The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-09-23
THE OTTOMAN BANK RAID.

facts with authority, having obtained them from one of those who were inn prisoned in the bank and were in con stant intercourse with the leaders of the Armenian revolutionaries. TO quote the words of my informant:
 "At 1:30 D. m half dozen shots were | fired in the hall of the bank, and, rush | ing out to the gallery which runs round each floor of the bank and looks down | into the ground floor, saw confused
 mass of men wildly firing revolvers in every direction My first impression
 was that a general massacre of Chris tians was taking place, but<I soon req | lized that this was not the case, as the
 men in possession of the bank were | firing their revolvers toward the en-
 trance of the bank, and evidently de | lending the staircase. My second 1m- pression was that robbery was the ob- | ject of the attack, but when l saw a man dressed in a frock coat and hav- | ing a small leather bag slung over his | shoulder suddenly go to canvas bag | lying near the counter and empty 1t of l a quantity of round balls of different
 sizes and cap them admit that was | fairly puzzled. When half dozen of 1 these balls had been capped the chief l distributed them to his men, and mo- ment after one was thrown out of a window into the street and exploded with a terrific roar.
 Watching their proceedings, l saw one of the insurgents lift up large | bomb, but, through carelessness or in | the act of throwing it, the bomb dropped out of his hand. and q second after a terrific explosion took place, | shaking the very foundations of the | bank, and I saw four of the insurgents
 blown up in different directions It was sickening practical illustration | of the saying Hoist with his own pe | tard.' I still marvel that more of the | insurgents were not killed and that the fragments of the bomb did not cause others to explode For ten minutes or
 more after this the firing of revolvers
 and rifles and the exploding of bombs
 was incessant. The panic in the bank
 was great, but after the first volley all | lay down out of the line of fire from | outside and awaited developments in a
 more or less resigned frame of mind.
 Directly after the first yolley of shots | I saw two men rushing up the stairs armed with revolvers in one hand and
 bomb in the other Seeing this seye-
 ral of the employees ran up and out on
 to the terrace of the bank and from
 thence into the Reggie building adjoin- ing, from which they eventually es- capped. As I moved forward along the
 gallery the two men appeared at the
 head of the stairs and called out to me
 in Turkish to stop. I did so, and
 asked in the same language what they
 wanted and why they were attacking
 us. They replied that the employees of
 the bank were not being attacked, and
 that no one would be hurt if we kept
 quiet. Their object, they said, was po-
 litical, and they were fighting for the
 Armenian cause. These men then went
 on to the roof of the bank, followed by
 others carrying bombs, and the exit
 through the Reggie was held by the in-
 surgents. I afterwards heard that they
 parleyed with the officials of the Reggie
 and threatened that if soldiers were ad-
 mitted they would blow the place up
 and so demanded that one of their men
 who had been seized by Mir. Reeves, one
 of the directors of the bank, and others
 should be released, which was done.
 By this time the insurgents had
 complete possession of the bank and
 had strategically placed themselves al several important points with a smal
 pile of bombs. The two chiefs in com. mand went from point to point giving |, ot,- 1 , assuring the bank employees. In tht , meanwhile steady firing was kept LII
 on all the windows Of the bank by tho
 soldiers outside, who did not stop tC
 consider whether insurgents or banl
 officials were being fired upon. It wa
 due to this that five clerks were wound ed slightly and one servant killed Looking out of a window, l saw { squad of police pouring in volleys, bu was soon perceived and greeted with {
 shower of bullets. After this warm re ception from so-called friends I tool l great care not to appear at any window
 and prevented any one from showing himself. It was with the greatest diff
 culty that Mir. Auboyneau, director 0 | the bank, succeeded in making hinsel t recognized by the soldiery, and he wa , several times fired at while endeavor . ing to communicate with the authori
 ties outside. Finally a letter was writ f ten by Adil Bey, a secretary at the i'm perial palace, who happened to be il a the bank at the time it was attacked , This letter, which asked the command
 CT of the troops to allow himself ant one of the directors to come out by : window and proceed to Yildiz Palace was let down by a string with the per . mission of the insurgents. Even thel r no one would approach to take the let
 ter for fear of treachery on the part 0
 the Armenian revolutionaries. Flo quent pleading on the part of one of tn
 dragomans of the bank eventually sue l ceeded. An hour afterwards a sigma : was given and we hauled up a lette from the commander of the troops giv
 ing permission to two people to com I out with a flag of truce.
 5 ''The leaders of the Armenians thel stated their case to Mir. Auboyneau an
 Adil Bey. They declared that the. would in no circumstances give up tn . bany or the clerks until their demand