The Times' narrator conveys a vivid impression of courage and
devotion to the cause on the part of the insurgents, who, it is incidentally remarked, "all carried morphine." This is his account of their arrangements :—In the base- ment were two men armed with revolvers and "standing by a quantity of dynamite placed most scientifically, and ready to explode it at a given signal." On the ground floor, ten men, of whom three were wounded, guarded the entrance, which they had barricaded with bags of dollars. "Here also were piled bombs and dynamite, placed under the supporting pillars of the bank. On the first floor they had four men with bombs and dynamite. On the second floor were two men guarding the staff of the bank. On the third floor and on the roof communicating with the Regie were five men, of whom two were wounded, armed with revolvers, a large pile of bombs, and a quantity of dynamite. Besides the above there were three chiefs, who communicated with each other and with their men by means of whistles." The courage and indifference to death and pain shown by the Armenians seem to have been extremely great. One of them had a wound in the chest and on the cheek, and on being asked whether his injuries were serious he placed his fingers on his wounds and, smearing them with blood, put them in his month and exclaimed, "All this is honey, and it is my cause that has done this miracle." Clearly the men who acted thus were not mere hired bravoes. Two of the leaders were apparently Russian Armenians. The origin of the rest is not stated.
