The Times of Thursday publishes an extraordinarily in- teresting narrative
of the raid on the Ottoman Bank. The narrator, an employe of the bank, was an eye-witness of the whole transaction. Hearing the sound of firing he ran into a balcony which looks into the central hall of the bank, and there saw a mass of men wildly firing revolvers in every
direction. Among them was a man in a frock-coat with a leather bag strung over his shoulder. He took out of a canvas bag near the counter a number of round balls, put caps on them, and then distributed them to his men. A moment after one was thrown into the street. Soon it became evident that the insurgents had got possession of the bank, had barricaded the doors with bags of silver dollars, and were holding it against the soldiers, who poured in volleys from outside. Ultimately, however, a sort of truce was pro- claimed while one of the captives was sent as an envoy to the Sultan's Palace with the terms proposed by the Armenians. They claimed the liberty of all Armenians without conditions, the release of all Armenian prisoners. and their own pardon. If these demands were not granted within two days they would blow up the bank and all in it. After several hours Sir Riga'. Vincent, "who had with great presence of mind escaped" when the bank was attacked, came to treat with the insurgents, accompanied by Mr. Maximoff, the Dragoman of the Russian Embassy. The negotiations were conducted by the Armenians with "revolvers in one hand and bombs in the other." At first the insurgents held out for their full demands, but "Mr. Maximoff then made a most stirring and eloquent speech promising nothing but their lives, although appearing to grant everything. As to their threat of blowing up the bank and thereby murdering a hundred odd innocent people, such action could not further their cause, but would, on the contrary, alienate the sympathy of all Europe. Moreover, they had no right to sacrifice their own lives, since they had proved themselves clever, able men, whose loss would be irreparable for their countrymen." After three hours' parley, Mr. Maximoff 's eloquence prevailed, and the insurgents proceeded with all the honours of war to Sir Edgar Vincent's yacht.
