Beirut: Farewell to the Arabs
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that I got into trouble." The priest went on: "The English
arrested me in Athens and held me in their custody for eight
months. I was then turned over to the Greek government and
brought to trial with seventeen others as a collaborator in
espionage. One of the men was given the death sentence.
Five were imprisoned for life."
"What was your sentence, Father Gamsaragan?"
"Ten years in prison."
He told me that he had escaped to Beirut through a ruse,
and that friends had "fed money" to the Greek officials.
In Beirut members of the Dashnag had already instituted a
program of murders and assaults to eliminate their opponents.
They had done away with one B. Naterian while he was on
his way to an election rally, and murdered one Tchoerekjian
in a crowded tram. Early one morning hoodlums blocked off
a street, halted traffic at gun point, cornered and clubbed
A. Gharib, a schoolmaster who had opposed them in school
elections. Rarely brought to trial, these hoodlums bore such
characteristic nicknames as Bitly (lice-ridden), Vayreni (wildtempered), Gabig (monkey-faced), and Boxer, a gorilla of uncommon ferocity.
The state of mind of many of the Dashnags was clearly
reflected in Zohrab Jevahirjian, a photographer. "I'm a Dashnag by blood," he told me. "We are not mild toward our
enemies. When the order comes to dispose of an enemy, our
men do not rest until the work is done." Zohrab wanted to
come to America, and was impatient with an Armenian working as a consular employee who had handled his applicati