blood, was bent on discovering more criminals; and the servant of
David Arari, after further pressure, was ready to give further
particulars. He said that, after the Father had been murdered,
he was sent to a rich Israelite, Marad Farhi, to invite him to
slaughter the servant of the Capuchin friar in the same way as his
master had been slaughtered. When he took the message, he found the
young merchant, Isaac Picciotto, present, and delivered his message
before him. Next day this Picciotto and four other Jews, Marad
Farhi, Meir, and Assan Farhi, and Aaron Stamboli, all men of wealth,
came to his master's house, and informed David Arari that they had
together murdered the Capuchin's serving-man in the house of Meir
Farhi. On another occasion this same witness, Murad-el-Fallat, said
that the murder of the servant took place in the house of David
Arari; but no importance was attached in this remarkable case to
contradictions in the evidence.
Picciotto, as son of a former Austrian Consul, a nephew of the
Consul at Aleppo, was able to take refuge under the protection of
Merlato, the Austrian Consul at Damascus. On the demand of Count
Ratti-Menton, he was placed on his trial, but proved an _alibi_;
on the evening in question, he and his wife had been visiting an
English gentleman, Mr. George Macson.
Arari's servant now extended his revelations. He said that he had
been present at the murder of the attendant on the Capuchin. This
man had been bound and put to death by seven Jews, namely, by the
four already mentioned, young Picciotto, Jacob Abul Afia, and Joseph
Menachem Farhi.
The French Consul was dissatisfied that Picciotto should escape. He
demanded of the Austrian Consul that he should be delivered over to
the Mussulman Court to be tortured like the rest into confession.
The Austrian Consul was in a difficult position. He stood alone over
against a fanatical Christian and an embittered Mohammedan mob, and
in resistance to the Egyptian Government and the representative
of France. But he did not hesitate, he absolutely refused to
surrender Picciotto. The general excitement was now directed
against the Consul; he was subjected to suspicion as a favourer of
the murderers, as even incriminated in the murder. His house was
surrounded by spies, and every one who entered or left it was an
object of mistrust.
All Damascus was in agitation; everyone sought to bring some
evidence forward to help on the case against the Jews. According to
one account, thirty-three--according to the report of the Austrian
Consul, sixty-three Jewish children, of from four to ten years
old, were seized, thrown into prison and tortured, to extract
information from them as to the whereabouts of their parents and
relations--those charged with the murder of the servant, and who
had fled and concealed themselves. Those witnesses who had appeared
before the court to testify to the innocence of the accused, were
arrested, and treated with Oriental barbarity. Because Farach
Katasch and Isaac Javoh had declared that they had seen Father
Thomas on the day of the murder in another quarter of the town than
the Ghetto, they were put to the torture. Isaac Javoh said he had
seen Father Thomas on the road to Salachia, two miles from the Jews'
quarter, and had there spoken to him. He was racked, and died on the
rack.
A boy admitted that he had noticed Father Thomas and his servant in
another part of the town. For so saying, he was beaten with such
barbarity that he died twenty-four hours after. A Jewish account
from Beyrut says: "A Jew dedicated himself to martyrdom for the
sanctity of the ever-blessed Name. He went before the Governor,
and said to him, 'Is this justice you do? It is a slander that we
employ blood for our Paschal bread; and that it is so is known
to all civilized governments. You say that the barber, who is a
Jew, confessed it. I reply that he did so only under the stress of
torture. Very likely the Father was murdered by Christians or by
Turks.' The Governor, and the dragoman of the French Consul, Baudin
by name, retorted, 'What! you dare to charge the murder on Turks or
Christians?' and he was ordered to be beaten and tortured to death.
He was barbarously scourged and hideously tormented, and urged all
the while to confess the truth. But he cried ever, 'Hear, O Israel!
The Lord thy God is one Lord!' and so crying he died."
