volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

284 How the Taxes of Hillah Disappeared.
tax-gatherers to Hillah to collect certain taxes that were
due, and when they arrived there they announced publicly
the reason of their coming, and called upon the people
to pay their taxes in money. The tax-gatherers established
themselves in the courtyard of the Sarayah, with
scribes who had the registers, and a huge iron chest with
several bolts and locks to collect the money in. When
the work was done the great iron chest was bolted and
locked and sealed with several seals, and lifted by many
men, for it weighed several hundredweights, upon a
sort of trolley to be dragged to Baghdad by camels.
When it was sent off a guard of soldiers was dispatched
with it, and it reached Baghdad two days later at sunset.
Soldiers rode out from the city to escort the box
of money across the bridge, and having been brought
over safely, it was taken into the large court of the
Sarayah and deposited there for the night. The guard
at the gate was doubled, and sentries were stationed on
the walls, and every precaution was taken to safeguard
the great iron chest full of money. At daybreak the
following morning the city was thrown into great
excitement by the news that the iron chest had
disappeared during the night. The people in the bazar
received the news with uproarious merriment, and then
ran to the Sarayah to see what they could. The courtyard
was filled with a crowd of angry officials, who were interrogating
and abusing the soldiers who had been posted
to guard the chest, and when the crowd heard the questions
and answers the courtyard rang again and again
with their laughter. The soldiers swore that they had
been awake all night, and that no one entered the
courtyard, but the fact remained that the chest had
disappeared, and neither it nor the money in it was
ever recovered. The police arrested scores of men,
and locked them up in prison, and "searched" many
houses, though they never expected to find the culprits
by these means, but it was an easy way of making a
little money for themselves, for the arrested men bribed
themselves out of prison, and all the owners of the
houses " searched " gave them hakhsMsh. The stealing