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Barbarous acts committed against the Roumanians by Magyar gendarmes.

The arbitrage and illegal acts that we have to suffer from those in power are infinite in number. But none are so revolting to the inmost feelings as the horrible brutalities practised by the Magyar gendarmerie, not only against the Roumanians, but against all those who do not form part of the noble descendants of Arpad and Tuhutum.

The animal nature in man is here too clearly seen. Truly our enemies behave no better than wild beasts.

The institution of the gendarmerie is placed at the discretion of the members of the administration and under the immediate orders of the Home Secretary.

The life and honour of the citizen are in the hands of the gendarme. He is both judge and executioner. In Hungary and in Transylvania, the criminal instruction is not carried on as in civilized countries.

The investigations, the minute cross examinations, the scrupulous research as to the circumstances in which the crime was or was not committed, the motives which led to it, all these considerations which render justice a true benefit to mankind are put on one side! All those suspected, with or without reason, it matters little, are seized by the gendarmes and thrown into prison. The judge — contrary to law — makes his interrogations in the presence of the gendarmes.

The treatment inflicted in prison on the unfortunate delinquents reminds one of the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. To escape from torture, these poor wretches often confess to deeds of which they are entirely innocent.

The gendarmes are not held responsible, thanks to their military organization, and if one dares to complain to their superiors, one may only expect worse treatment.

These men, unworthy even of the name, behave the more barbarously that they themselves are imbued with Magyar fanaticism and feel themselves « members of the dominant nation».

Full of hatred and passion, these gendarmes seize upon the Roumanians, just as the blood-hounds used to seize upon the unfortunate negroes of South America.

Those who write this Reply have more than once had occasion to see how the peasants and Roumanian women are beaten and ill-treated without any other crime being attributed to them than that perhaps of not being of the Mongol race.

This is what strangers write on this subject:

« All means are employed against the non-Magyars.

» It is certain that among the people they have recourse to blows. I, myself, have seen at Deva, in Transylvania, a gendarme strike a poor unfortunate Roumanian woman.

» I have seen at Abrud a man beaten mercilessly by a gendarme, and then loaded with chains. The man refused to own to having stolen a cow from a Jew; being innocent, he would not confess himself guilty.

»In the districts of the Roumanians and the Ruthenes, they send gendarmes who can only speak Hungarian; they call three times to a peasant who is running to stop, and if he does not do so, he is immediately shot .... I, myself, know some gendarmes who, whenever a peasant approaches to speak to them, knock off his hat or throw it upon the ground. »[1]

Within the last few years, the Roumanian mayor of Marisei[2] was the victim of some evildoers. The gendarmes traversed the village and took prisoners 24 persons suspected of having taken part in the crime, and conducted them under escort to Cluj. There these unfortunate individuals were imprisoned and tortured in the most barbarous manner, until the crime being confessed, it was proved that only 14 were guilty; the others had consequently been tortured for no offence whatever.

Shortly after, 22 out of the 24 accused died from the inhuman treatment they had undergone!

In 1886, a considerable embezzlement of gold took place in the mines of Buciumani.[3]The gendarmes invaded the villages, and the system of Inquisition began. Some of the accused were suspended by their feet and beaten by these sbires with cords steeped in salt vinegar. It will be sufficient to add, that amongst these unfortunate prisoners, 4 were tortured to such a degree, that they are now totally incapacitated from gaining their living otherwise than bv begging.

At Criciora,[4] some Roumanian peasants had been brutally beaten. Being innocent, they lodged a complaint with the commandant of the gendarmes; all the satisfaction they received was to be beaten again.

Four individuals of Surducul-Mare[5] were beaten on the soles of their feet until they bled and when the doctor of the prison visited them, he ordered them to be sent home immediately, that they might not die in prison.

In 1891, in the commune of Cherelus,[6] some pigs were stolen. Amongst those suspected, was an honourable man, mayor of the village and churchwarden. They were all «taken to the town hall where the usual torture began, and as the prisoners did not behave absolutely as the gendarmes wished, they were bound with their hands and feet touching each other to some trees; they were then cruelly beaten and left in this position the whole night. In the morning, the four prisoners, amongst whom the mayor, — were forced each to take a dead pig on his shoulders and in this state to walk through the streets of the village, whilst the mayor was obliged to repeat continually: » Until now I was mayor of the village; now I am a thief. » The notary, indignant at this brutality, asked the leader of the gendarmes, in right of what law they committed such arbitrary acts, and received this answer: « What I do, is by the secret orders of my superiors. »

In 1880, the administration of the county of Albe-Inférieure requested the government to send some of the Magyar militia to defend them from the so-called « Roumanian Irridentistes » The government acceded to their demand and sent a battalion of Magyars to the town of Zlatna. A short lime afterwards during the Easter festivities the Magyar soldiers shot three Roumanians for no other motive than because they were angry at the Magyars' having laughed at their traditional festivities. And, instead of punishing the assassins, an action is brought against the Roumanians. Several Magyar witnesses who did not speak Roumanian, and who had taken no part in the massacre were examined; and, after having been kept several months in prison, the Roumanians were at length judged and declared innocent.[7] As to the Magyar assassins, they were left unpunished. Did not count Szechenyi, one of the Magyar celebrities, say that a Magyar ought to be pardoned, even if he had killed his own father?