As the second murder, according to one account, was committed in the
house of Meir Farhi, Count Ratti-Menton had the water conduits and
drains torn up all round it, and in the drain near them was found a
heap of bones, a bit of flesh, and a fragment of leather--according
to one account a portion of a shoe, according to that of the
Austrian Consul, a portion of a girdle. It had--supposing it to
have belonged to the murdered man--been soaking for a month in the
drain, nevertheless, the brother of the servant who had disappeared
identified it as having belonged to the murdered man! Dr. Massari,
Italian physician to Sheriff Pacha, and Dr. Rinaldo, a doctor
practising in Damascus, declared that the bones were human remains,
but they were examined by Dr. Yograssi, who proved them to be--sheep
bones. One may judge from this what reliance can be placed on the
assumption that the first collection of bones that were given
Christian burial were those of a man, and of Father Thomas. As for
the bit of flesh, it was thought to be a piece of liver, but whether
of a human being or of a beast was uncertain or unascertained. The
Jews' houses were now subjected to search. Count Ratti-Menton swept
through the streets at the head of twenty sbirri, entering and
ransacking houses at his own caprice, the Jews' houses first of all,
and then such houses of Christians as were supposed to be open as a
harbour of shelter to the persecuted Israelites. Thus one night he
rushed not only into the house of, but even the women's bedrooms of
a merchant, Aiub, who stood under Austrian protection, hunting after
secreted Jews, an outrage, in popular opinion, even in the East.
The Jews charged with the murder of the servant had not been
secured. The greater number of the well-to-do Hebrews had fled
the town. A hue-and-cry was set up, and the country round was
searched. Their families were taken up and tortured into confessing
where they were. A German traveller then in Damascus says that the
prisons were crowded with unfortunates, and that the pen refuses
to detail the torments to which they were subjected to wring from
them the information required. The wife of Meir Farhi and their
child were imprisoned, and the child bastinadoed before its mother's
eyes. At the three hundredth blow the mother's heart gave way, and
she betrayed the hiding-place of her husband. He was seized. The
hippopotamus scourge was flourished over his head, and knowing
what his fellows had suffered, he confessed himself guilty. Assan
Farhi, who was caught in his hiding-place, was imprisoned for a
week in the French Consulate, and then delivered over to Turkish
justice. Bastinado and the rack convinced him of his guilt, but he
found means to despatch from his dungeon a letter to Ibrahim Pacha
protesting his innocence.
It is as impossible as it is unnecessary to follow the story of the
persecution in all its details. The circumstances have been given
by various hands, and as names are not always recorded, it is not
always possible to distinguish whether single cases are recorded
by different writers with slight variations, or whether they are
reporting different incidents in the long story.
The porter of the Jews' quarters, a man of sixty, died under
bastinado, to which he was subjected for no other crime than not
confessing that he had seen the murdered men enter the Ghetto.
In the meantime, whilst this chase after those accused of the second
murder was going on, the seven merchants who had confessed to the
murder of the Father had been lying in prison recovering from their
wounds and bruises. As they recovered, the sense of their innocence
became stronger in them than fear for the future and consideration
of the past. They withdrew their confessions. Again were they
beaten and tormented. Thenceforth they remained stedfast. Two of
the seven, David Arari, aged eighty and Joseph Laniado, not much
younger, died of their sufferings. Laniado had protested that he
could bring evidence--the unimpeachable evidence of Christian
merchants at Khasbin--that he had been with them at the time when it
was pretended he had been engaged on the murder. But he died before
these witnesses reached Damascus. Then Count Ratti-Menton pressed
for the execution of the rest.
So stood matters when Herr von Hailbronner, whose report on the
whole case is both fullest and most reliable, for the sequence of
events, arrived in Damascus. He took pains to collect all the most
authentic information he could on every particular.
Damascus was in the wildest commotion. All classes of the people
were in a condition of fanatic excitement. The suffering caused by
the pressure of the Egyptian government of Mohamed Ali, the threat
of an Oriental war, the plague which had broken out in Syria, the
quarantine, impeding all trade, were matters that were thrust into
the background by the all-engrossing story of the murder and the
persecution of the Jews.
The condition of the Hebrews in Damascus became daily more
precarious. The old antagonism, jealousy of their riches, hatred
caused by extortionate usury, were roused and armed for revenge.
The barber, though he had confessed that he was guilty of the
murder, was allowed to go scot-free, because he had betrayed his
confederates. What an encouragement was offered to the rabble to
indulge in false witness against rich Jews, whose wealth was coveted!
