst of my sickness ; then she took 
 the disease. Three of the other Seminary teachers in 
 succession came to care for Miss Schoebel, and each 
 one came down with the disease in turn. Miss 
 Bridges, of the American Orphanage, came to help us 
 during the day, and in twelve days went to bed with 
 typhus. She is just getting about again. All the 
 teachers who helped to care for us have recovered, 
 though one of the other teachers died. We were all 
 surprised to find how competent these untrained, in- 
 experienced girls were as nurses when there were no 
 
 48 
 
available missionaries left to nurse us. We were 
 dependent upon them and got along finely without any 
 complications. When the last one went down we knew 
 that she was the last intelligent nurse we should find, 
 and after that we were dependent upon ignorant 
 village women. 
 
 A great many things happened during the two 
 months of our illness and convalescence. A very large 
 number of our Syrian friends died. Of our own circle 
 Mrs. McDowell died April 16th, and Mrs. Shedd, 
 May 17th. We can’t take in yet what their loss will 
 mean to us when we get to living under normal con- 
 ditions. Mrs. Muller attended Miss Schoebel and me 
 for two and a half weeks; then she took the fever. 
 Her little boy was born in a few days, but only lived 
 overnight. This is the fourth grave we have out in 
 Dr. Coan’s orchard by the grape arbor. It hasn’t been 
 possible to take them to our cemetery at Seir. This 
 week Mr. Muller went to bed with typhus. His fever 
 has been high. He is the thirteenth out of eighteen 
 missionaries to get the fever, besides two of the 
 children, Bertha Shedd and Ruth Muller. On Monday. 
 Mr. Labaree, with two nurses, Miss Easton of the 
 Tabriz hospital and Miss Burgess, who had reached 
 Tabriz on her way to Urumia, arrived. Mr. Labaree 
 had been trying for weeks to get through, but was 
 unable until the Russian army opened the way. Yes- 
 terday, June 5th, Dr. Lamme arrived and began work 
 last evening. One of the hard things during these five 
 long months was our isolation from the outside world. 
 Of course we knew that our friends were thinking of 
 and praying for us, but it is a great help to have the 
 tangible evidence in the shape of these friends and of 
 letters from many others. 
 
 On Sunday, May 24th, the advanced guard of the 
 Russian army entered Urumia, and in the afternoon 
 the commander came to call on our gentlemen. When 
 we learned that the army would not remain, but were 
 ordered to follow the enemy, there was consternation 
 and great fear. And when the army moved on the 
 Moslems immediately began to annoy and rob the 
 
 49 
 
Syrians who had returned to their villages. There 
 was great fear of a Moslem uprising against the 
 Christians, and hundreds fled in the direction of 
 Salmas. Finally the Russians left a small guard of 
 about two hundred men. Three days ago about six 
 thousand Russian troops, with artillery, came in from 
 the south and marched through the city. We watched 
 them from our roof, and it was a goodly sight to us 
 besieged people. We will try now to empty our yards 
 of refugees. A few days ago there were still about 
 one thousand left in our own yards and in one yard 
 adjoining, which we have been renting for refugees, 
 besides many others in surrounding yards. The stench 
 in our back yard is almost unbearable. I don’t know 
 how we can get rid of the smells or disinfect the 
 ground which must be soaked for two or three feet, 
 as that yard has been used as a toilet for hundreds of 
 people for more than five months. 
 
 Yesterday two Red Cross nurses, who have come 
 with the Russian army from Mongolia, asked to be our 
 guests for a few days until the army moved on in the 
 direction of Erzroom. They say that from there they 
 will go to Jerusalem. When traveling they dress like 
 the Cossacks, but wear their nurses’ costumes in the 
 house. 
 
 A few days ago a number of prominent Syrians who 
 had fled when the Russians evacuated Urumia, re- 
 turned, many of them to broken and badly damaged 
 homes. We had a service of thanksgiving in the 
 church yesterday, the first time in many months, as it 
 had been occupied by refugees. Thousands have lived 
 in such terror and want, it is a wonder that many have 
 not lost their minds. It has seemed sometimes as if 
 our tears were all dried up and our emotions were 
 dead, we have seen and felt so much. I suppose it is 
 nature’s way of saving brain and nerve. When I look 
 at these poor wretched creatures and little children 
 like skeletons, I find I still have some feelings left. 
 It is estimated that four thousand people have died 
 from disease, hunger, and exposure, and about a 
 thousand by violence. The suffering can never be told, 
 
 50 
 
nor is it ended. Hundreds, yes thousands, are des- 
 titute, and even if we empty our yard there is no one 
 left but the missionaries to save them from starvation, 
 and we look to America. In the name of all Chris- 
 tians we have tried to witness for Christianity before 
 this Moslem people. WILL THE CHRISTIANS 
 OF AMERICA PAY THE RILL? 
 
 Remittance of Relief Funds. 
 
 Funds for the relief of refugees in Turkey, Persia 
 and the Caucasus, should be made payable to Charles 
 R. Crane, Treasurer of the American Committee for 
 Armenian and Syrian Relief, and sent to him at 70 
 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The contributions 
 for the reconstruction of damaged and destroyed 
 mission property in Persia should be sent to Dwight 
 H. Day, Treasurer, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York- 
 City, with the statement that the money is for the 
 "War Emergency Fund” for use in Persia. The 
 Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions will give 
 credit for money received for the latter, the “War 
 Emergency Fund,” but not for the former, the 
 general relief fund. 
 
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