Omaha daily bee., 1895-12-05
KEPT UP THE AGITATION.

1.-THE repetition OF the shots by the Ar.
menian conspirators and the non-arrest OF
one of their number and his accomplice had
the effect Of keeping up public agitation Or
the other hand, the lack of confidence in tbs
authorities and in the Mussulman population
which was exhibited by the Armenians, who
no longer opened their shops, necessarily
greatly accentuated the existing feeling.
In view of this critical situation, a certain
Father Mesrob, at, the time acting repre-.
sentative of the Armenian bishop Of Trebi
zonde, and also the most prominent citizens
Of the city were summoned to the govern
,, ment house to meeting, but only the bsh
ops representative and one merchant, Ger.
tain Mahouhan, answered the summons and
presented themselves. They were implored
to exert all their influence to prevent the
repetition Of such scenes, and were also re-
quired to state where the two accused were
in hiding, the arrest Of whom would aid in
restoring tranquility. In reply to these ex.
hortations, however, the merchant declared
that he had never interfered, and never
would interfere, in the affairs of the COM
munity, and the priest replied on his side
that he did not know the accused, and that
judging from what he had heard, 1t would
appear that the two pashas had been wounded
by soldier, and that Rhami Effendi had
been killed by Mussulman, and he added
that 1t would be well to arrest the real GRIM
inals and allow the arrested Armenians their
liberty.
EFFORTS TO QUIET THE EXCITEMENT.
at was observed to them that both Of
the cases were of public notoriety and, in
deed, the accused had been seen in the
act. The first incident had occurred in day
light and had been witnessed by number
of persons, and that as for HHtchik he had
not yet been arrested and yet inhabited the
city itself. 1t was. therefore, most improper
that they should simulate ignorance and
take the part of the criminals, and Father
Mesrob and the merchant were therefore
again exhorted to head the counsels of the
authorities and to summon the more prom
inent citizens to meet at their house to
discuss the situation and also to reveal
the hiding place Of the fugtives and thereby
aid the authorities in calming the existing
excitement.
These two incidents having been fol-
lowed by the news of the riots in Con-
stantinople, brought about by some Ar
menian vagabonds, the public excitement be-
came greater than ever; every one became
alarmed and the Armenians began to walk
around armed to the teeth and not to open
their stores. AS. since the day on which the
hrst incident occurred, the Armenians of
the neghboring villages had commenced to
swarm IN the city. the governor general.
wishing to prevent IL possible bloody riots,
proceeded on the morning of Tuesday, the
9Th of October. accompanied by the presl-
dent of the municipality, to the market
square and there in one of the principal
stores assembled large number of prom
inent citizens. both Mussulmans and Chris
tlans They were asked not to cause trouble
and to help quiet the people.
1T was precisely at this moment, however,
mat shots were heard in the direction of
the Chariks' quarters; 1t was then about
1880 o'clock. Owing to the existing con-
fusion 1t was impossible to tell on which side
'he prawi began. In, truth, it seemed that