Mohamed Ali's government desired nothing better than the
confiscation of their goods. A pack of ruffians sought occasion to
extract money out of this persecution by bribes, or to purchase
pardon for past offences by denouncing the innocent.
It is well at this point to look a little closer at the French
Consul, the Count Ratti-Menton. On him rests the guilt of this
iniquitous proceeding, rather than on the Mussulman judges. He
had been twice bankrupt when French Consul in Sicily. Then he
had been sent as Consul to Tiflis, where his conduct had been so
disreputable, that on the representation of the Russian Government
he had been recalled. He had then been appointed Consul at Damascus.
In spite of all this, and the discredit with which his conduct with
regard to the Jews, on account of the murder of Father Thomas, had
covered him, his part was warmly taken up by the Ultramontane Press,
and the French Government did its utmost to shield him. M. Thiers
even warmly defended him. The credit of France was thought to be at
stake, and it was deemed advisable to stand by the agent of France,
and make out a case for him as best might be.
It is quite possible, it is probable, that he was thoroughly
convinced that the Jews were guilty, but that does not justify his
mode of procedure. It is possible also that bribes may--as was
said--have been offered him by the Jews if he would desist from his
persecution, but that he refused these bribes shows that he was
either not an unredeemed rascal, or that he conceived he had gone
too far to withdraw.
The Turkish and Egyptian authorities acted as always has been and
will be their manner, after their nature, and in their own interest.
We expect of them nothing else, but that the representative of
one of the most enlightened nations of Europe, a man professing
himself to be a Christian, and civilized, a member of a noble house,
should hound on the ignorant and superstitious, and give rein to
all the worst passions of an Oriental rabble, against a helpless
and harmless race, that has been oppressed, and ill-treated, and
slandered for centuries, is never to be looked over and forgiven.
The name of Ratti-Menton must go down branded to posterity; and
it is to be regretted that M. Thiers should have allowed his love
of his country to so carry him away as to induce him to throw
the shield over a man of whose guilt he must have been perfectly
aware, having full information in his hands. This shows us to what
an extent Gallic vanity will blind the Gallic eye to the plain
principles of truth and right.
Ratti-Menton had his agents to assist him--Baudin, chief of his
bureau at the Consulate; Francois Salins, a native of Aleppo, who
acted as interpreter, spy, and guard to the Consulate; Father Tosti,
a French Lazarist, who, according to the Austrian Consul, "seemed to
find in this case an opportunity for avenging on the race the death
of his Divine Master; also a Christian Arab, Sehibli Ayub, a man of
bad character, who was well received by Ratti-Menton, because of his
keenness as spy, and readiness as denunciator.
What followed now passes all belief. After that countless poor Jews
had been accused, beaten, tortured, and killed, it occurred to the
judges that it would be as well to ascertain the motive for the
crime. It had been said by those who had confessed that the Pater
and his servant had been put to death in order to obtain their blood
to mingle with the dough for the Paschal wafer. The disappearance
of the two men took place on February 5th. Easter fell that year on
April 18th, so that the blood would have to be preserved two months
and a half. That was an inconsequence which neither the French
Consul nor the Egyptian authorities stooped to consider. Orders were
issued that the Talmud and other sacred books of the Jews should
be explored to see whether, or rather where in them, the order was
given that human blood should be mingled with the Paschal dough.
When no such commands could be discovered, it was concluded that the
editions presented for examination were purposely falsified.
Now, there were distinct indications pointing in quite another
direction, which, if followed, might have elucidated the case, and
revealed the actual criminals. But these indications were in no
case followed. Wildon Pieritz, an Evangelical Missionary, then in
Damascus, as well as the Austrian Consul, agree in stating that
three days before the disappearance of Father Thomas he was seen in
violent altercation with a Turkish mule-driver, who was heard to
swear he would be the death of the priest. The altercation was so
violent that the servant of Father Thomas seized the mule-driver by
the throat and maltreated him so that blood flowed--probably from
his nose. Father Thomas lost his temper and cursed the mussulman
and his religion. The scene created great commotion, and a number
of Turks were very angry, amongst them was one, a merchant, Abu
Yekhyeh, who distinguished himself. Wildon Pieritz in a letter
to the _Journal de Smyrne_ on May 14th, 1840, declares that when
the news of the disappearance of Father Thomas began to excite
attention, this merchant, Abu Yekhyeh, hanged himself.
