inhabitants fled, whereupon it was immediately pillaged and burned by the brother of Ahmed Aga. Boikovo, a neighboring village, (of the same size,) was also burned. Katunitsa was attacked, but was saved by the courage of a Greek who had a large farm there. Satankeni, a large village of 100 houses, was plundered and the villagers were beaten. The regular troops and bashi-bazouks, under the command of Rashid Pasha, returned to Philippopolis.

I visited Perushtitsa, in company with Mr. Baring, the English commissioner, on the 27th of July, two mouths and a half after its destruction. At that time no houses had yet been rebuilt. Many of the inhabitants had returned to the place, and were living as they could, sleeping on the bare ground or under straw roofs thrown over corners of the walls. They had received no assistance from the government, and were unable to rebuild their houses, as they were afraid to go without a guard to the mountains for the purpose of cutting wood. Their crops were still standing, as they had no sickles with which to cut them, and had no money with which to hire reapers. In addition to this, nearly all of their cattle had been taken from them by the bashibazouks, and much of it was detained in Ustiina and other neighboring Mussulman villages. They told us an order had been issued by the governor of Philippopolis that the cattle should be restored if they could be identified; but to avoid this order the Mussulman neighbors had sold much of the cattle to persons coming from Haskeni, and even beyond.

At about the same time another large band of bashi-bazouks destroyed Klissura, (Turkish, Persiden Devent,) a town of 830 houses and about 7,000 inhabitants, situated on the southern slope of the Balkans, about 50 miles northwest of Philippopolis. This village contained a stone church and a chapel, two boys' schools, and one girls' school. Owing to its position in a narrow valley among the mountains, the population was less devoted to agricultural pursuits than most Bulgarian villages. They manufactured here much coarse cloth-aba and shayak. Many of the inhabitants are peddlers or traveling merchants, who sell the cloth throughout European Turkey, and even in Symrna and various parts of Asia Minor. Much attention is given to the cultivation of roses and to the preparation of attar. The attar of Klissura is particularly celebrated, the yearly produce being about 140 pounds, or 4 per cent. of the whole produce of attar in Bulgaria.

After the meeting of the insurgents at Metchka, a band of men, headed by Vankof, arrived at Klissura from Streltcha and Koprivtchitsa, and persuaded the inhabitants to throw up some earth-works, so as to command the roads leading into the town, telling them that the other villages were about to defend themselves, and unless they also did this they would be liable to be killed and have their village burned by the bashibazouks. In their defense the inhabitants were also helped by peasants, who had come on horseback from Sophia. In all, about 90 people of Klissura had arms. By the orders of Vankof, the kiatib, or clerk, was killed, and two zaptichs, who were caught by the insurgents outside of the town and refused to surrender, were shot. Several other Turks and Mohammedan gypsies were imprisoned, and two Turks and two gypsies were killed. The or bashi, who was one of my informants, with the other zaptichs, got on their horses and succeeded in escaping to Rahmanli, a Turkish village in the neighborhood.

Some days after, the bashi-bazouks arrived under the command of Tussum Bey, of Karlovo, but without either Circassians or regular troops. Mehmet Effendi, the kiragasi of Rahmanli, refused to allow them to go farther, and sent a Christian as a messenger, who was detained by the insurgents. Two Turks were then sent, who stopped at a rivulet half an hour from the town, and held a conference with two of the insurgents. They asked them what the people of Klissura were intending to do, and why they had taken up arms. The villagers replied, "Go your way; in four days what will happen, will happen." The Turks returned, and two or three days after, on the 8th of May, Tussum Bey arrived with several hundred bashi-bazouks. He asked the villagers to come to him and bring their arms. They refused, and fired upon him, killing one bashi-bazouk. The small body of insurgents was soon overpowered by the bashi-bazouks and fled. The villagers immediately ran away to Koprivtehitsa. The bashi-bazouks released the prisoners, set fire to the prison, and partly burned the town. They went away, however, the next day, when others arrived, who remained six days in the town, which they thoroughly pillaged and destroyed. Subsequent parties took away even the nails from the burned beams and the tiles from the roofs. Among the other losses of the place were 485 copper retorts for distilling attar of roses, (worth from four to five Turkish pounds each,) which were appropriated by the Turks of the neighboring villages. Two hundred and thirty-two people were killed. of whom 58 were men and the rest women and children.* Their bodies lay unburied for two or three weeks, during which time many of them were eaten by the dogs. Many of these persons were killed with circumstances of great barbarity. A newly-born child was hacked to pieces before the eyes of its mother, who was put to

# Others state the number of killed at about 400.

death afterward. The wife of Nicolo Pentchof, and four boys, were shut up in a well, where they died. The inhabitants did not return to Klissura for 32 days, when they came back with Hafuz Pasha. The Turkish authorities at Philippopolis claim that 14 Turks were killed by the insurgents at the first outbreak and during the fight.

