Upon receipt of Dr. Reynolds’ paper I called on Mr. Wyndham, Her Majesty’s
chargé d’affaires, gave him the account to read, and, there being no
American consul in the region, solicited the kind offices of the British
consul nearest the locality of the occurrence. He replied in a note of which
a copy is inclosed. From personal acquaintance with Mr. Everett, the
official referred to by Mr. Wyndham, I am confident he will act in the
affair with judgment and energy, and look forward to his official report as
the best ground to determine the redress to be demanded in the cases.
Finding that some time must elapse before Mr. Everett can reach the locality
and make investigation, I addressed a note upon the subject to the Sublime
Porte, of which a copy is also inclosed. It is scarcely to be doubted that
orders have been issued by the minister of foreign affairs for vigorous
action against the robbers. Should I be mistaken in that it will not be long
until I am so informed.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 234.]
Mr. Reynolds to Mr.
Wallace.
Dear Sir: When I had the pleasure, in company
with Mr. Williams and others, of calling on you last summer, I told you
I wanted you to have a realizing sense that there were American citizens
residing in the far interior of the Empire who might some time have
occasion to claim your protection. I little thought then, however, that
I should have occasion to report such an occurrence as that which I now
seat myself to tell you of.
Seven years ago, in the attempt to secure the co-operation of the people
in our work, we organized a Domestic Missionary Society, which holds its
annual meeting in the spring. This year the meeting was appointed at a
village near Moosh. Before leaving Van, to attend this meeting, I called
upon our vali and asked for a road bouralty, and we agreed in the opinion that a zaptieh was unnecessary. On reaching Bitlis, with
Mr. Knapp, I called on the Bitlis vali, and we
informed him we were going to start for Moosh the following day. As the
road lies across the Moosh plain, where villages are frequent, we are
not accustomed to take a zaptieh, and the t?aii
jnade no suggestion of any necessity of doing so now.
Our journey to Moosh was without incident, and at noon of Monday, May 21,
we started on our return. Seven hours brought us to our night’s
resting-place at the village of Ghuorie, where resides a noted Koord,
Mirza Bey by name. We put up at the oda of one of
the four Armenians who reside there. As usual on the advent of a
stranger the villagers crowded into the room, but owing to our fatigue
and the lateness of the hour, we did not feel able to converse with
them, and asked them to withdraw. The majority had done so; and Mr.
Knapp and I had seated ourselves for our supper, when a few more
villagers came in, to whom I noticed the villagers paid some honor; but
we had no idea who they were, and kept on with our meal. Our servant
came and said one of them was Moussa Bey, the son of Mirza; whereupon I
did him the honor to send him a cup of tea, which he declined. You can
judge whether there is any connection between this occurrence and
subsequent events. He may have considered that we did not pay him
sufficient honor.
At 7 o’clock the next morning, May 22, Mr. Knapp and I started on while
the men were tying on the loads, intending to stop and feed our horses
at the next village we were to pass through, an hour and a half distant
(there was another village between, a few minutes from the road), as we
had been unable to secure barley at the village where we had staid. Our
men were delayed to find an umbrella that had disappeared, so that they
were twenty or thirty minutes behind us. The road crosses a spur of the
mountain that juts out into the plain, called the “Arzode Nose,” and as
we began to descend I dismounted and was leading my horse. A few rods
ahead we saw three Koords coming towards us on foot, who attracted our
attention simply by the fact that one was singing in a peculiarly wild
manner. We went on, unsuspicious of danger, and as the singer came up to
me, without a word or a demand, or opportunity for remonstrance, he
began striking me most savagely over the head with his drawn sword, and
kept it up for several seconds. Probably the first blow brought blood,
and the ruddy fluid was soon streaming clown my face and neck and
[Page 852]
over my clothes, while in the
attempt to ward off the blows or seize the sword my hands were severely
gashed as well. At last he let up, and, with one of his companions,
threw me to the ground and drew off my boots. Then the idea seemed to
occur to them that the place was rather too public, and the two dragged
me to the cover of some bushes a little way off. Simultaneously with
these events another of the three, seizing Mr. Knapp, began beating him
over the head with a heavy club, and compelled him to dismount, and then
seized him by the beard and dragged him on, not relaxing his grasp,
though Mr. Knapp at once handed him his watch. After another heavy blow
on the ankle they threw him to the ground also and drew off his boots,
and then dragged him to the bushes.
