On the 1st of June, an order from the authorities at Tabreez to
Asker Khan was presented to him by the missionaries, which, after a
calm recital of the facts in the case of poisoning, proceeded thus:
"As the person who did this act is a criminal, and, if unpunished,
the affair may lead to the destruction of life, it is necessary that
you, high in rank, take the attitude of investigation, and having
discovered the criminal, that you punish him, with the knowledge of
the Americans, and so act that no one, Christian or Moslem, shall
dare to repeat such a crime." This order was obtained through the
kind offices of the Russian ambassador; but the criminals were only
detained a few days, and not pressed at all to a confession. Asker
Khan then proposed, as they had not confessed, that the missionaries
should intercede for their release. Of course, they refused. Then,
saying "that if he had known that, beforehand, he would not have
touched the matter, and that he could defend himself at Tabreez," he
dismissed the accused, and it was in vain for the missionaries to
prosecute the matter further.
Indeed, the opposition at this time was more serious than at any
previous period, and for a time it seemed as though the seminaries,
and especially the Female Seminary, would be destroyed.
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