When I visited Klissura on the 5th of August, only one house had been rebuilt, and its proprietor had, with cynical philosophy, placed over the door this inscription in Bulgarian: "To-day this house is mine, to-morrow another's, and never belongs to any one."

The local Turkish authorities said that not more than 50 families were in a condition to rebuild their houses, and that the others, unless assistance was given, must remain almost without shelter. At that time the people were living in 130 tents, which had been furnished them by Hafuz Pasha at the time he brought them back.

The churches had not only been thoroughly destroyed, partly by the aid of petroleum and gunpowder, but had been desecrated; and the few frescoes of saints which remained on the blackened walls were pierced and scratched with bayonets and sabers. The silver vessels and other valuables of the church were taken by Tussum Bey, who made them into ornaments for decorating his saddle and bridle. As there was but little agriculture here, the distress of the people seemed greater than in many other places. According to the mudir and kiatib, an order had been issued from Philippopolis forbidding any one to leave the town. They had written three letters asking to have this order rescinded, so that the inhabitants might not only travel through the country and collect their debts and seek work elsewhere, but might be able to go into the mountains to bring wood and stone to rebuild their houses. No answers had been received. Very many wished to follow us to Koprivtchitsa, alleging that they would starve if they remained in the town. The kiatib seemed an excellent official, who was desirous of doing what he could to assist the people. The mudir, too, was good when he was sober, but his conduct when he was drunk gave rise to many complaints. Much difficulty was also experienced from the zaptichs, who beat the men and threatened the women. The mudir thought that the difficulty with them arose chiefly from the fact that they had not been paid for a long time, and were almost as famished as the villagers. For a week previous to my arrival the inhabitants had been prevented from working for themselves, and had been compelled by the officials to rebuild the earth-works which had been destroyed by the rain. This was at the command of Tussum Bey, who accompanied the English commissioner, and who desired that the earthworks should be restored in order that other foreigners who came there might see the evidence of the guilt of the insurgents. The band of Tussum Bey pillaged and destroyed several other villages. Tussum Bey, for this exploit, was decorated with the order of the Medjidié.

Adyl Pasha and Hafuz Pasha, having arrived at Philippopolis with eight battalions of regular troops and six mountain-guns of new model, took command of the forces there, and Hafuz Pasha, with several battalions and a large detachment of bashi-bazouks, marched against Panagurishta, (Otlukkeni,) which was regarded as the headquarters of the insurrection.

Another large force, under Hassan Pasha, who had come from Nish, marched in the same direction. Benkofsky, the chief of the insurgents, had taken command at Panagurishta on the 1st of May, the day after the meeting at Metchka, and, under his directions, a line of earth-works had been thrown across the slope of the hills crossing the main road going from Tartar Bazardjik, about two miles from the town. Another small wall had been thrown up near the edge of the town. Before this, Benkofsky had called the inhabitants together, and had made them a vigorous address, for it seems that he was an eloquent young man, which excited them to the greatest enthusiasm. They went to the church and forced one of the priests to bless their undertaking, and then compelled a young girl of nineteen, Raika, the daughter of a priest and a schoolmistress in the village, to mount a horse and ride in a procession, carrying a silk flag, which she had previously been persuaded to embroider with the old Bulgarian lion and the words "Freedom or Death." This girl subsequently, after being taken prisOber, was nicknamed by the Turks, "The Queen of the Bulgarians," in reference to the part she bad played on that day.

After this procession, when it seems that many of the insurgents were drunk, they attacked the konak, or government-house, and killed two Turkish tithe-collectors, who attempted to escape from the konak, and subsequently they killed the servant of a Turkish engineer from Philippopolis, who refused to give up his arms. Two zaptichs, another tithe-collector, a collector of beklik, or sheep-tax, and two pomaks were captared in the khan, and were imprisoned, and it is said that they were afterward put to death. A few days after the insurgents killed another zaptich, who had been exceedingly cruel and harsh, and was much disliked.

