‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎301v] (609/722)

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After this time there were disturbances in Sfstan, and the son of a deceased
chieftain was put down by his uncles. Both parties applied for assistance
to the Persian governor of Karman, who considered that the moment was
favourable for practically asserting the vague claims of Persia to the possession
of the province. He accordingly proposed to invade Sistan; but the matter
was rejected by the Shah’s government.
About this time there was an insurrection of the Bahts in the city of Yazd
and the governor was compelled to take refuge in the citadel. The priests
of Yazd, however, aroused the people against the heretics, and the Babts
were overthrown and compelled to take refuge in Karman. A conspiracy
was formed against the life of the minister; but the plot was discovered, and
seven of the conspirators were seized and condemned to die. Their death was
accompanied by an important change in the execution of justice. It had
been the previous custom for all condemned criminals to be strangled in
the presence of the Shah; but on one occasion the Russian minister was
summoned to the presence of the Shah whilst an execution was taking place
and he heard the cries of the victims and encountered the dead bodies, which
were being carried away; and he accordingly warmly remonstrated with the
Shah’s government against the recurrence of so barbarous a usage. It was
feared, however, that a public execution in Tihran would excite a commotion •
but the experiment was tried in the ease of the Babi conspirators. Each
man was offered his life on the simple condition of reciting the formula of
the Mussalman creed; but one and all refused, and were publicly executed
in Tihran.
The spread of Babism was by no means checked by these proceedino-s.
In May 1850 a serious revolt broke out in Zanjan. This city is the capital
of the district of Khamsah, and lies in the direct road between Tihran and
Tabriz. It appears that the chief priest of Zanjan had embraced the tenets
of the Bab, and had induced the other Bains of the place to capture a portion
of the town. M hen the news reached Tihran, a force was at once despatched
to besiege the rebels, who defended themselves with the utmost enthusiasm.
Meantime the Bab himself was taken out of his prison at Tabriz, and con
demned to be shot in the public square. A company of soldiers was drawn
up, and a volley fired; but when the smoke cleared off, the Bab was gone,
btiangely enough, the bullets bad missed his body, but cut the ropes which
bound him. Those present thought he had ascended to heaven ; and had
he gained the bazar, he might have been safe ; but, unfortunately, he rushed
into the guard-room, and was taken back to the square and shot dead, and
his body thrown into the ditch at Tabriz. All "this while the Babis at
Zanjan maintained with reckless bravery a hopeless contest against the
troops of the Shah ; and the women fought with the same ardour as the men.
I he lot of those Persians who fell into the hands of the Babis was terrible
in the extreme. Ehey were shod like horses, or suspended by one arm, or
burnt to death. The siege lingered on from May till the end of the year,
when the leader of the Babis was slam, and the besieged lost heart. The
Persian army at length carried the position; and then every man, woman,
and child, who had survived the siege, was ruthlessly butchered.
About this time attention was drawn to the small island of Ashurada, off
the bay of Astarabad, which for some years had been occupied by the Russians
under the following circumstances. By the treaty of Gulistan in 1813,
Persia had resigned the right of maintaining ships-of-war in the Caspian;
and about 1836 the government of the Shah applied to the Czar for naval