We may well inquire how it was that none of these facts came to be
noticed. The answer is to hand. Every witness that gave evidence
which might exculpate the accused Jews, and turn attention in
another direction, was beaten and tortured, consequently, those who
could have revealed the truth were afraid to do so.
Even among the Mohammedans complaints arose that the French Consul
was acting in contravention to their law, and a feeling gradually
grew that a great injustice was being committed--that the Jews
were innocent. Few dared allow this in the first fever of popular
excitement, but nevertheless it awoke and spread.
At first the Austrian Consul had been subjected not to annoyance
only, but to danger of life, so violent had been the popular feeling
against him because of the protection he accorded to one of the
accused. Fortunately Herr Merlato was a man of pluck. He was an
old soldier who had distinguished himself as a marine officer.
He not only resolutely protected young Picciotto, but he did his
utmost to hinder the proceedings of Ratti-Menton; he invoked the
assistance of the representatives of the other European Powers, and
finally every Consul, except the French, agreed to unite with him in
representations to their governments of the iniquitous proceedings
of Ratti-Menton, and to use their influence with the Egyptian
authorities to obtain the release of the unhappy accused.
The bastinadoes and tortures now ceased. Merlato obtained the
release of several of those who were in confinement; and finally
the only Jews who remained in prison were the brothers Arari, Mussa
Salonichi, and the renegade Abul Afia. Of the supposed murderers of
the servant only the brothers Farhi were still held in chains.
Matters were in this condition when the news of what had taken place
at Damascus reached Europe and set all the Jews in commotion. Every
effort was made by them, in Vienna, Leipzig, Paris and London,
indeed in all the great cities of Europe, to convince the public
of the absurdity of the charge, and to urge the governments to
interfere in behalf of the sufferers.
Finally all the representatives of the European governments at
Alexandria, with the exception of the French, remonstrated with
Mohamed Ali. They demanded that the investigation should be begun
_de novo_; the French Consul-General, M. Cochelet, alone objected.
But the action of the Jews of Europe had more influence with
Mohamed Pacha than the representations of the Consuls. The house of
Rothschild had taken the matter up, and Sir Moses Montefiore started
from London, and M. Cremieux from Paris as a diplomatic embassy to
the Viceroy at Alexandria to convince him, by such means as is most
efficacious to an Oriental despot, of the innocence of the accused
at Damascus.
The arguments these delegates employed were so extremely
satisfactory to the mind of Mohamed Pacha, that he quashed the
charges against the Jews of Damascus, in spite of the vehement
protest of M. Cochelet, the representative of France. When the
Viceroy issued a firman ordering the incarcerated Jews to be
discharged as innocent and suffered to abide in peace, M. Cochelet
strove in vain to have the firman qualified or altered into a pardon.
Thus ended one of the most scandalous cases of this century.
Unfortunate, innocent men were tortured and put to death for a crime
that had never been proved. That the two Europeans had been murdered
was merely matter of conjecture. No bodies had been found. There
was no evidence worth a rush against the accused, and no motive
adduced deserving of grave consideration. "What inhumanities were
committed during the eight months of this persecution," wrote Herr
Von Hailbronner, "will never be wholly known. But it must call up a
blush of shame in the face of an European to remember that Europeans
provoked, favoured and stimulated it to the last."
Authorities: "Morgenland and Abendland," by Herr Von
Hailbronner,--who, as already mentioned, was present in Damascus
through part of the time. "Damascia," by C. H. Löwenstein,
Rödelheim, 1840. Reports and debates in the English Parliament
at the time. The recently published Diaries of Sir Moses
Montefiore, 2 vols., 1890; his Centenal Biography, 1884, vol.
I., p. 213-288; and the article summing up the whole case in
"Der Neue Pitaval," by Dr. J. C. Hitzig and Dr. W. Häring, 1857,
Vol. I.
Some Accusations against Jews.
The story just given of the atrocious treatment of the Jews of
Damascus on a false accusation naturally leads to a brief sketch of
their treatment in the Middle Ages on similar charges. Not, indeed,
that we can deal with all of the outrages committed on the sons of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--that would require volumes--but only
notice some of those which they have had to suffer on the same or
analogous false charges.