On the first evening a man coming from Tartar Bazardjik, who it was thought was a tithe-collector, was killed, together with the driver of his carriage, because they refused to surrender. The next day the insurgents at the edge of the village met two Tarks with three women. On being summoned to surrender they fired, and the insur

gents fired in return, killing the two Turks and one of the women. One of the remain" ing women seized a saber and endeavored to defend herself and wounded an insur gent. The others then fired and killed her also. The third woman was taken to the village and well treated. After the surrender of the village she was given up to the pasha, and at the time of my inquiry was living at Zlatitsa. Another tithe-collector, who was met on the plain and refused to surrender, was also killed. Ten Turkish workmen who were coming from Philippopolis met the insurgents on the frontier of the village and were ordered to surrrender. They refused, and one was killed and one wounded. The wounded man was treated by a doctor, and the others, who were made prisoners, were well treated, and subsequently returned to Philippopolis on the surrender of the town. In all 12 (perhaps 17) Turks, two of whom were women, were killed. Most of them were killed with arms in their hands while resisting the insurgents. The killing of the tax-collectors, who had incensed the people by their injus tice and tyranny, is easily intelligible.

On the 12th of May, Hafuz Pasha and his troops arrived from the side of Streltcha, coming down by the large church, where also some small earthworks had been erected. There were about seventy men, only thirty of whom were well armed. At the other fortifications there were 150 men, while Benkofsky and eighty well-armed Bulgarians were at a place in the mountains called Siva Gramada, by which he had expected the attacking forces to pass. The Bulgarians maintain that no summons to surrender was sent to them, although there was a report that a letter to that effect had been received by one of the officials, who concealed it from the rest. They say that when the regular troops came on the top of the hill overlooking the town they began to fire, and when nearer they bombarded it. The bombardment began at nine o'clock on the morning of the 12th of May, and lasted till about midnight. Some of the inhabitants succeeded in running away, but others were prevented by cavalry, and were either taken prisoners or were killed. The pillage of the town and the massacre of the inhabitants began on Friday night and continued till Tuesday night. On Saturday, Hafuz Pasha tried to stop the pillage, but in consequence of the discontent of the bashi-bazouks of Ali Bey and Tussum Bey the plunder was allowed to continue until Tuesday. Every house was pillaged, and about 400 out of the 3,000 houses of the town were burned. Panagurishta was a considerable commercial center, and the houses burned included the bazaar, the churches, all the schools except a girls' school, which, on account of its position, was not noticed. According to the best information I could obtain, by careful comparison of statements, over two thousand people were killed in and about the town. Of these, 769 (264 men, 288 women, and 217 children) were inhabitants of Panagurishta itself, as appears by a list of names in my possession. The others belonged to the nine villages of Dinkeni, Steherkovo, Elshitsa, Jumaya, Kalaglasi, Popintsa, Ereli, Kepeli, Biata, and Shekhlari, who, partly owing to persuasions and the threats of the insurgents and partly through fear of the Mussulmans, had taken refuge in the village before the approach of the troops.

The capture and sack of this place, in which the regular troops took the chief part, were accompanied by the most fearful cruelty and barbarity. It would seem that scarcely a woman or girl in the place escaped violation. In general, it was extremely difficult to obtain evidence of acts of this kind, as from natural modesty the women were unwill ing to state facts which they thought perhaps reflected upon their personal honor, and the men disliked to tell such things of their wives, sisters, and daughters. Added to this is the fact that such is the prevalent chastity and such the feeling of honor among the Bulgarians, that no woman who is known to have been violated or seduced can ever be married. Rape and violation, however, appeared to have been so common in Panagurishta that there seemed less objection there to telling the truth, and I had, unfortunately, the best evidence of every kind with regard to violations of women and girls of all ages. Nor were acts of bestiality perpetrated on the female sex alone. Among other victims to the lust of the soldiers was Raika, the school-mistress of whom I have already spoken, who was repeatedly violated. Some time subsequently orders were given for her arrest, and she was confined for the night in the house of the mudir of Pangurishta, who then also violated her and maltreated her. This fact has been contradicted on the ground that the girl herself denies it. It is true that she denied it to me when interrogated in the presence of the doctor of the prisons and of several other persons, besides by-standers of the street. As she was confined in the harem of the imam of Philippopolis I was only able to see her in the street, where she was brought for the purpose. At a more private interview with her afterward she admitted that she had been violated, and her statement was confirmed to me, so far as the soldiers were concerned, by a woman who was present and saw it. That she denied it in court and offered to submit to medical examination, I am unable to believe. Statements were made to me to that effect, but always by persons who were not present at her examination; and Selim Effendi, the president of the tribunal, whom I asked about it, stated to me that no such thing had taken place in his court, and that

it was the first he had ever heard of it, adding that the question was not even asked her.

