Johnny Turks Media Watch

San Antonio Express January 22, 1923
ARMENIANS, NOT TURKS SET SMYRNA ABLAZE RELIEF WORKER DECLARES

American Who Reached City Before Occupation Says Victors Not Responsible for Destruction
Photo caption:
Mark O. Prestiss
The hit her to untold story of the Smyrna fire told by Mark O. Prentiss,
American representative of the Near East Relief.

Nearly everybody in America, it appears, is convinced that the Turkswere responsible for the fire which added the final touches of tragedyto the Smyrna horror. The unanimity and firmness of this convictionsurprised me, at first, as I believe it would have surprised anybodyelse, of whatever nationality or political allegiance, who hadrecently come from the scene of the disaster. The motive, usuallyconsidered of supreme importance in crimes of this sort, does notclearly point toward the Turks. They had captured Smyrna. The city, asit stood, was one of the greatest prizes ever taken in Orientalwarfare. The Turks had unquestioned title to its foods, itscommodities of all sorts, its houses. It was a store house of suppliesmost urgently needed for their peoples and armies. Why destroy it?

It was a matter of common knowledge, on the other hand, that theArmenians and Greeks were determined not to let this booty fall intothe hands of their hated enemies. There was a generally acceptedreport in Smyrna, several days before the fire, that an organizedgroup of Armenian young men had sworn to burn the city if it fell tothe Turks. They certainly had motive enough, and if this was theirplan, ruthlessly carried out, they paid a terrible price. No Armenianman, woman or child who was in the Armenian quarter after the firestarted escaped alive. They were either burned or shot down by Turkishsoldiers. The Turks committed atrocities enough without crediting themwith others, to which they haven't a clear title.

Evidence gathered by Paul Groenovish, chief of the Smyrna firedepartment, and carefully checked by myself, together with informationwhich came to me from other sources, points to the Armenians as theauthors of the fire. The series of events which led up to the finalterror on the Smyrna waterfront as I was enabled to follow them, beganin the first days of September, when Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol,United States High Commissioner at Constantinople, organized theSmyrna Emergency Relief Committee in anticipation of what might happenin the city if it fell, as then seemed inevitable, to the Turks.

An American Relief Unit in Smyrna.

The U.S.S. Destroyer Lawrence, under command of Capt. Wollesoeproceeded to Smyrna, carrying this committee, of which I was a member.We arrived in the evening of Friday, the 8th of September, in time tosee the last of the Greek army leaving the city. Early in the morningof the 9th we went ashore, and immediately organized a reliefcommittee, which consisted of practically all of the Armenianresidents there, together with representatives of the Near East Reliefand the American Red Cross from Constantinople. Admiral Bristol hadsent his chief of staff, Capt. Hepburn, as his personal representativeto serve as chairman of this committee.
One of the most serious situations that confronted the committee wasthe possibility of fire. This situation developed into one of extremeanxiety when we learned that the entire city police department,together with nearly all of the Greeks who were members of the firedepartment had deserted their posts and fled the city in fear of theapproaching Turkish army.
I made it my business to make a general survey of the situation, and Ifound that the fire fighting forces consisted of approximately 60 menwith two small station houses. I found two reasonably good fireengines and about half a dozen hand machines that were used along withthe waterfront by dropping in in-take hose over the sea-wall into thewater. There were only a few buildings in the city over three storieshigh, the great majority being two. The water pressure was strongenough to force a stream of water over almost any building in the cityand there appeared to be plenty of hydrants.

The following Tuesday morning, Mr. Jaquith of the Near East Relief,Maj. David of the Red Cross, and I took a trip by automobile in theoutskirts of the city. The Turks, by this time, were in fulloccupation. We saw three widely separated fires totally consumeisolated buildings. One of these was a small shop, and in the burningdoorway were the bodies of two women. Obviously, looting, murder andarson had been committed here by Turkish soldiers.
Hospital Not Burned by the Turks

A report has been widely circulated in this country to the effect thatthe Armenian Hospital, where some 1,500 refugees had gathered, wasburned by Turkish soldiers who slaughtered many of the helplessoccupants. The truth of the matter is that on Tuesday, early in theafternoon, in response to an emergency appeal, I had gone to thehospital, accompanied by Dr. Post and two nurses, all of us members ofthe Near East Relief staff.

