The Great Fire (52 page)

Also see Mark O. Prentiss, “No Experience Necessary,” “System—The Magazine of Business,” March 1920, Vol. 32, A. W. Shaw Co., New York and London, 492; Mark O. Prentiss, “Sophie and Her God,”
Good News,
April 1926. “Supplement: For the Young People,”
Australasian Pentecostal Studies
, Parramatta NSW 2150, Australia http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/journals/GN/gn-vol17-no4-apr-1926/23-sophie-and-her-god/
“Pessimistic views Not Sanctioned by Eastern Relief,”
Schenecdaty
, N.Y., Gazette, Nov. 14, 1922. The following documents relating to Council on Foreign Relations come from Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University: Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, April 8, 1919; Douglas Dunbar to Frank N. Doubleday, June 25, 1919; Doubleday to Dunbar, June 26, 1919; Prentiss to Herbert S. Houston, Dec. 30, 1919. BWD, Oct. 21, 1922; Dulles, Allen, Mark Prentiss Meeting, State Dept. Memo, NA 711.67/118; “Tells Why He Named Prentiss in Italy Murder: Claims Mrs. Underhill Spurned Chicagoan,”
Chicago Daily Tribune,
Nov 19, 1922; “Spelling of ‘Xmas’ Is Called Irreverent; Clergymen Back Move to Bar Abbreviation,”
New York Times
, Dec. 9, 1926. “Mark O. Prentiss,”
The Washington,
March 23, 1948.

   
135
    
The ship slipped its mooring
“Logbook,” USS Lawrence, Sept. 8, 1922. NA.

CHAPTER 13: CAPTAIN HEPBURN’S DILEMMA

   
136
    
The USS
Lawrence
entered
Hepburn, “Smyrna Disaster,” 2. Unless otherwise noted, subsequent details on Hepburn’s actions and observations are drawn from his report.

   
137
    
Twenty-five years earlier
Hepburn, NPRC.

   
137
    
At the Academy he had
Arthur J. Hepburn,” Lucky Bag, 1897, U.S. Naval Academy.

   
138
    
Along with poor eyesight
Hepburn, NPRC.

   
138
    
Ashore, they worked
Merrill Diary, Sept. 9, 1922.

   
139
    
While he waited for
Knauss, “Ship’s Diary, USS Simpson,” Sept. 9, 1922. MLB.

   
140
    
The men had enlisted
“Muster Roll of the Crew of the USS Litchfield,” June 30, 1922. NA.

   
140
    
As Captain Hepburn worked with his officers
“Smyrna and After, Part IV,”
Naval Review
2 (1924): 356, 357.

   
141
    
Horton had returned to the consulate
Hepburn, “Smyrna Disaster,” 6.

   
142
    
The medical team of Dr. Post
Biographical details on Post from: “Wilfred Post,” Personnel Card, ABCFM, ARI in Turkey; “American Red Cross Work in Turkey,” Levant Trade Review, American Chamber of Commerce, June 1915; “Want Method to Erase Brand of Inhuman Turks,”
Evening Independent,
St. Petersburg, Fla. Dec. 9, 1919; Morgenthau
to Sec. of State, Oct. 22, 1915. NA 867.4016/ 213; Bio on Agnes Evon: Mabel Smith, “American Nurse in Beirut,”
American Journal of Nursing
28, no. 2 (February 1928); Bio on Sara Corning: “Sara Corning,” Personnel Card, ABCFM, ARI in Turkey; Sara Corning file, Yarmouth County Museum & Archives. The team’s work is told in Agnes Evon’s “Seven Days in Smyrna: The Greatest Indictment of Modern Civilization,”
McClure’s Magazine
55, no. 7 (Sept. 1923).

   
143
    
After the meeting, at about
Horton to Sec. of State, August 9, 1920. NA 125.8731.18. The letter describes consulate offices and furnishings.

   
144
    
Swarthy hard-bitten men
Smyrna and After II, 742.

   
144
    
The soldiers were dressed
Horton,
Blight of Asia.
Also see “Smyrna and After, Part II,”
Naval Review
4 (1923): 741.

   
144
    
Their entry into the city
“Smyrna and After, Part II,” 740.