Among other acts of barbarity, Feodor Hadji Peof, an old man of 75, was violated on the altar in the church and then killed and burned. An old blind man, Dontcha Strigalof, was fastened up in his house and burned alive. Another old man, a public benefactor, whose charities had extended to Mussulmans as well as to Christians, Zvatko Boyadjef, had his eyes put out, and was then killed and burned. The priest Nestor had his fingers cut off one by one in order to extort money. Four of the eight priests were killed. The churches were all destroyed, and the trouble taken to desecrate them showed the religious hatred of the Mussulmans. Under the altar and in the floor of the church of the Virgin were large holes, which had been dug in the hope of finding concealed treasure. The corpses of some children, which had been buried behind the church, were also dug up in the hope of finding treasure, and were eaten by the dogs. Although the losses of the town were small as compared with some others, yet on account of the pillage the distress was and is very great. The industry of the place is for the time entirely ruined, and the inhabitants have, in spite of their losses, been compelled to pay ordinary taxes as well as the damages caused by the attacking party. In one of the granaries, grain belonging to the Turkish tithe-collectors was burned by the troops, and the inhabitants of the place were obliged to refund its value, £750. Yussuf Aga and Raschid Bey, from Sophia, marched against Petritch, (339 houses,) which he burned.

Petritch defended itself against the bashi-bazouks for ten days, during which time the Turks, according to their own account, lost 15 men; according to the Bulgarian account, six. Of the Bulgarians 85 were killed, many of the children being put to death with fearful tortures. Hafuz Pasha, with his regular troops, also pillaged and burned the villages of Metchka, Mukhovo, Bania, Popinsa, Biata, Kakoutsa, and some others. Nearly all of the cattle and live stock belonging to the town were carried away.

Hassan Pasha, who came from Nish, arrived on Sunday, the 14th of May, in the defile of Kapudjik. The Turkish authorities say that he had there a brush with the insurgents and completely routed them, killing many. The official account in La Turquie states the number left on the field as 200. On the 15th of May Hassan Pasha arrived at the town of Vetreno, 18 miles west of Tatar Bazardjik, (according to the official account,) "without meeting the least resistance, and the villagers here submitted to him, and even kissed the cannons and the arms of the soldiers to show their submission." Notwithstanding this, he bombarded the village, burned the church and 156 out of 350 Bulgarian houses, and completely pillaged the remainder. After two days devoted to plunder and destruction Hassan Pasha sent word to the inhabitants who had taken refuge in Sestreno that they might return. About 40 persons, chiefly men, were killed. Hassan Pasha, after pillaging and burning Shekhlari, Dere Aman, Teserovo and Slavitsa, reached Tartar Bazardjik on the 16th of May. In the four villages just mentioned 86 persons are known to have been killed by the troops.

There are some very interesting details with regard to the operations of Hassan Pasha from a source which can hardly be suspected of exaggeration against the Turks. I refer to a letter from a Turkish officer dated Ichtiman, May 26, inclosed in a dispatch of Mr. Blunt, the British consul at Salonica, well known for his Turkish sympathies, published in the English Blue-Book, "Turkey No. 3, (1876,) p. 324." "We had scarcely fired a few cannon-shot when the fort fell, and more than two thousand Bulgarians took to flight. We pursued them, firing at them both with guns and small-arms. Those who escaped our volleys received on the top of the mountain those of the other battalion. A small number only saved themselves by flight, the rest, including three priests, were killed. At 11 o'clock, without having lost a single man, we victoriously reached another Balkan Mountain. On the following day we resumed our march, burning without compassion several villages which we passed and seizing the live stock. We sent ten thousand to Sophia, an equal number to Tartar Bazardjik, without counting those which each battalion kept for its own use. After a march of eight days we reached Bellova with two guns, and there the insurgents surrendered without fighting and were made prisoners."

At Bellova, Hassan Pasha demanded 45,000 piasters in two hours under threat of bombardment. The women gave up their coin necklaces to make up the amount. Fifty-one prisoners were sent to Philippopolis, five of whom died on the road from bad treatment. Many prisoners were also taken to Sophia, including two priests, who were fiendishly tortured until they died.

From Tartar Bazardjik the force of Hassan Pasha went southward to Bratzigovo, which had defended itself for six days against the bashi-bazouks of Ali Bey and Mehmed Ali Bey, of Tartar Bazardjik, who had previously destroyed Radulovo, Alikotch, Biega, Kozarsko, and Zdrebitchta. As soon as the inhabitants saw regular troops they offered to surrender, but Hassan Pasha bombarded the village, which was but slightly damaged. Forty-five of the inhabitants were killed. After Hassan Pasha went to Philop popolis the village was thoroughly plundered by the bashi-bazouks.