While I was there a squad of from 15 to 20 Turkish soldiers, undercommand of a captain came to take over the hospital for Turkishmilitary purposes. The refugees were searched as they came from thegrounds, and arms of various sorts sufficient to fill a truck weretaken from them. All of them, men, women and children, who had takenrefuge both in the hospital building and in the adjoining grounds,were dispersed by 6 o'clock that afternoon.

The captain in command of the squad had written instructions from theTurkish military commander to take possession of the hospital andprepare for immediate occupancy. He told us that they would beginmoving Turkish patients to the hospital that night. He also mentionedthat he had orders to shoot the refugees, without mercy, if theyrefused to disarm, and that he certainly would have done so but fortheir unexpected docility in giving up their weapons. He creditedtheir willingness to disarm to the presence of the Americans. Dr.Post, the two nurses and myself. I had previously gone among them andexplained with the aid of an interpreter, that they would be shot ifthey persisted in holding on to the bombs, knives and revolvers theyhad concealed about them. The first command of the Turkish captainthat they surrender their arms had not produced results, for they werecrazy with fear, and it was some time before I could persuade them totrust their conquerors.

Signs of Incendarism.
On the following morning, Wednesday, the thirteenth of September, thesituation was critical in the extreme. Paul Grescovish, Chief of theSmyrna Fire Department, told me that he had discovered bundles ofdiscarded clothing, rags and bedding, covered with petroleum, inseveral of the institution recently deserted by Armenian refugees.

Grescovish impressed me as a thoroughly reliable witness. I had metand had a long talk with him three days previously, on Sunday morning.Fortunately, I needed no interpreter, as he speaks English fluently.He is an engineer, born and educated in Austria, and has beenidentified with several enterprises in Turkey. Twelve years ago hebecame chief of the Smyrna fire department, which he continued toconduct in a very efficient manner, for that part of the world, duringthe Greek occupancy. He told me that during the first week ofSeptember there had been an average of five fires per day with whichhis crippled department had to cope. In his opinion most of thesefires were caused by carelessness, but some undoubtedly were ofincendiary origin. The average number of fires in a normal year, hesaid, would be about one in ten days, and the increase to five a dayseemed significant.

As soon as the Turkish military authorities assumed control,Grescovish had applied for additional men and fire fighting equipment.Instead of helping him, the Turkish military governor, learned thatthere was still twelve Greeks in the fire department, ordered theirimmediate arrest, which left the department with only thirty-sevenmen. Sunday night, Monday and Monday night and Tuesday, so many fireswere reported at such widely points, that the fire department wasabsolutely unable to deal with them. They were extinguished by Turkishsoldiers.

I discussed with Grescovish the danger of fire at the plant of theStandard Oil Company. Although these tanks were located at least acouple of miles from the city, it was obvious that fire and explosionsthere would do terrific damage, and in spite of the depleted personnelof the department and the isolation of the plant which was beyondmunicipal jurisdiction, he set and maintained two men to act as guardsthere.
During Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the Turkish soldiers shotdown many Armenians who they claimed were caught throwing petroleumand starting fires in the Armenian quarters and also around thewarehouses and stations of the Cassabe Railroad. It was on Wednesdaymorning that Grescovish himself found evidence of inciendarism. Hetold me that early that morning he had seen two Armenian priestsescorting several thousand men, women and children from the Armenianschools and Dominican Churches where they had taken refuge down to thequays. When he presently went in to these institutions he foundpetroleum-soaked refuse ready for the torch.

The chief told me, and there is no doubt that he was sure of it, thathis own fireman, as well as Turkish guards, had shot down manyArmenian young men disguised either as women or as Turkish irregularsoldiers, who were caught setting fires during Tuesday night andWednesday morning. Turkish soldiers, armed with rifles and machineguns, were guarding every street in the Armenian quarter, and everyman, woman and child who was in this section of the city as late asmid-afternoon on Wednesday, was either burned alive or shot down whileattempting to escape.

