The morning call., 1890-12-21
WAYS OF COURTS
in TURKEY.
Sentencing a Prisoner Lest He
May Turn Out to Be Guilty.
Some Of the Curious Trials That Have Been
Held in Criminal Courts in Connection
With Armenian Troubles.

IAN Turkey they have very peculiar way
H. OF dealing With people who are suspected
II Of conspiring against the Government.
and the manner in which suspects are ham
died is described by correspondent in
recent letter to the New York Tribune,
The reason why foreigners, says the writer,
who resides in Turkey. cling to the privi-
leges of territoriality is obscure to
many. 1t is put in clear light by the re-
cent experiences of Mr.. e., an Armenian
naturalized American citizen residing here.
The police discovered that Mr.. G. had made
Tor himself drawing of the sword and
crown of the Knights Templar, with the
motto OF the order in Armenian Both
swords and crowns, as emblems, are viewed.
and perhaps with reason, as suspicious OBJ
Je:ts in these days. From the discovery of
this drawing to the charge that Mr.. G. had
engraved a seal for the Armenian Insurrec-
tionarv Committee was but step; and the
order went forth for the arrest Of this dan
gerOus character. Current theories of JUS
tice require the manner of arrest to shadow
forth the approach of punishment But an
Amer lean, especially if he is college
graduate. like Mr.. G., has an intuitive re-
pugnance to being treated like criminal at
the whm of a blunderhead. Hence he pre-
fers to have his arrest, if arrested he must
be, supervised by an American official, who
VIII at least keep him from being punished
before he is guilty.
IN THIS CASE
The police did not care 10 observe the forms
prescribed by law. They went to Mr.. G.'s
mouse IN the night, marched him through
the streets without proper clothing, handed
him from police station to police station as
II he had been document going through
the circomlocution Office to be registered
and docketed at each step of the regular red
tape channel of progress, and at length,
after having walked him over several miles
OF rough and muddy streets, they dropped
him, to wish for the day, in an unsayOry
military prison whose fittings emulate those
OF Bunyan's Doubling Castle. In the morn
ing some one had the sense to see that this
arrest OF an American citizen without legal
warrant might have serious sequel, and,
turning Mr.. II. into the street, told him to
go home. Minister Hirsch promptly de-
manded redress for this outrage and after a
somewhat warm discussion brought the Sub
lime Forte to see the wisdom of settling the
case. The Porte at length n ade written
apology. offered assurances that the thing
Should not occur again, and declared that
the officials guilty of the violation of the
Americans domicile had been punished.
PREPARATION TO THE VICTIM
Himself for damage to feelings or to health
through such an experience is an idea
tor which nature has made no provision in
the mind of the Turk.
Some curious trials have been held in the
Superior Criminal Court here in connection
with the Armenian disturbances. Four men
have been condemned to death for engaging
In the attempt to set up an Armenian prin-
cipaiity and for undertaking to kill all op-
ponentS to their precious scheme. Except in
the case of one of these, the man who fired
t oil a priest in church. and perhaps in
cessory, the evidence given in court
is circumstantial rather than direct.
A dozen or so of Armenians have
been condemned to various terms of i'm
prisonment on the same kind of evidence.
The testimony against one was that of
policeman, who said that the prisoner
threw away packet of papers when ar
rested. A packet of seditiouS papers was
produced in court, but unhappily the man
who found them was not the one who saw
the prisoner throw something away, and no
one could swear that they had ever been in
the hands of the accused, who was an
illiterats man. He was
CONDEMNED ON THE THEORY
That as the papers had been found in a rub
Dish heap near where he was arrested, he
must have put them there. Another man
was condemned because the words, Judas
has got his deserts" were found in letter
in his possession. He had gone to visit
friend in prison. At the gate of the prison
he was required to give up his private pa
pers for examination. He handed over
this letter among others, and went into
the the prison son, When I he came out the
must be detained for examination, and then
he tried to destroy it. In court lie declared
that his reason for trying to swallow the
letter was that itwould compromise young
woman. The phraseoogy of the restored
fragments of the letter did not suggest
love-letter, but they were no more applica-
Bile to revolutionary enterprise than to
anything else. The word JUDAS" the
court decided, must apply to some traitor to
benefit of their doubts after the Eastern
fashion-that is, by sending him up for five
years, lest he should not be innocent. In
another case, which is still pending the
sole evidence against two men is that they
were found
IN POSSESSION OF TICKETS
For wrestling match at five piastres
apiece. 1t was the theory of the prOsecu-
ton that the wrestling match, with pictures
OF two athletes on the ticket, was cover
to conceal the collection of funds for a more
serious struggle in Armenia. In this case
the court had the grace to admit that the
tickets did not prove the prisoners to be
revolutiOnists. and so it sent them back to
prison TO enable the police to try to find
some other evidence against Them How
ever much the Armenians may be abused
by the Turks and worthy Of sympathy
for their sufferings, there is no sense
In their getting up an instruction in
favor of Armenia" There is no spot in
Turkey ten miles square where Armenians
compose majority of the population and
might, therefore. claim a right to rule The
men who have led in the movement to set
up an Armenian Government deserve short
shrift under such circumstances. But at the
same time the proceedings in the Turkish
court here leave in the mind the impression
that the real criminals have not been
caught. and that an example is being made
of men possibly innocent of any connection
with the scheme, merely because examples
are useful.