of the officers of Gendarmerie. Men were posted to
keep guard over the house and its occupants during the night until 8
o'clock, thereby giving notice to the wretched family that they must
prepare for death. The women shrieked and wailed, anguish and despair
showed on the faces of all, and they died even before death came upon
them.[C] ... After 8 o'clock waggons arrived and conveyed the families
to a place near by, where they were killed by rifle fire, or massacred
like sheep with knives, daggers, and axes.

[Footnote C: A few sentences of immaterial description are here
omitted.--TRANSLATOR.]

SALE OF ARMENIAN EFFECTS, AND REMOVAL OF CROSSES FROM THE
CHURCHES.--After the Armenians had been destroyed, all the furniture of
their houses, their linen, effects, and implements of all kinds, as well
as all the contents of their shops and storehouses, were collected in
the churches or other large buildings. The authorities appointed
committees for the sale of these goods, which were disposed of at the
lowest price, as might be the case with the effects of those who died a
natural death, but with this difference, that the money realised went to
the Treasury of the Turkish Government, instead of to the heirs of the
deceased.

You might see a carpet, worth thirty pounds, sold for five, a man's
costume, worth four pounds, sold for two medjidies, and so on with the
rest of the articles, this being especially the case with musical
instruments, such as pianos, etc., which had no value at all. All money
and valuables were collected by the Commandant of Gendarmerie and the
Vali, Reshid Bey, the latter taking them with him when he went to
Constantinople, and delivering them to Talaat Bey.[D] ...

The mind is confounded by the reflection that this people of Armenia,
this brave race who astonished the world by their courage, resolution,
progress and knowledge, who yesterday were the most powerful and most
highly cultivated of the Ottoman peoples, have become merely a memory,
as though they had never flourished. Their learned books are waste
paper, used to wrap up cheese or dates, and I was told that one high
official had bought thirty volumes of French literature for 50 piastres.
Their schools are closed, after being thronged with pupils. Such is the
evil end of the Armenian race: let it be a warning to those peoples who
are striving for freedom, and let them understand that freedom is not to
be achieved but by the shedding of blood,