Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1912 — TURKS OPEN WAR ON FOUR NATIONS [ARTICLE]

TURKS OPEN WAR ON FOUR NATIONS

Porte Begins Hostilities Against Bulgaria and Servia. FIRST NAVAL BATTLE FOUGHT | Thousands of Troops Have Already Been Slain—Governments Will Not Permit Correspondents to Go to Front. London. Oct. 18. —Fighting is general along the whole lengths of the Turko-Bulgarian and Turko-Servian frontiers. Turkish troops are being rushed into action with all possible haste and by the end of the week the war between the Ottoman armies and those of the Balkan dependencies will be on in deadly earnest. Forestalling the expected ultimatums from Bulgaria and Servia the sultan has proclaimed war against those two countries. No declaration has been issued against Greece, but the Turks have crossed the Greek frontier and heavy fighting is reported from the border. Rulers Go to Front. Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria and King Peter of Servia are. en route to their armies’ fronts to take personal command of the campaign. King Nicholas of Montenegro is directing the Montenegrin assault on the city of Scutari, which was bitterly waged with little advantage on either si<ie. Dispatches received here from Constantinople, Cettlnje, Sofia, Podgo ritza, Belgrade and Athens show collectively that the martial uprising is general.

Thousands of troops have already been slain, but exact estimates are lacking, owing to the refusal of the governments to allow the war correspondents to go to the front. i Naval Battle Fought. The first naval engagement was fought Thursday, Greek warships attacking a small Turkish fleet at the entrance to the Gulf of Arta. The Greek fleet also sailed for the Gulf of Sparta. Turkish ships are threatening a - bombardment of Bulgarian ports on I the Black sea. The fighting between the Turks and Serbs centered at Nish and the heaviest fighting between Turks and Bidgars was done in the vicinity of Djumbala. A strong force of the sultan’s Albanian troops attacked the Servians at Prijepolje, but were repulsed with losses of 250 killed and 100 wounded. Briton Fleet Is Active. The British admiralty has ordered

eight additional battleships held in readiness for duty in Turkish waters. The North sea fleet has been coaling and otherwise preparing for an emergency call for the past two days. Roumania, through its minister at Sofia, has demanded the immediate release of the Roumanian steamship Princess Marie, which is being detained by the Bulgarian authorities because it has Turkish refugees aboard. The vessel is held at the Black sea port of Varna. The Servian and Bulgarian ministers have left Constantinople. A dispatch from Algiers states that the steamer Macedonia, carrying Greek, Bulgarian and Servian reservists who are returning from America to join their regiments, has reached that port. She will be convoyed during the remainder of her trip by four Greek destroyers.