Rumanians Near Sofia.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 18, 1913:
King Ferdinand Pleads with King Charles for Terms of Peace.
    LONDON, Friday, July 18.— Rumanian troops are at Plevna and Mesedra, the latter within thirty miles of Sofia.
    King Ferdinand of Bulgaria is a suppliant to the King of Rumania for terms of peace.
    It is understood that the powers are striving to induce Rumania not to occupy Sofia and are urging Bulgaria to appoint a delegate to confer with the Servian and Greek Premiers.
    The real facts of the situation are only just becoming generally known in Sofia, and are causing dismay among the people.
    M. Malinoffs efforts to form a new Bulgarian Cabinet appear to have failed.
    Fighting of no great importance continues on the Greek and Servian fronts.

    SOFIA, July 17.— King Ferdinand today personally telegraphed to King Charles of Rumania that Bulgaria was ready to negotiate terms of settlement with Rumania.
    The Rumanians to-day took possession of the cable station at Varna, on the Black Sea, and thus control communication with Sevastopol. As the railway between the coast and Sofia also has been cut off, Bulgaria cannot communicate with the outside world except through Servia and Rumania.
    The Turkish Army by forced marches is approaching the town of Kirk-Kelisseh, taken by the Bulgarians after heavy fighting at the beginning of the Balkan War. Many of the population are reported to be fleeing.
    An official dispatch reports the defeat by the Bulgarians of the Servian forces which had penetrated Bulgarian territory on the western frontier. The Bulgarians, it is stated, attacked them yesterday, and put them to flight. The Servians are retreating in the direction of Vlasina, across the border.

    PARIS, July 17.— At the request of Greece, the French Government, which has assumed the protection of Greek interests in the war region, has instructed the Secretary of the French Legation at Athens and an officer of the French military mission to proceed immediately to the seat of war to investigate the alleged Bulgarian atrocities.
    King Ferdinand of Bulgaria denies emphatically the stories of atrocities committed by Bulgarian troops. He yesterday cabled the following message through the Bulgarian Royal Private Secretariat:

Sofia, July 17.
Associated Press, New York:
    All the rumors about Bulgarian atrocities are infamous Greek calumnies destined to poison universal public opinion, and in regard to which the truth will be established one of these days.
THE ROYAL SECRETARIAT.