done to bring them to account. The Government
left only a very small number of Armenians in Diarbekir, these being
such as were skilled in making boots and similar articles for the army.
Nineteen individuals had remained in the prison, where I saw and talked
with them; these, according to the pretence of the authorities, were
Armenian bravoes.
The last family deported from Diarbekir was that of Dunjian, about
November, 1915. This family was protected by certain Notables of the
place, from desire for their money, or the beauty of some of their
women.
DIKRAN.--This man was a member of the central committee of the
Tashnagtzian Society in Diarbekir. An official of that place, who
belonged to the Society of Union and Progress, told me that the
authorities seized Dikran and demanded from him the names of his
associates. He refused, and said that he could not give the names until
the committee had met and decided whether or not it was proper to
furnish this information to the Government. He was subjected to
varieties of torture, such as putting his feet in irons till they
swelled and he could not walk, plucking out his nails and eyelashes with
a cruel instrument, etc., but he would not say a word, nor give the name
of one of his associates. He was deported with the others and died nobly
out of love for his nation, preferring death to the betrayal of the
secrets of his brave people to the Government.
AGHOB KAITANJIAN.--Aghob Kaitanjian was one of the Armenians imprisoned
on the charge of being bravoes of the Armenian Society in Diarbekir, and
in whose possession explosive material had been found. I often talked to
him, and I asked him to tell me his story. He said that one day, whilst
he was sitting in his house, a police agent knocked at the door and told
him that the Chief of Police wished to see him at his office. He went
there, and some of the police asked him about the Armenian Society and
its bravoes. He replied that he knew nothing of either societies or
bravoes. He was then bastinadoed and tortured in various ways for
several days till he despaired of life, preferring death to a
continuance of degradation. He had a knife with him, and when they
aggravated the torture so that he could endure it no longer, he asked
them to let him go to the latrine and on his return he would tell them
all he knew about the Armenian matter. With the help of the police he
went, and cut the arteries of his wrists[B] ... with the object
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