Mr. Pratt to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Teheran
,
May 26, 1890.
(Received July 2.)
No. 457.]
Sir: In continuation of my dispatch No. 456 of the
24th instant, concerning the stabbing of Mrs. Wright, at Salmas, I have the
honor to report that the same night I received a telegram from His
Excellency the Emir Nizam, governor of the province of Azerbaijan, to His
Highness the Eminé Soultan, prime minister, from which, as you will note by
the inclosed translation, it appears that the criminal in this affair has
been arrested in Turkish territory, where he had taken refuge, and that he
is now safely imprisoned in Salmas.
This morning I was handed a telegram from Colonel Stewart, the English
consul-general at Tabreez, to Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, the British minister
here, briefly confirming the above, a copy of which is also inclosed
herewith.
In the same connection I beg to submit the accompanying copy of a letter to
Miss Holliday (missionary at Tabreez) from Miss Van Duzse (missionary at
Salmas), which the Rev. J. L. Potter, of this city, has just laid before
me.
Improper intimacy seems to have been the remote, and revenge the Immediate,
incentive to this crime. Thanks to Heaven, the unfortunate victim, whose
life was at first despaired of, has thus far so rallied from the effects of
the murderous assault made upon her that she is now believed to be out of
danger.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 457.]
Emir Nizam to
Eminé Soultan.
The (would-be) assassin of the wife of Mr. Wright, an American citizen,
was a certain Minas, one of the leaders of the Armenian faith at Salmas.
After wounding the lady he fled into Turkish territory. I sent a special
envoy and wrote to our own deputy at Bârh Kalēh that he should search
for him and send him back. The aforementioned deputy, having taken the
necessary steps, sent the prisoner back under guard, and now he is in
prison in Salmas, and, after investigation, an arrangement satisfactory
to Mr. and Mrs. Wright will be effected.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 457].
Colonel Stewart to
Sir H. D. Wolff.
The Armenian who wounded Mrs. Wright has been seized and imprisoned by
the governor of Salmas. The lady is a little better.
[Inclosure 3 in No. 457.]
Miss Van Duzse to
Miss Holliday.
Dear Miss Holliday: As I have still a little
time, I want to tell you about Mrs. Wright.
Minas, a school-teacher from Ooroomeeyah, half Armenian, tried to kill
her, and Wednesday night, the first after the affair, we thought she
would die.
He has been teaching in Oola and stayed at first in their yard, in a
lower room, but he and their woman were together too much, and the
Wrights sent him to stay in the [Page 661] schoolroom, where Tartan, your Armenian teacher, stayed. He still
insisted on being with her a great deal. Finally, Mrs. Wright found, one
night at 11 o’clock, after they were all in bed, that she was not with
the baby in the sitting room, where she slept, and on hunting she came
from the yard, and Mrs. W. soon saw him pass under the window to go
home. She spoke to him.
The next afternoon the gentlemen turned him off, and when Mr. Wright went
into another room to get his half-mouth’s pay he was left alone in the
room with Mrs. W. and her brother’s wife. They are here visiting. He
drew a dagger from his sleeve and tried to cut her throat, and made a
cut just the under side of the chin, another one on one side of the jaw,
and a cut or stab about 3 inches long on her left shoulder (this was 2
inches or more deep), also a stab nearly 10 inches long on the left
shoulder behind, which seems to have pierced the lung, for she raises a
trifle of blood. Also, her right hand has two large cuts.
Mr. Mechlin sewed up the wounds, and she had the best care we could give
her till, just 2 days after the accident, the doctor (Dr. Samuels) came.
That was yesterday afternoon. She is, or seems to be, doing well, and we
hope there is now no danger. Minas is only about 20 years old, a gentle,
nice-appearing follow. Helms fled. The consul’s coming is timely, for
the governor does not seem disposed to do much.
Yours, etc.,
