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TURKEY : THE BLIGHT OF ASIA

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ECHOES FROM SMYRNA

Page 2

The letter referred to as "enclosed" was as follows:

Athens, Greece,
October 12, 1922.

Reverend James L. Barton, D. D., Secretary of the American Board,
14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.

Dear Doctor Barton,

    At a recent station meeting of the Smyrna missionaries now refugees in the city of Athens (numbering fourteen adults) a vote was passed recognizing the exceedingly helpful and sympathetic services of our Consul-General, Doctor Horton, during the days of the late Smyrna tragedy. The vote also expressed the desire that a copy of this letter be sent to the State Department, Washington, D. C., and one also to Doctor Horton himself.

    During those days of Turkish fire, pillage and massacre, which laid the beautiful city of Smyrna in ashes and rendered homeless her Christian population of not less than 500,000 people, including the refugees from the surrounding towns and villages, Doctor Horton passed through more trying, exacting and dangerous experiences than I could imagine any official of the United States Government, doing service abroad, has ever been called upon to undergo.

    Under such circumstances, when our American Consulate was crowded with helpless human beings, all looking to the consul for help and advice, Consul Horton kept cool but never cold. His warm sympathetic heart went out to each sufferer, and aid was extended wherever possible.

    The missionaries are especially grateful for the assistance rendered by Doctor Horton in helping to rescue teachers and pupils from the schools, with the result that not one teacher from the American Girls’ Institute, at Smyrna, is missing; and most of the girls, who were in the burning building, have been saved.

    Since the flight to Athens, Doctor Horton has been most energetic in helping to feed, clothe and house the needy refugees.

    We wish to put on record our appreciation of Doctor Horton’s brave and sympathetic efforts for ourselves, as well as the natives of the city.

    On behalf of the missionaries of Smyrna Station, I remain,

    Very sincerely yours,

    (Signed) "Dana K. Getchell."

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