At 11:20 Wednesday morning, at least half a dozen fires were reportedalmost simultaneously around the freight terminal ware houses and thepassenger station of the Aldine Railroad.
It is noteworthy that these fires broke out in buildings which weregreatly to the advantage of the Turks to preserve and equally to theadvantage of the enemies to destroy.

At 12:00 o'clock five fires were reported around the Armenianhospital, then occupied by the Turks. At about the same time, twofires were reported at the Armenian club, and a few minutes laterseveral fires started simultaneously around the Cassabe Railroad.
Shortly after noon Grescovish, convinced that the city was doomed,again went to the military authorities to ask for help and again itwas not forthcoming. It was not until six o'clock in the evening thathe was given a company of 100 soldiers to serve under his directionand it was eight o'clock at night before the soldiers begandestruction of buildings by bombs, in order to check the spread of thefire.

A Southeast Café Fans the Flames.
Early in the afternoon, I was at the headquarter of Kaizim Pasha,Turkish Military Governor of the district, and from his window I couldsee smoke from several fires in various parts of the city. I calledhis attention to this, but he assured me they were of no consequence.He said he had been worried about the possibility of conflagration,and that his soldiers had received instruction to prevent it. When Ileft him I made an appointment to return at five o'clock thatafternoon but the fire had spread so rapidly, the people had beendriven from their homes down to the quay in such numbers and the panicwas so great, that I found it impossible to reach his headquarters tokeep the appointment.

During the afternoon the wind began to rise and blow from thesouthwest, which I was told was most unusual at that season of theyear, and by night a perfect gale was blowing. People who lived inSmyrna many years all told me they had never known a wind of suchviolence, during the summer months. Dense smoke and sparks blownacross the decks of the U.S. Destroyer Litchfield, which aftermid-night was anchored 760 yards off shore.

It was not until three days later that I saw Grescovish again. He toldme he had had no sleep for five days and nights and he looked thepart. Not only was he physically exhausted, but his emotions had beenso wrought upon by the sights he had seen, that he begged to beexcused from talking over details. Realizing, however, that this wasthe time to get the truth, I pressed him for information, and he wentover in chronological order the history of the fire. On that, and onseveral succeeding days, we explored the greater part of the burnedarea of the city, and I made notes of the most of the most importantthings he told me. Later when Lloyd's men came to ascertain the extentof the damage, he refused to make any statement at all.

During several weeks after the fire I had an opportunity to talk withmany Turkish commanders, and they were all of the mind in levelingeither bitter or philosophical accusations at their enemies fordestroying the city. They were contemptuous of the suggestion, made ina few quarters, that they had any responsibility for the burning.

"Why should we burn the city?" they would ask. "Smyrna, with all itswealth and treasure, was ours. The fleeing Greek army had abandonedhuge quantities of military stores and food supplies that weredesperately needed by our armies and civilians. These have beendestroyed, together with the ware houses and stations where many ofthe fires broke out. Besides, the fleeing Greeks and Armenians, manyof them wealthy as you know, had abandoned everything in their homesand their stores. We were in absolute and undisputed possession. Doyou think we are such fools as to have destroyed everything?"

My attention has been called to many statements published broadcast inthis country to the fact that Turks were seen pouring petroleum aroundthe American Consulate. I was in the vicinity of the Consulate most ofthe time and I saw no petroleum.

It is a fact worthy of the attention of the honest historian that veryfew people in Smyrna at the time of the fire, or during the succeedingweeks believed that the Turks were responsible for it. That the Turks were grossly and criminally negligent in the matter of ordinary precautions against an outbreak of fire, we all realized, and that they were tragically inefficient in fighting the fire was obvious to us all,
but I have been unable to find evidence that either Turkishs oldiers or Turkish civilians deliberately fired the city or wishedfor its destruction. The evidence all points in another direction.

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