SMYRNA HOLOCAUST.
PITIFUL SCENES ON WATERFRONT.
(Electric Telegraph.—Copyright).
(Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.)
LONDON, September 17.
Mr Ward Price described the at-
tempts by panic-stricken Greeks in
Smyrna to rush the British picket
boat, to which guarded batches of Bri-
tishers were being marched from the
Consulate.
Bluejackets, with pitying faces and
cheering words, pushed back the
screaming throng.
The Turkish guard, with levelled re-
volvers and swinging rifle butts, pre-
vented the embarkation of other than
British.
Meanwhile gangs of Greek and
Armenian prisoners were being con-
stantly marched to the quay by Turk-
ish soldiers.
An Armenian, emboldened by the
presence of the British, plunged into
the sea and the Turks fired over the
picket boat and killed him.
It is alleged that those who start-
ed the fire were summarily shot a few
yards away, and the bodies floated
past our feet.
Bluejackets brought aboard inmates
of the British maternity home, three
mothers lying on stretchers with new
born infants wailing under blankets.
—(United Service).
CITY WIPED OUT.
TWO SQUARE MILES SWEPT.
STUDENTS CARRIED OFF BY
TURKS.
LONDON, September 15.
Smyrna has ceased to exist. Banks
and commercial and residential houses
along the quays in the foreign quar-
ter have been reduced to ashes. The
fire swept an area of two square miles.
Sir Harry Lamb, British Consul-
General, has cabled saying that all
the foreign Consulates were burned
except the Belgian, Norwegian, and
Danish, which are three miles from
the centre of the city.
The sworn testimony of American
residents shows that the Turkish re-
gular soldiers systematically applied
torches, apparently as a reprisal for
the devastation carried out by the
Greeks during their retreat; also,
that the fire should conceal the mas-
sacres which marked their entry into
the city. American witnesses esti-
mate that at least 2000 were massa-
cred previous to and during the fire,
also a large number perished in the
flames. They reported that Turks
invading the British Consulate mur-
dered several Englishmen, besides Mr
Wilkinson.
The damage at Smyrna is variously
estimated at from £14,000,000 to
£17,000,000.
Fourteen Americans are reported
missing. There is no official confir-
mation of the loss of British lives.
The students at an American girls’
college are alleged to have been car-
ried off by the Turks. —(A. & N.Z.).
Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue 155, 18 September 1922, Page 3.