In the spring of 1886, also on a public holiday, in the commune of Moges, the gendarmes killed 5 Roumanians and ten others. The cause of this barbarity arose from a dispute between the farmer of the royal domain of Bucium and the commune of Mogos. The intervention of the gendarmes was in nowise justifiable as the affair was to be judged by a competent tribunal. Many families were left fatherless; as to the assassins, instead of being punished, they were praised by their superiors at Cluj, for having had the courage to shoot upon a quiet[8] crowd of people who were amusing themselves in the country.

At Feldru, it happened that a priest was appointed, whom the people did not approve of. Although the agents of the government had not the least right to interfere in a purely ecclesiastical affair, yet the gendarmes were sent, who killed qo of the Roumanian peasants.

In 1879, the Roumanian commune of Ooarda-de-sus[9] is the scene of a bloody tragedy. A Jew was desirous of getting some work done, on one of the church Festivals of the Roumanians (the Annunciation). Some young Roumanian fellows looking upon it as an outrage to the faith of their fathers, would not allow him to do so. The Jew gave the alarm, accusing the commune of revolt. Before enquiring as to the truth of the Jew's statement, the government sent the gendarmes to quell the disturbance. On arriving at the commune, these sbires seized upon some young men, took them to an inn, put them in chains, locked them up in a garret, and began to drink. When they had reached a state of intoxication, they began to arrest every one who passed by. Shortly after, the wives and children of those arrested arrived, and petitioned with tears that their husbands and fathers should be set free. For all answer the drunken gendarmes shoot at them. The result of this barbarity is, that one person is killed and 40 are grievously wounded. The affair did not terminate there. On becoming sober the gendarmes seeing so much bloodshed, imagined a way of getting out of the situation they had created themselves. They sent, in haste one of their companions to Alba-Julia to beg for the help of the army against the insurgents, whom they represented as being in a state of rebellion. This infamous lie was only too readily believed and a company of soldiers invaded the commune. The captain — an honest man — convinced of the true state of things, ordered his soldiers back a few hours afterwards. The tribunal, not content with that, continued the inquest, and con-demned 30 Roumanians for the crime of «rebellion». It was only on appeal that it was proved that the assertions of the gendarmes were all nothing but preconcerted lies; — naturally, not a hair was touched of the heads of the gendarmes; as to the Roumanians, it was only after 4 months' imprisonment, that they were set free. [10]

Last year the commandant of the gendarmes of Ludos, ill treated three poor unfortunate Roumanian women of Chimitelsicul-de-Campie, these unhappy creatures found justice nowhere. To prove their accusation, they must first procure a medical certiticale. For this purpose, they went to the Hungarian doctor of Ludos, who refused to examine them. It is true that at the trial, the witnesses gave evidence as to the brutalities to which the women had been subjected; but as neithe the plaintiffs nor the witnesses knew Magyar, the judge drew out the verbal process after his own fashion, and the women got no redress.

The following was written from Caransebes to a Magyar paper of Cluj:

« On the 23^rd of June our town was the theatre of a scene positively inhuman. Two gendarmes driving at full speed along the Orsova road, were dragging behind them attached to the carriage an unfortunate Roumanian peasant. The poor man was obliged to run like a dog for more than five kilometers, until he was so exhausted that he fainted, and in that state they continued to drag him along. »[11]

On the 23^rd of October 1891 a bailiff, accompanied by two gendarmes of Balint, came to an old infirm Roumanian woman, and demanded the payment of 5 florins, which was owing for taxes. The woman in her fright told them that she had paid all. This assertion, which was untrue, put the gendarmes in such a fury that, without making any reply, they knocked the unfortunate woman down and trampled on her so cruelly, that the doctor declares she will never again be able to work.

«This fact, » says the Jewish paper[12] from which we extract this article, « may serve to enlighten the public as to the brutalities committed by the gendarmes towards the country people, »

We have become an object of pity, even to the Jews!

Some money had been stolen during the summer of 1891 in the commune of Poeni.[13] Several men and women suspected of the theft were arrested by the gendarmes and conducted to the preventive prison of the tribunal of Huiedin. Here they suffered the most horrible treatment. Some eye witnesses relate that the prisoners having been gorged with water, were struck on their stomachs until they lost consciousness; some were forced to remain bent double, with the tips of the fingers and toes only touching the ground; others were obliged to strike each other on the head. The women were suspended by their hair and then whipped. One of these poor creatures was found hanged in her prison; another, who was in the family way, miscarried; a third became so, seriously ill that she died. And it was only after several weeks of unheard of sufferings, that the others were delivered from the hands of their tormentors.

These are the acts in all their hideous nakedness, of those who would civilize the East!