did. What he considered saved his life was that he kept calm

through the whole procedure, saying they could kill him if they wished but he wanted to explain why he was there and why he wanted them to stop robbing the American property. One man lunged at him with a bayonet, and father put out his hand to grasp it and cut his palm. When the soldier drew back to get another lunge at him, the bayonet remained in father’s hand. He was naked all this time. Then they lamed his left foot, breaking the tendons in the back of his knee so that he fell to the ground. He endeavored throughout the whole thing to keep his feet and he saved the blows on his head by putting up his arms. Several times they stood him up a few yards away and threatened to blaze at him.

“During this time, one of the Turkish students, who had seen the thing from the college, ran over. While the guns were pointed at father, he threw himself on the butt ends of the rifles and beseeched the men not to kill him, that he was a good man. They then accused this student of being an infidel and he swore that he was a true Moslem and he was wearing Khemal’s picture on his arm and also wearing a fez. Sergeant Crocker had given the order to his men on the roof of the college not to fire or use their machine guns. Two of the Marines chased over to help when they saw what was going on. Sergeant Crocker ordered them to retreat in order to save Doctor MacLachlan’s and his own life. The Turks placed Doctor MacLachlan up against a wall and were about to shoot him when, at the very moment, a young Turkish officer appeared on horseback and ordered them to desist.”

They obeyed immediately and went away, proving by their immediate obedience that they were regular troops under good discipline.

The following details concerning the attack on President MacLachlan and Sergeant Crocker were furnished me by another eye-witness of the scene:

“When the bluejackets in the main building saw the predicament of their chief and that he was in danger of being ill-treated, they ran to his rescue. Sergeant Crocker spreading his arms motioned them backward, saying: ‘Retire! Retire! Don’t shoot! Retire!’

“This they did, and after they had covered some distance in this manner, he gave the order: ‘Wheel and run!’

“They obeyed, whereupon the Turkish soldiers opened up a lively fusillade on the running Marines, and their rifle fire was so rapid and continual that it reminded me of a machine gun. Fortunately none of the Americans was hurt.”

The following looting of American property occurred at Paradise, as described to me by an American lady connected with the college:

“In September, 1922, every American house at Paradise had an American flag, back and front, and all have been broken into except two.

“Lately, while the chief of the Turkish army, who had billeted himself at the president’s house, was eating there with his band playing on the campus, the Turks looted the dean’s house, right on the same campus.”

Meanwhile, in the city of Smyrna itself, the hunting and killing of Armenian men, either by hacking or clubbing or driving out in squads into the country and shooting, caused an unimaginable panic. There was no help anywhere in sight. The battle-ships of the Great Powers, including America, could not interfere for various reasons and there were instances of persons who had reached them being sent back to the shore.

This man hunt was now being participated in by squads of the Turkish army. Armenians soon disappeared from the streets, either through death or concealment. The proclamation had been issued that any one concealing an Armenian in his house would be brought before the court-martial—a justly dreaded tribunal. One instance will show what terror this edict inspired in the hearts of all—even foreign subjects:

A prominent Dutch subject related the following incident, which he witnessed from the deck of his small private yacht:

“Over by Cordelio (a suburb of Smyrna), I saw a young couple wade out into the sea. They were a respectable, attractive pair and the man was carrying in his arms a small child. As they waded deeper and deeper into the water, till it came nearly up to their shoulders, I suddenly realized that they were going to drown themselves. I therefore pushed out to them in a boat and with the promise that I would do what I could to save them, managed to get them to shore. They explained that they were Armenians, and knowing that the man would certainly be killed and the wife, who was young and pretty, either outraged or taken into a harem and their baby left to die, they had determined to drown themselves together. I took them to several places and tried to get them in, but without success. I finally conducted them to a large school whose building and garden were full of people, rang the bell, and, when a sister came to the door explained the situation to her. When she heard that they were Armenians, she shut the door. I went away leaving them sitting on the steps of the school.”

And there we shall leave them with the hope that in some miraculous way they were saved, which is not probable.

This incident is not related to throw discredit on the personnel of the foreign school. They thought that if they took in an Armenian couple, they might endanger the safety of the hundreds of people whom they were protecting, most, if not all of whom were of their own religion and therefore their especial charges.

As the Armenians had all disappeared from the streets, it was supposed that the men who had escaped had taken refuge in their own quarter, a well-built, Europeanized section of the town, within well-defined limits. Before proceeding to what happened next, it should be explained that the soldiers were helped in picking out Armenians in the streets by native spies, who accompanied them and pointed out victims. I could not recognize the nationality of those foul and slimy reptiles, the spies. I was told by some that they were Jews, but I have no proof to substantiate the statement. Of course many of the informers were Turks, and it is possible that they were all of that race, as they would naturally aid their own troops.

When Armenian hunting became too poor in the streets of Smyrna, their precinct was closed to all except Turks by soldiers stationed at the street entrances, after which the sack and massacre were conducted methodically. I did not myself attempt to enter the Armenian section, but I was repeatedly informed by those with whom I was in contact that ingress was not permitted. Americans who saw into the quarter from their windows, stated that there was not a house that escaped, so far as could be seen. All were broken into, looted, the furniture smashed and thrown into the streets. What happened to the inhabitants can easily be left to the imagination. It is easy to form a mental picture of those families, cowering in their homes, with their wives, their daughters and their babes, waiting for the crash of a rifle butt on their doors.