Panic In Constantinople.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 2, 1912:
News of Defeats Inspires General Fear of Massacres.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Saturday, Nov. 2.— Constantinople is now panic-stricken as the news of the Turkish defeat is slowly filtering through.
    There are signs on every hand that grave trouble is approaching, and though the Government is taking precautions against outbreaks, it is generally feared that these will be inadequate when fierce Kurds roam about.
    Stamboul is flooded with hungry refugees. Inhabitants of the villages by the Bosporus are fleeing to the city, fearing plunder and massacre. The inhabitants of the city are keeping their doors locked for fear of riots.
    Rumors are current that the defeated soldiers are approaching Constantinople, plundering villages and farms as they pass, and murdering the inhabitants.
    The news of the nation's reverses has made the feeling against the non-Mussulman population stronger than ever. Some of the latter are already leaving Constantinople.
    Mediation by the great powers is proposed by M. Poincaré, the French Premier, but the temper of the Bulgarians seems to make the probabilities of success doubtful.
    The Servian Foreign Minister and the Bulgarian Minister of the Interior both declared in interviews yesterday that they did not want European intervention and would manage their own affairs.
    An armistice would certainly be declined by Bulgaria as affording Turkey an opportunity to reorganize her forces for the defense of Tchatalje.
    The Bulgarian army is within twenty-five miles of Constantinople, and in touch with the Tchatalja lines, the successful defense of which seems the only possibility of preventing King Ferdinand's triumphal entry into the Ottoman capital. There is little chance of the demoralized Turkish army being able to oppose a successful resistance even at the supposedly impregnable Tchatalja lines, and it is noteworthy that certain news agencies are being employed to circulate throughout Europe a dispatch intimating that the Bulgarian occupation of Constantinople will be the only means of safeguarding the Christian population from massacre. In Constantinople official telegrams have been issued, claiming victory, and declaring that the Bulgarian army is surrounded. This is evidently nothing but an attempt to keep the population of the capital quiet. Great anxiety is now felt lest the news of defeat may lead to an outbreak in the city, in which the lives of European and other non-Turkish residents would be in serious danger.
    Soldiers of the defeated army, many of them in a famished condition, are streaming toward the capital, and although a Turkish division has been sent out from Constantinople to restrain them, it may prove impossible to maintain order among them. The advisability of immediately sending warships to Constantinople is being seriously considered by the European Governments. The situation in Salonika is equally alarming, and the mob is reported out of hand.