The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-05-05
THE MURDERED RULER.
His Death the Result of Long
Planned Conspiracy.
oONoOoTED IN OONsTANTINoPLB

The Assassin Had Been Twice sent to
Prison for Treason, but Each Time Wa,
Pardoned by the Dead Monarch-Had
Intended TO Commit Suicide.
TEHERAN, May bit has been definitely
ascertained that the assassin of the shah
OF Persia, Nasr- Ed Din, who was shot near
the heart during the afternoon of Friday
last while entering the inner part of the
shrine OF Shah Abdul Azin, is Mollah
Heza, a follower Of the agitator, Sheikh
Jem Aleddin, who was exiled in 1891, after
having been convicted of high treason.
Later Reza was also imprisoned for trea-
son, but subsequently he was liberated.
After his release from prison he continued
his attacks upon the government, and
when warned that he would again be ar.
rested he suddenly left this city. He was
next heard Of at Constantinople by a DO
lice report sent here, and instructions were
telegraphed to that city to have the Per
sian agitator closely watched. Additional
reports from Constantinople advised the
government here that Reza was corre-
spending with Sheikh Jem Aleddin. There
the plans for the assassination of the shah
are believed to have been laid.
About two months ago Reza quietly left
Constantinople and for some time all
trace of him was lost. But recently his
presence here has been known to the police
authorities, and they are now blamed for
not having caused his arrest. They excuse
themselves on the ground that the late
shah's clemency to the assassin was exer-
cised under the belief, founded on the re-
ports of physicians, that Reza was of un-
sound mind.
Since his arrest Reza has been closely
questioned by the judicial authorities. At
first he professed to have acted entirely of
his own accord and in the interests of his
people, to whom, he declared reforms to
which they were justly entitled had been
refused. Later, however, the prisoner
confessed that the assassination of the
shah was the outcome of a deliberately
and long planned conspiracy, and that he
(Reza) was chosen to do the deed He
added that he waited two months for a
favorable chance to shoot the shah, which
confirms the authorities in the belief that
the conspiracy was Matched in Constants
nople, as it is about two months since
Reza left that city for Teheran.
The assassin has also admitted that
upon many occasions he had succeeded in
approaching tne late shah under various
DISCUSSES, but it was not until Friday last,
in the mosque of Shah Abdul Azin, that
he got near enough to fire the fatal shot
The murderer is believed to have a num-
Der of accomplices. He has already adj
mitted that eight persons were in the con-
spiracy. Two of them, who have been ar
rested, are the prisoners nieces They are
both domestics, employed until made pris-
oners in the harem of the shah Reza has
confessed that the girls kept the oonspira-
tors informed regarding the movements of
the shah.
Finally Reza informed the authorities
that he intended to commit suicide by
blowing out his brains as soon as he was
certain that he had killed the shah, but,
he added, he was seized and disarmed be-
fore he could carry out his intentions.