Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1912 — TURK STRONGHOLDS REPORTED FALLING [ARTICLE]

TURK STRONGHOLDS REPORTED FALLING

Bulgars Have Practically Clear Road to Constantinopte. BATTLE LASTED TWO DAYS Unconfirmed Rumors State That Mar> astir and Adrianople Have Been Taken by Troops of Allies. Constantinople, Nov. B.—Turkey has bowed humiliatingly before the world. The cabinet, after a long conference, decided to accept the offer of the great powers to arrange an armistice with the Balkan allies and to abide by whatever conditions are imposed. This decision means that the Turks admit defeat. They now depend on the powers to procure the ebst terms possible from the unrelenting Balkans. London. Nov. 8. —The Turks have been driven in disorder from the Tchatalja forts and the Bulgarians now have practically a clear road into Constantinople. Sofia dispatches convey this history-making news. Some of the most severe fighting of the war attended this final defeat of- the Turkish troops. The battle lasted for two days. A hand to hand struggle ensued before the Bulgarians beat down the desperate defenders and poured in through breaches in the defense made by their artillery. Turks Are in Retreat. Then the Turks broke and fled. They are now reported to be in confused and disorganized retreat upon the capital. Panic has broken out in Constantinople. At the demand of the foreign ambassadors entrenchments are being thrown up at San Stefano and Klatkane to check the mob of soldiers who are fleeing toward the city. So threatening has the situation become that the powers are considering the advisability of forcing the Dardanelles with their waiting fleets so that the 6,000 men on these ships will be available for landing when the expected sacking of the city be gins. In this event reinforcements from the Russian fleet in the Black i sea will also be called upon to assist in saving life and property. Before the Bulgarians forced ths Tchatalja forts half a dozen villages in the vicinity of this last line ol defense were occupied by them. Moslems Fight Furiously, The dispatches say that the Turks fought with fanatical fury as if ths eye of Allah was upon them in theii last defense of holy city of Mo hammed. Acts of unparalleled brav ery were displayed op both sides. Ths Bulgarians are repeatedly forced back by the army which had already suf sered a series of brushing defeats The losses sustained by both armidt will amount into the Sunday next Is now fixed as the day for the entry of the Bulgaria! conqueror into Constantinople. A service of thanksgiving in the Mosque of St. Sophia is planned to commem orate the event. It is officially announced from Sofia also that the Turkish port of Rodosto. on the Sea of Marmora, and the city of Visa to the southeast of Adrianople, were occupied by the Bulgarian troops on November 5. On that date also the Bulgarians occupied the town of Drama, the Turkish troops in that region being scattered in all directions. There is confirmation, too, of the occupation of the Turkish town of Alessio and the port of San Giovanni

dl Madua on the Adriatic sea. Monastir, also, where Fethl Pasha has a large Turkish army under him, is said to have been occupied by the allied Balkan troops, but the report lacks confirmation. * The Daily Mail prints the following dispatch from its special correspondent at Bucharest: “I have just arrived from Sofia. I have grounds for believing that Adrianople has fallen, but the Bulgarians are concealing the fact, lest the powers, realizing decisive point had been reached, should intervene before the capture of Constantinople; "Extraordinary efforts have been made since Monday to prevent news from getting out. Nothing has issued from Sofia except base banalities and the censorship has been extended to letters.” Taft Appeals for Aid. Washington, Nov. 8. —President Taft and the International relief board of the Red Cross society have issued an appeal lipboring the American people to aid the sick and w’ounded soldiers of the Balkan war. Contributions should be sent to the American Red Cross, Washington; to Jacob H. Schiff, Red Cross Office, United Charities building, New York City, or any other Red Cross treasurer.