These false accusations range under three heads:--
1. They have been charged with poisoning the wells when there has
been an outbreak of plague and malignant fever.
2. They have been charged with stealing the Host and with stabbing
it.
3. Lastly, with having committed murders in order to possess
themselves of Christian blood, to mingle with the dough wherewith to
make their Paschal cakes.
We will leave the first case on one side altogether, and as we have
already considered one instance--not by any means the last case of
such an accusation levied against them in Europe--we will take it
before we come to the instances of their being accused of stealing
the Host.
But _why_ should they be supposed to require Christian blood? One
theory was that by common participation in it, the Jewish community
was closer bound together; another, that it had a salutary medicinal
effect. That is to say, having made up their minds in the Middle
Ages that Jews did sacrifice human beings and drink their blood,
they beat about for the explanation, and caught at any wild theory
that was proposed.[4]
[4] Antonius Bonfinius: Rer. Hungaricarum Dec., v. 1., 3, gives
_four_ reasons. Thomas Cantipratensis, Lib. II., c. 29, gives
another and preposterous one, not to be quoted even in Latin.
John Dubravius in his Bohemian History, under the year 1305,
relates: "On Good Friday the Jews committed an atrocious crime
against a Christian man, for they stretched him naked to a cross
in a concealed place, and then, standing round, spat on him, beat
him, and did all they could to him which is recorded of their
having done to Christ. This atrocious act was avenged by the people
of Prague upon the Jews, with newly-invented punishments, and of
their property that was confiscated, a monument was erected." But
there were cases earlier than this. Perhaps the earliest is that
of S. William of Norwich, in 1144; next, S. Richard of Paris,
1179; then S. Henry of Weissemburg, in Alsace, in 1220; then S.
Hugh of Lincoln, in 1255, the case of which is recorded by Matthew
Paris. A woman at Lincoln lost her son, a child eight years old.
He was found in a well near a Jew's house. The Jew was arrested,
and promised his life if he would accuse his brethren of the
murder. He did so, but was hanged nevertheless. On this accusation
ninety-two of the richest Jews in Lincoln were arrested, their
goods seized to replenish the exhausted Royal exchequer; eighteen
were hung forthwith, the rest were reserved in the Tower of London
for a similar fate, but escaped through the intervention of the
Franciscans, who, says Matthew Paris, were bribed by the Jews of
England to obtain their release. On May 15th, 1256, thirty-five of
the wretched Jews were released. We are not told what became of the
remaining thirty-nine, whether they had been discharged as innocent,
or died in prison. The story of little Hugh has been charmingly told
in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
A girl of seven years was found murdered at Pforzheim, in 1271;
the Jews were accused, mobbed, maltreated, and executed. In 1286,
a boy, name unknown, disappeared in Munich, with the same results
to the Jews. In 1292, a boy of nine, at Constance--same results. In
1303 "the perfidious Jews, accustomed to the shedding of Christian
blood," says Siffrid, priest of Meisen, in 1307, "cruelly murdered
a certain scholar, named Conrad, son of a knight of Weissensee, in
Thuringia, after that they had tortured him, cut all his sinews, and
opened his veins. This took place before Easter. The Almighty, who
is glorious in His Saints, however did not suffer the murder of the
innocent boy to remain concealed, but destroyed the murderers, and
adorned the martyrdom of their innocent victim with miracles. For
when the said Jews had taken the body of the lad to many places in
Thuringia to bury it secretly, by God's disposition they were always
foiled in their attempt to make away with it. Wherefore, returning
to Weissensee, they hung it to a vine. Then the truth having been
revealed, the soldiers rushed out of the castle, and the citizens
rose together with the common people, headed by Frederick, son of
Albert Landgrave of Thuringia, and killed the Jews tumultuously."
The story of St. Werner, the boy murdered by the Jews in 1287, at
Wesel, on the Rhine, and buried at Bacharach, is well known. The
lovely chapel erected over his body is now a ruin. But Werner was
not the only boy martyred by the Jews on the Rhine. Another was St.
Johanettus of Siegburg.