Koprivtchitsa (Turkish Avrat Alan) is a large town of 2,500 houses and about 10,000 inhabitants, situated a little northeast of Panagurishta; and although it was one of the most guilty as far as the insurrection was concerned, from circumstances which will be hereafter mentioned it suffered but little in comparison to the others. The town was a rich one, many of the inhabitants being engaged in the manufacture and sale of coarse cloths. During the winter there was much discontent on account of the exemption-tax and disputes in collecting the sheep-tax. The agents of the Bucharest committee had succeeded in instilling ideas of revolt into some of the younger men, when finally some of the notables, fearing the result of an insurrectionary attempt. gave information of the state of things to the Mudir, and urged him to send to Philippopolis for zaptiehs. This was done, and Nedib Aga, the colonel of the rural police, and ten zaptiehs, soon after arrived at Koprivtchitsa. Nedib Aga arrested several persons who had been prominent in the sheep-tax disputes, telling them that he had otders to send them to Tatar Bazardjik, where the authorities desired to see them, although he knew not for what purpose.

On the 2d of May, as agreed upon at Metchka, the insurgents began their movement by tolling the church-bell to summon the villagers together, and then making an attack upon the Konak and demanding of Nedib Aga to release the prisoners. This was done. They then ordered him to surrender; but as he was a man of some military experience, and had served under Hungarian officers, he was able rapidly to put the ko nak in a state of defense, and after several hours' siege succeeded in escaping with his zaptiehs, losing only one man in the flight. Another zaptieh was subsequently killed outside of the town. The mudir of the village, following Nedib Aga's example, also tried to escape, but was pursued and killed near the river just as he was leaving the town. He had been there but a short time, and had left his wife at Eskizagra, where she is still living. He had no children with him. The untruth of the statement, several times made to me, that his wife and daughter had been killed at Koprivtchitsa is manifest.

There were living in the village about forty Mussulman gypsies. It had been rumored that Klissura had been burned by gypsies, and that these very men had had some share in it. They were, therefore, arrested by order of the insurgents, and, on searching their houses, arms, petroleum, and powder were found. After three days' arrest they were taken outside of the town by the insurgents and executed. Besides these men, several Turks were arrested in the village; but, of them, five or six were sent away the following day in perfect safety, and since the cessation of the disturbances, they frequently visit the town, the inhabitants of which were forced to pay them for the arms and oxen taken away from them.*

Osman Effendi, the resomat meymour of the place, was kept prisoner, together with his wife and seven children; but they were all released after the surrender of the town to the Turkish troops. (See official telegram from Sophia, published in the official 9th 21st

newspaper, "The Danube," May.)

The inhabitants of Koprivtchitsa admit killing, during the short period of the insurrection, forty gypsies and nine Turks. The Turks claim a loss of seventy-two; i.., sixty-six gypsies, five Turks, and one girl.

The population of Koprivtchitsa, during the insurrection, was greatly swelled by the inhabitants of the nine villages of Novo Selo, Streltcha, Aivadjik, Krastovo, Uzun-geren, Eleshnitsa, Zeratsoro, Zingerli, and Klissura, who fled there partly at the instigation of insurgent emissaries, and partly through fear of their Mussulman neighbors.

In the mean time, the richer and more prominent men of the town had become alarmed by the frequent reports which had reached them of the burning and pillaging of villages by the bashi-bazouks, and of the slaughter of the inhabitants. They therefore arrested the young men who had stirred up the revolt, who were all of the village except two, who were also Bulgarians from other places. One, however, ran away to Panagineshtsa, and informed the insurgents of that place. A party, therefore, came to Koprivtchitsa, broke open the doors of the prison, rescued those who were detained there, and all ran away.

Fearing for the safety of the town, on the 11th of May the notables sent a letter to Philippopolis asking for regular troops, and on the 12th another letter was sent to the same effect.

That very morning, May 12, regular troops came, preceded by bashi-bazouks, all led by the mirali or colonel, Hassan Bey. The people of Koprivtchitsa sent out as their plenipotentiary the priest Dontcho, who was immediately fired upon and killed by the bashi-bazouks. Subsequently two men were sent, who offered the submission of the inhabitants, one of them the priest Stogan. Both were fired at and wounded. Hassan Bey then ordered the notables of the place to come to the camp, as well as the notables from the other villages, the inhabitants of which had taken refuge there. He said

I saw the original receipt for the money so paid. It was attested by three wit nesses, one of them being the bimbashi of the place.