Turks Touch Torch to Armenian Towns

Defeated Ottoman Soldiers Leave Trail of Blood Behind Them as They Retire Before Russians-Russians Now Overrunning Armenia”

“PETOGRAD, Feb 19-The decisive victory of the Russians in the Erzerum district has brought disaster to many Armenian towns in the path of the retreating Turks. The entire country is being devastated. Massacres are reported from all directions, whole towns are being destroyed by fire, and everything of value that can be removed is being carried to a place of safety, beyond the reach of the Slav forces. The war office is authority for the statement that the Erzerum district is now overrun by Cossacks, practically all of Western Armenia now being held securely by the czar’s forces.