Bulgars' Victims Starving.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 24, 1913:
Clergymen, in Cablegram to The Times, Beg for American Aid.
The following dispatch, the news of which has already been printed in America, was cabled to The Times by the signers yesterday, with a request for its publication:

SALONIKA, July 23, 1913.
    After their first defeats, the Bulgarians commenced a series of horrible crimes on the Greek population of Macedonia, which was undefended.
    Beaten at Nigrita, they immediately revenged themselves by burning and pillaging the township. The number of inhabitants massacred there was more than 400, including women and children. We are told that the massacres were instigated by Bulgarian officers.
    At Doiran the Bulgars two days before evacuating the town invited the Greek Bishop with about thirty notables to take part in a soi disant municipal council. All of them were arrested by the Bulgarian authorities, and for many days no news was had as to their fate. After a search their bodies were found massacred in the most brutal manner.
    At Strumitza the Bulgarians before leaving the town killed three Greeks, wounded a woman, and massacred sixteen Mussulmans. They pillaged various shops and threatened to murder all the notables. Fortunately, the Greek Bishop managed to stop them by undertaking no responsibility as to the revenge the Greeks would take when they entered the town.
    At Demir-Hissar the massacres were terrible. This town, although of a smaller population than the others, had 104 men murdered, including the Bishop and a priest. The murders committed were of a most terrible nature. The Bishop's body was found horribly mutilated. His beard and hair had been torn out. Many of the other corpses were also mutilated and showed signs of great suffering before death. The Bulgarian officers and soldiers assaulted many girls in this district. One is nearly dead.
    Seres is the climax. After evacuating the town the Bulgarians sent a detachment of four cannon and bombarded the place, creating a panic among the inhabitants. A detachment of Bulgarian officers with comitagis (insurgents) then entered the town, which they completely sacked, after which they proceeded to burn the town, saturating the houses with petroleum and other inflammables. Forty thousand inhabitants flying from the town into the plain were fired upon with cannon.
    In the town the Bulgars attacked the Austrian Consulate and demanded that all valuable objects should be handed over to them. The Consul vainly protested, and by force was dragged to the mountains with many families who had taken refuge in the Consulate. After paying heavy sums they were all released. In the meantime the Consulate was burned. The same was done to the Italian Consulate. The Bulgarians refused to acknowledge the Consulates, and European flags hoisted on the different stores and houses had no effect.
    The American flag, which was flying on the storehouses of the American Tobacco Company, did not save these stores, which were burned, causing damage to the amount of $1,000,000. The Directors of the company, Messrs. Harrington and Moore, fled to Salonika.
    During the burning of the town the Bulgarians massacred every one whom they met, making no distinction in age or sex. The known victims number about 100, but many are buried in the ruins, as many old men and children could not leave the town. Four thousand and fifty houses are burned, 1,000 stores, and 18 churches, including the Metropole Synagogue, as well as hospitals, mosques, and colleges. More than $3,000,000 damage was done and 20,000 inhabitants are without homes, clothes, or food. In the country around these scenes of horror continue. At the village of Doxato out of 3,000 inhabitants 2,500 have been murdered. The villages are destroyed, the farmsteads burned, and the peasants massacred are uncountable.
    Where the Bulgarian Army has passed nothing but desolation and suffering is seen.
    We appeal to the generous American nation, which certainly will not remain indifferent before so much misfortune, and we are sure that they will assist in relieving as much as possible the misery and suffering which have come over the unhappy population of Macedonia, which has suffered so much.
        The Rev. A MIHITSOPOULOS, Greek Evangelical Church.
        The Rev. M. BROUNAU, German Evangelical Church.
        The Rev. O. M. KHOUVANIA, Armenian Evangelical Church.
    I am convinced that the suffering is great and heartily indorse this appeal for relief.
        The Rev. EDWARD B. HASKELL, American Missionary.