Armenia and its sorrows

114 ARMENIA AND ITS SORROWS
seems to have been to lodge dynamite in the cellars
of the Ottoman Bank, occupy the building by force,
and then threaten to blow up the entire premises
unless they received a promise that the needed
reforms should be carried out.
Accordingly, about noon on the following day,
some twenty-five members of the society, at a given
signal, rushed into the bank, revolvers were fired, and
three or four bombs were thrown and exploded in the
vestibule, shattering all the glass, while others were
thrown into the street.
The panic-stricken officials rushed upstairs, leaving
some £10,000 at the mercy of the invaders, who
touched not a farthing of it, but subsequently helped
the cashier to lock it up in safety. For the remainder
of the day, the employes of the Bank were held as
hostages, while Sir Edgar Vincent and M. Maximotf,
chief dragoman to the Russian Embassy, went to
Yildiz to endeavour to make such arrangements with
the authorities as would rid the bank of its unwelcome
visitors. In the meantime the Turkish troof)S surrounded
the premises, and a brisk fusilade was kept
About midnight the negotiators returned to the
bank, and after a long parley it was arranged that
Sir Edgar Vincent and M. Maximoff should guarantee
the safety of the invaders on condition that they
evacuated the bank. The troops then withdrew, the
dynamite was removed, and the demonstrators were
conveyed with an escort of gendarmes on board Sir
E. Vincent's yacht at Kadilcui, whence they sailed to
Marseilles.
So far good, but a terrible tale remains to be told.
In civilised countries it is the practice to punish the
guilty and protect the innocent. But this is not
the way they do things in Turkey. Where " the
Shadow of God " darkens the earth, it is the custom