Serbs Are Killing Moslem Thousands.

New York Times 100 years ago today, January 18, 1913:
Correspondents in War Zone Say Whole Villages Are Being Wiped Out.
POWERS ASKED TO INTERFERE
Vienna Reichspost Confirms Report — Men, Women, and Children Said to Have Been Slaughtered.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Jan. 17.— Marmaduke Pickthall, who before he began writing novels passed several years in Oriental countries and knows European Turkey particularly well, writes to The Times:
    "From information which reached myself and others, it seems certain that an organized and cruel slaughter of non-combatants — men, women, and children — among the Mohammedans of Macedonia has been going on for weeks past and is still in progress, the object being nothing less than their extermination. The victims, including fugitives, are said already greatly to exceed half a million. In fact, if my information is correct — and I have every reason to believe it so — the most awful massacre of modern times is being perpetrated in the name of Christianity.
    "I should be the last to expect humanity in Eastern warfare, but this thing is not warfare; it is butchery of the Mussulmans of Macedonia, who represent 60 per cent. of the population."
    A similar appeal has been addressed to the heads of other powers. The Vienna Reichspost, which for some time past has been printing accounts of alleged atrocities by Servian troops, yesterday published an article from a correspondent, who says he personally witnessed many incidents described and had others authenticated by trustworthy persons.
    "We make an appeal to the heart of Europe," says the Reichspost, "to arouse her conscience; for in her history there is no chapter since long bygone days which narrates such inhuman atrocities as were perpetrated after the occupation of Albania by the Serbs, while so much innocent blood has seldom flowed. We do not demand belief, but ask that Europe dispatch a commission to convince herself what is happening in Albania."
    The Reichspost's correspondent continues:
    "What were the numbers of the Mohammedan population in the conquered territory two months ago, and what today?
    "What were the tortures which had been inflicted upon the wretched creatures, men, and women, who were pitilessly hunted down?
    "What is the military status of the Bulgarian komitajis? Is it not the same as that of the Turkish bashi-bazouks, about whose doings there has been such an outcry in the past? Have the Bulgarian authorities hanged one of them?
    "What has been the rôle of the Bulgarian and Servian regulars?"
    "These and other questions, e.g., the torture of the Jews, call aloud for an international investigation. The honor of Christendom and civilisation alike demand a full inquiry."
    The appeal is addressed to King George by a number of Turkish Senators, who assert that despite the armistice the massacre of Mohammedans in the provinces occupied by the Balkan allies has continued in the last month. "In the districts where the war has ceased the bands continue to act," says the appeal, "and the object is extermination."
    "In a chasm among the rocks behind the fortress at Uskub there lie to-day the corpses of more than 100 Albanians from villages which were destroyed by fire, and in the gorge of Vistala Voda there are about 80 dead bodies. Of 132 wounded Albanians who were sent to the hospital at Uskub 100 died as the result of insufficient food. They were actually allowed to starve. "The Serbs killed harmless Albanians who were crossing the bridge over the Vardar before my eyes. As it was difficult to dig graves for the murdered corpses, the ground being frozen, they flung them into cisterns near Uskub. Thirty-eight cisterns are filled with corpses.
    "As I have a perfect command of the Servian language the Servian officers and soldiers often took me for a fellow-countryman. A Servian soldier told me how an Albanian village near Kumanovo was stormed and many villagers who were unable to flee hid themselves in the attics of the houses, " 'We smoked them out,' he said, 'and when the huts burned they come down screaming, weeping, and begging for mercy, like moles from their underground tunnels. We shut the doors upon them. Only with the children did we spare our bullets and bayonets. We devastated the village because shots were fired from a house with a white flag.'
    "The military authorities took no steps to prevent these atrocities. At Kalkandele eighty-five Albanians were killed just as they stood without making resistance. Their houses were, burned down, and the village plundered. The treatment of women and girls, even children of 12 years of age, was beyond description, and perhaps it was the height of cruelty that soldiers with revolvers in hand forced fathers and husbands to stand and witness these atrocious proceedings. "The town of Gostivar, where six Albanians were shot, saved itself by paying a ransom of $6,000 to the Servian commander.
    "At Ferisovitch the Albanians made an organized and armed defense, and the fighting continued for twenty-four hours. An Albanian woman, whose husband had been killed, seized his rifle and shot five Serbs before she herself was killed. During the slaughter here more than 1,200 Albanians were sacrificed. The town is now almost without inhabitants.
    "There are only three Albanian Mohammedans over 15 years of age at Gillane, where the Albanians did not defend themselves. Almost the entire population fell by fire or sword. Only a few fugitives survived, and the horrors of the destruction of Gillane are known only by the silent ruins.
    "The Servian occupation of Pristina was still more bloody. The Albanians estimate the number of their dead at 5,000."