   
146
    
Davis was at one of the city’s
Claflin Davis to Bristol, Nov. 8, 1922, with enclosure. Bristol put a series of questions to seven eyewitnesses at Smyrna. The respondents filed written responses. NA 867.48/1452.

   
149
    
The only man I had ever seen
Merrill Diary, Sept. 9, 1922, ASMP.

   
150
    
Knauss witnessed the violence
Knauss, Sept. 9, 1922. MLB.

   
153
    
As he did all of this,
Brock to Admiralty and Admiralty to Brock, Sept. 11, 1922, in Halpern,
Mediterranean Fleet,
346, 347: “High Commissioner has been authorized to transmit to you full text of Foreign Office telegram of today’s date restating general policy of Government, main point of which is that Kemalist Army shall not be permitted at any point or under any circumstances to cross from Asia Minor into Europe.”

   
154
    
At Paradise, about a thousand
Amy Jennings gave her account in a diary published the following month. “Horrors of Smyrna, Latest Terrors of the East Revealed in Diary of Brave American Woman Who Witnessed Turks’ Unspeakable Atrocities,”
The Evening World
, Oct. 24, 1922. KFYA. See also Sara Jacob letter; and MacLachlan Diary.

   
156
    
Davis, chief of the relief committee
C. C. Davis to Bristol.

   
158
    
He was shaken by
Jennings to D. Davis.

   
159
    
Jaquith reported back
STANAV to NER New York, Sept. 12, 1922. MLB.

   
159
    
The
Times of London,
which
“The Massacres at Smyrna,”
Times of London
, Sept. 18, 1922, quoted in Oeconomos,
Martyrdom
.

   
160
    
The
Morning Post
in London
“Christian Refugees,”
Morning Post,
Sept. 11, 1922, quoted
Martrydom.

   
161
    
Reporter John Clayton saw the execution London Daily Telegram,
Sept. 14, 1922, quoted in Oeconomos,
Martyrdom
.

   
161
    
“We watched our . . .”
Leyla Neyzi, “Remembering Smyrna/Izmir: Shared History, Shared Trauma.”
History and Memory
Special Issue: Remembering and Forgetting on Europe’s Southern Periphery 20, no. 2 (October 1, 2008): 123.

   
162
    
Afterward, he returned
Kinross,
Atatürk,
367.

   
163
    
The British consul came
William Ferguson (Paradise resident), Transcript of Interview, 1965. AKJP.

   
163
    
Amy Jennings, at home
Amy Jennings Diary.

   
163
    
The violence at Paradise
“Smyrna and After, Part IV, V,”
Naval Review
, The Naval Society, London, 1924, Vol. 2, 355–361.

   
163
    
A Turkish soldier appeared in the street
Smyrna and After IV, 359.

   
165
    
In his message to Bristol
Hepburn to Bristol, Sept. 12, 1922. MLB.

   
165
    
After their arrival the previous day
Evon, “Seven Days in Smyrna.”

   
167
    
No one could image without
seeing Merrill Diary Sept. 1, 1922, ASMP.

CHAPTER 14: GARABED HATCHERIAN

   
168
    
Events in this chapter are drawn from Dr. Hatcherian’s diary.

CHAPTER 15: NOUREDDIN PASHA

   
171
    
The city’s new military commander
Mango,
Atatürk,
329, 330, 551.

   
171
    
In November 1914, soon after
Nicholas Gardner, “Charles Townshend’s Advance on Baghdad: The British Offensive in Mesopotamia, September–November 1915,”
War in History
20, no. 2 (April 2013): 182–200; S. A. Cohen, “The Genesis of the British Campaign in Mesopotamia,” 1914,
Middle Eastern Studies
12, no. 2 (May 1976).

   
172
    
Throughout the period
Hofmann et al.,
Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks,
97; Shenk,
Black Sea Fleet,
95.

   
172
    
One of his first orders of business
There are several sources on the death of Chrysostomos. See especially Rene Puaux,
La Mort de Smyrne,
Edition De La Revue Des Balkans, Paris, 1922; Horton,
Blight of Asia,
136.

   
173
    
A British naval officer described him
“Smyrna and After, Part I,” 568–572.

