| Show affray in the church of the holy sepulchre at jerusalem A letter from jerusalem dated april 27 and published in the universe says the mic ceremony of distributing the sacred fire which alva aiva always takes place annually in the church of t the holy sepulchre has this year given rise to a deplorable conflict the greeks greek and the armenians Armen ians it was fixed to come off yesterday and nd by midday mid day a vast number of greeks and armen ians fans had collected in front of the church waiting in for or the uie doors to reopened be opened 1 A body of turkish hol gol soldiers diers were drawn up in front or of the edifice and others were stationed at the different entrances to preserve order when the doors were opened the people poured into the vast building with great tumult and then an ar extraordinary spectacle presented pres presented entea itself women with children in their arms collected in the side chapels and began chattering loudly groups of boys romped and laughed a band of wild looking peasants hurried to and fro uttering tittering savage yells arab women I 1 enveloped in their veils exten extended ed themselves at full length in recesses hero here and there decking themselves with jewelry some beggars impudently demanded charity in the name of christ and of the virgin and wealthy who had strolled in with curio curlo curiosity elty eity looked at the scene with contempt whilst a number of roman catholic women collected in a side chafel chapel and Prote protestants stants thundered at the doors 0 01 the vestry to obtain admission to the galleries for their wives and daughtery daughters after this scene had lasted for some bome time a number of mischievous boys boya began dancing round the tha tomb of the savior and in this they were soon joined by men of the greek and armenian persuasions the dancers many of whom carried yellow soon boon began to indulge in buffoonery and even in indecent gestures anti antl then shouts of laughter arose accompanied by loud lond cries and clapping of hands presently the pasha governor of the city ciby arrived wit with a a splendid suite and took hi his place on an estrade bap sap supplied plied piled with wilh cushions bi in the principal gallery A number of turkish soldiers who attended him were then stationed armed with their mus muskets kota kots beneath the grand dome but they thes made no atte attempt ampt to check the profanation which was goin going on at llie ilie he tomb and now the rin ringing ing of a bell indicated that the clergy were ivere crofit robi g in the vestry and that the procession was about allt to set forth presently out came the tho procession headed by the banners of saints and those of the tile panagia agla agia no sooner did the tha people see the banners tin than they rushed to them and it was not without a violent struggle that the bearers prevented re them from being vr ested from their hanh handi I 1 the ilie turkish soldiers by making a liberal use of the butt ends of their muskets succeeded in forming a passage through the crowd and the tile procession swept swea on the clergy chaki chanting psalms and the bishop of fire who aspre spread I 1 na benedictions around being preceded by two acolytes walking 0 backwards and swinging 0 0 incense th the e procession w went ent thrice round the edifice and the greek archbishop of petri petra and the armenian patriarch entered the chapel of the angel to prepare the sacred fire the doors were closed on them and a silken cord passed asted asbed through lb the staples was held at i one ore end en by y a greek and at the other by an armenian I 1 the people now row pressed in tumult towards i the chapel each person anxious to be one of the first to light his wax candles at the sacred fire which was to be presented through 0 two holes in the doors the shouts and cries became truly deafen deafening ingy and the crowd was so compact that a public mountebank actually ran along the peoples heads and shoulders the confusion con fusio was increased by the turkish soldiers havin havlu having been withdrawn to a distance it being contra contrary ry to all rule for them to witness the first appearance of the fire at length two streams of light sight gleamed from the holes in III the doors and in the midst of tremendous excitement the crowd lighted their candles passing passin b the light one to another in III this way in an incredibly short time lights ats spread in all directions and ascended to the the galleries but before ion lon on in the body of the church a tremendous hubbub arose accompanied by savage cries it soon turned out that a conflict had bad arisen between the he greeks and Armenian Arme olans gians sand and that the two parties had come to blows and then a frightful scene presented itself men were knocked down and savagely beaten and trampled on shoes and other missiles were thrown at each others heads the greeks rushing into the vestry armed themselves with the staves of the sacred banners and made arms of them the woodwork of the church was torn down and used as wea weapons and the altar was demolished and ta the fragments were hurled in all directions and the people in the galleries tore down the lamp lamps s and flung them with raga rage on the combatants below the pasha and his men rushed into the midst of the melee and attempted to restore orders order but they were vere pelted belted and struck and the pasha would probably have been seriously injured if he had bad not been dragged away by some somo europeans his soldiers howe however ver vcr by great exertions succeeded after a while in expelling a portion of the infuriated crowd from the sacred edifice the two parties then turned their rage a against ainest the thousands of lamps which decorate the tg facade of the church the greeks smash smashing in those of the armenians Armen ians the armenians Armen ians those of the greeks the turks at length succeeded in completely complete ay clearing 0 the church though the greeks in their th air rage tore up the planks of the galleries and flung them at them with all t their I 1 leir force torce when once the tha people were got out of the church they were easily dispersed dib dis perbel persel it was ascertained on investigation that no one was that about thirty give five greeks and about abdat the same number of armenians Armen ians were more or less injured some sonic having legs or arms broken others eyes scooper scooped out I 1 others wounds from or knives others dreadful bruises ono one poor fellow was trampled on and had hla hia hair and beard set on fire by one orie of the wax candles candies which his assailant carried three or four turkish soldiers and an officer were aiso alao a good deal injured the letter adds that the next day anch excitement cit ement pr prevailed preva availed fled in the city and that an Arm armenian erlian errian woman vroman was stabbed behind by a stiletto as she was going g to the holy sepulchre but that the tho local authorities had hid taken every precaution for the preservation of order The Greeks it ia is stated had spread a report that bat the disgraceful conflict arose in consequence quen n pf af the ther armenians Armen ians having in execution n of or a prearranged pre arjang arranged ed plan wantonly attacked them but bat as the armenians Armen ians are generally generall very peaceable this report was nt credith credit credited 4 L ex |
