A Traveler's Narrative

page 26

Well, we must return to our original narrative. The Prime Minister issued a second order to his brother Mírzá Hasan Khán, the gist of which order was this: "Obtain a formal and explicit sentence from the learned doctors of Tabríz who are the firm support of the Church of Ja'far (upon him be peace) and the impregnable stronghold of the Shí'ite faith; summon the Christian regiment of Urúmíyyih; suspend the Báb before all the people; and give orders for the regiment to fire a volley."

Mírzá Hasan Khán summoned his chief of the farráshes, and gave him his instructions. They removed the Báb's's turban and sash which were the signs of His Siyyid-hood, brought Him with four of His followers to the barrack square of Tabríz, confined Him in a cell, and appointed forty of the Christian soldiers of Tabríz to guard Him.

Next day the chief of the farráshes delivered over the Báb and a young man named Áqá Muhammad-`Alí who was of a noble family of Tabríz to Sám Khán, colonel of the Christian regiment of Urúmíyyih, at the sentences of the learned divine Mullá Muhammad of Mamaqán, of the second ecclesiastical authority Mullá Mírzá Báqir, and of the third ecclesiastical authority Mullá Murtadá-Qulí and others. An iron nail was hammered into the middle of the staircase of the very cell wherein they were imprisoned, and two ropes were hung down. By one rope the Báb was suspended and by the other rope Áqá Muhammad-`Alí, both being firmly bound in such wise that the head of that young man was on the Báb's's breast. The surrounding housetops billowed with teeming crowds. A regiment of soldiers ranged itself in three files. The first file fired; then the second file, and then the third file discharged