Here, holding us on the ground and choking us, they rifled our pockets,
partly stripped off our clothes, searched us to the skin for money, and
then tied our eyes, barely allowing me to staunch the blood a little
with the same cloth which was about my eyes. Then they tied our hands
behind us and bound our feet, and after pocketing the plunder left
us.
When the noise had ceased we informed each other by a “hem!” that we were
alive; and as no notice was taken of this, we conversed in a low tone.
Then I began to investigate how securely my hands were tied, having
striven, when the work was done, to get the cord as high up as possible.
It was not long before I had slipped one hand out, and cautiously
uncovering my eyes and finding no one in sight, I untied my feet and
then released Mr. Knapp. Before this our four men had come up and we
could hear their voices, but as they were talking Koordish to some one,
we thought our robbers, with accomplices, were repeating the process
with them, and that our best course was to keep still and afterwards
release them also. When the noise had fully ceased we ventured out from
our concealment and searched among the bushes for our companions, but no
one could be found, and animals that might be ours could be seen in the
distance going towards the next village. So we concluded to follow, and
walked on in our stocking feet the one or one and a half miles to the
village, which is Koordish and named Gotsie. Just before reaching it,
one of our men with a soldier and a villager, on our own horses, met us.
Our man reported that just before reaching the spot where we were
attacked they met two men on our two horses, who reported they had found
the horses loose on the plain and caught them. Somewhat reluctantly they
gave up the horses, and our men were now in search for us. The
appearance I presented on entering the village must have been a striking
one. My face and head rudely swathed in bloody cloths, every visible
inch of skin on face or hands bedaubed with blood, my coat and shirt
already stiff as a board, and my light corduroys sprinkled from top to
bottom with a copious shower of the same fluid. Sitting down under a
shed with a motley, noisy crowd of unsympathetic Koords about me, I
spent an hour or two, with the efficient help of one of my men and my
pocket surgical case, in dressing my own wounds. The most serious was an
ugly gash four or five inches long on the top and back of my head, which
had slightly marked the bone itself, and which bled again very profusely
on being opened. Drawing it together with eight or ten stitches and
applying styptics and pressure, the hemorrhage was with difficulty
arrested. Beside this there were four other considerable gashes on my
head, while a severe blow had nearly severed the end of my nose and
marked my upper lip. A severely blackened eye added to the beauty of my
face. One finger had a long and deep gash to the bone; a corner is gone
from one thumb, and there are three lesser wounds on my hands. After the
dressings were finished we mounted our horses and rode the remaining
eight hours to Mr. Knapp’s house.
The value of property taken from us both will not probably exceed 30 lires or so. It is evident, of course, that such
an occurrence, unless efficiently followed up, will render the position
of all Americans in these parts exceedingly insecure, besides its effect
on the already pitiable condition of native Christians. In this matter
we have as yet no complaints to make against the vali. Even before our letter representing the case had reached
him, he sent the Government physician and a scribe to examine my wounds
and take evidence, sending us word, at the same time, that he had sent
mounted soldiers to find and bring to the city the perpetrators of the
deed and the booty.
I write to you in behalf of Mr. Knapp and myself, that you may have early
knowledge of the facts. Of course you will decide whether any immediate
action on your part is necessary. We will keep you informed how matters
progress here.
Mr. Knapp may probably have informed you of a serious theft perpetrated
by his servant. Proceedings have been instigated before the Government
to recover the money. Whether outside aid will be necessary in this
matter remains to be seen.
Now, Saturday morning, May 26, I will add that aside from the one visit
of physician and scribe mentioned, we have as yet received no
communication from any Government official, nor has the vali or any one else called upon us. We have sent
a telegram to English Consul Eyres, at Erzroom, asking if he can come on
and help us.
Mr. Knapp joins in kind regards to yourself and Mrs. Wallace.
Yours, &c.,
