Sherman County observer., May 21, 1909, Image 4

The
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FRIDAY
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•% 'h r paper will be discontinued. Hut we
expect that all arreara w ill be paid before
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lor a atateirent, which w ill be Cheerfully
rendered at any tim e.
For Centuries Fire and Swor4
Have Visited Adana.
SCENE OF ARMENIAN MURDERS
Since Days of A lexander and
Pom psy the T u rk ia h Province Haa
Been a Region For Destruction.
W hen th e Shenandoah W an t Thera.
Ever
There ta nothing like personal fa
miliarJty w ith a locality to arouse a
real Interest in new» concerning It
even if that news be of so startling a
character as to merit the name of a
massacne. Poor Adana, the province
In Asiatic Turkey where muny A r­
menians have recently been killed!
There was a -time wheu I knew Its
broad wheatflelds. silvery streams,
luxuriant gardens and the wild moun­
tains that hem the fertile valley In,
for 1 went there In a smart corvet
and fetched away a marble sarcoph­
agus that bad held the remains of
a Roman princess for a thousand
years and more before It came to be
a show piece In the New York Metro­
politan museum. Now i venture the
assertion that not one person In ten
thousand who has read the late star­
tling dispatches ever beard the pretty
name before or knows whether It be­
longs to a town or a district or where
to locate It except as Indefinitely some­
where In the sultan’s Asiatic dyinliUon
In fact, the general tenor of the dis
patches, where the name is found in­
discriminately classed w ith Aleppo.
Beirut, Damascus, etc., gives the nat­
ural Impression that It la somewhere
in Syria. I f old S t Paul were alive
he would surely pour out the vials of
his ready wrath upon any one who
dared to call him a Syrian, for he was
a Clllclan. and the Roman province
of fillc ln of bis day Is the vilayet’b f
Adana today,
Off to the northeast of the island of
Cyprus. Just after the mainland makes
a sharp bend from running north
along the
coast to west along
that of Asia Minor, lies this the finest
natural granary o f the whole M edlter
ranSan coast, and Its three principal
towns of Merslna, Tarsus and Adana
lie almost In line completely through
Its center. RJding and camping out on
the banks of the Cyduua, our care free
band henrd from the native story tell­
ers traditions Innum erable oh the fair
land that la so unfortunately located
as to have been the battleground of
natiuns since the dawn of history
The name o f the mythical Sardanap-
alus la claimed as that of the founder
of every town and village. W ithin Its
boundaries Alexander the Great won
the most famous of his victories. Pom-
pey the Great reached the pinnacle of
bis fkme here when his legions cap-
tnred the province For Rome, scarcely
th irty years before Rt. Paul whs born.
Then the Arabian Moslems swept up
and across It from the east; the sav­
age Armenians from the mountains In
the north devastated It; the Christian
emperor Baldwin of Constantinople
brought fire and sword from the west;
Greeks and Venetians harried the
coast from the south, and ao down the
centuries the little province simply
from being a m ilitary key to surround­
ing peoples was kept in poverty nud
desolation until the great Uarooa-nl-
Rasehld gave it the new name of
Adaaa and brought peace and plenty
to the land.
There was a wealthy native of T a r
•ys named Abdo Dahhan, who for
many years had prospered under the
protection o f an appointment as con­
sular agent o f the United States, and
It ao came about that in one o f his
fields was unearthed a fine marble
sarcophagus, which, as a mark o f ap-
Dreclatlou, be made a g ift to the
United States, w ith only the proviso
that some one should be sent to take
It. And so It came about that tlie
Rbenaudoah was ordered to the east­
ward to pick H up and. In due time
let go her anchor In the suug harbor
of Merslna.
I t was a grand opportunity for old
Abdo, beyond bis dreaink, to have a
man-of-war as ocular proof o f his Im ­
portance, and he made the most of It
In the best of ways, for not only were
his bouse and gardens placed at our
disposition, but at the first mention to
him o f tbe Interest that was mobt
natural to see tbe battlegrounds of
Alexander he equlp|»ed a complete
camp, even to a detachment of T u rk ­
ish lufautry, to take us throughout tbe
province. O ver tbe campfire at night
the storh-s were told that, true or
false, brought to our ears the famous
nam es whose victories and defeats bad
alike brought ouly misery to a peace­
ful jpe.^.le. O f all (hose names ao often
heard one ouly. lluruutl-al-Uaschld, our
“ Aral iuu Nights** hern, was called
blesac.J. ,
All through tbe rolling pinto and lu
the foot It 11 is of the Taurus were lu
this time o f thirty odd years ago Hue
fields o f grain, orchards and luxurl m t
gardens and all that should make a
peojde happy and well to do. but the
w ar storms of nearly 3,000 years have
stamped an Indelible mark on tlw |wo-
ple. Poor Adana! One more massa­
cre Is but a drop in the stream
As for the sarcophagus, tbe secret of
its soul will never be Itetrayed. for it
bears no Inscription nor was anything
recovered from It.
I*w»bably w liat !
ever It contained was stolen by tbe
laborers who unearthed H. its bulky •
eleven tons was hoisted to our quar­
terdeck. tbe beautiful sculptures care­
fu lly boarded In. and tbs last home of
• countrywoman of B t Paul, like him
• Rosnan. camo on its long voyage
to rant in a country unheard of and
anonminetod when It was created.-
■dwend W. T ory. Late tJnftod Btetee
Sherman
8.
220 yard dash, A div.
9.
5 0 yard dash, C div.
9
10.
EVENTS
Running broad jump, C div
Running high jump, A div.
9
Running broad jump, B div
Running high jump, B div.
75 yard hurdle, B div.
Running broad jump, A div
Shot Put, A div.
Running high jump, C div.
75 yard hurdle, A div
Relay Race, 8 8 0 yards
Special excursion train will leave Wasco the morning o f Field Meet Day at 8:30; leave Klondike at 8:50; a
on way to Moro corresponding; arrive at Moro 9:50; from the south the regular train will act as exi
the morning leaving Shaniko 7:45; Kent-8:30; Grass Valley 9:20; arrive Moro 10:05; after the ev,
contest train will leave Moro and go as far as Kent, then return and go from Moro to Wasco