   
173
    
On the last occasion,
Smyrna and After Naval Review, 564.

   
174
    
On Monday, September 11, Captain Hepburn
The story of Hepburn’s activities continues in his report.

   
175
    
The Marsovan incident was well known
“On Behalf of the Armenians,” House Resolution 244, United States House of Representatives, March 7, 1922.

   
178
    
As for the women
, “Smyrna and After, Part IV, V,”
Naval Review,
364.

   
178
    
“I afterwards learned”
Charles Dobson, “The Smyrna Holocaust,” an appendix to “The Tragedy of the Christian Near East,” by Lysimachos Oeconomos, The Anglo-Hellenic League, 1923. London.

   
178
    
“The Turks had taken a girl of fifteen”
Knauss, Simpson Ship Diary, Sept. 11, 1922.

   
178
    
Cabling Bristol, Hepburn reported
Hepburn to Bristol, Sept. 12, 1922. MLB.

   
180
    
The bakeries remained
C. D. Davis to Bristol.

   
180
    
“They were, I think”
Agnes Evon, “Seven Days in Smyrna,” McClure’s Magazine, Sept. 1923.Vo. 55, No. 7.

   
180
    
Jaquith cabled Near East Relief
STANAV to State Department, Sept. 11, 1922. MLB.

   
181
    
Then there came an odd
“Smyrna and After, IV,” 364.

   
181
    
Throughout the previous week
“Conditions in Smyrna,” Horton to State Dept., Sept. 20, 1922. NA 767.68/241.

   
181
    
What, Lamb wondered
Smyrna and After IV, Naval Review, 364. “Then the bombshell came later in the day. The Turkish authorities announced that they could not be responsible for the nationals after Tuesday night.”

   
181
    
The apprehension of fear-ridden
London Daily Telegram, Sept. 13, 1922, as quoted in Oeconomos.

   
183
    
On the previous day
MacLachlan memoir.

   
186
    
On my round at 5
A
.
M
.
Simpson Diary, Knauss, Sept. 12,1922.

   
186
    
I could see that
Simpson Diary, Knauss, Sept. 12, 1922.

   
187
    
In the early hours of the twelfth
Simpson Diary, Knauss, Sept. 12, 1922.

   
187
    
“On Tuesday, a visit . . .”
“Smyrna and After, Part V,” 364.

CHAPTER 16 FIRE BREAKS OUT

   
191
    
On Wednesday morning
The wind is mentioned in many accounts, including in Hepburn’s report.

   
192
    
Few patrols were in evidence
Hepburn, 23.

   
195
    
“The whole harbor was strewn”
Arthur Duckworth (aboard HMS
Iron Duke
) letter to his parents, Sept 13, 1922. IWM.

   
195
    
“You can say order had been restored London Daily Telegraph
Sept. 15, 1922 as quoted in Oeconomos.

   
195
    
Jennings had spent the night
Jennings to Emmons.

   
196
    
People ascended to high places
Testimony from the Insurance Trial.

   
198
    
Jennings drove his family
Amy Jennings Diary.

   
199
    
“As long as I live I shall . . .”
R. W. Abernathy, “The Great Rescue,” collected in
The Spirit of the Game
by Basil Mathews, George H. Doran Co., 1926.

   
200
    
Minnie Mills was the school’s directo
r Biographical background on Minnie Mills from Personnel Card, ABCFM, ARI. Accounts of the fire and rescue appear in Evon, “Seven Days in Smyrna”; “Miss Mills Blames Turks for the Fire,”
New York Times,
Sept. 27, 1922; Bertha Morley, “The Smyrna Disaster,”
The New Armenia
14, no. 6 (Nov.–Dec. 1922): 90; “The Burning of Our Girls’ School at Smyrna,”
Life and Light for Women,
Boston, Nov. 1922, 381; “Smyrna,”
The Orient
(newsletter), Bible House, Constantinople, Nov. 1922, Vol. IX, No. 10, 88; “Our Consul Praises Americans,”
New York Times
, Sept. 21, 1922; Testimony of Sister Mabel Maria Kalfa, “Report of Insurance Trial,” 65, 66; “The Angel of Discord at Smyrna,”
Literary Digest,
October 7, 1922, 52, 53.