12 
Land & Water 
July 1 8 , 1 9 1 8 
coiist.iiillv interfered, would liave beliavt-d decently. 1 
fi>und that the evil spirit was not the Turkish Government, 
but von Bronssart. the German Chief of Staff. The fact 
that certain members of the Turkish Cabinet who repre- 
sented European and Christian culture— men like Bustany 
and Oskan— had resigned as a protest against Turkey's action 
in entering the war, made the situation of foreigners even 
more dangerous. There was also much conflict of authohty ; 
a policy decided on one day would be reversed the next, the 
result being that we ne\er knew where we stood. The mere 
fact that the Government promised me that foreigners would 
not be maltreated bv no means settled the matter, for some 
underling, like Bedri Bey, could frequently find an excuse 
for disregarding instructions. The situation, therefore, was 
one that called for constant vigilance ; I had not only. to get 
pledges from men like Talaat and Enver, but I had personnll\- 
to see that these pledges were carried into action. 
Invasion ot a Catholic School 
1 awoke one November morning at four o'clock ; I had 
been dreaming, or I had had a "presentiment," that all was 
not going well with the Sion Saurs, a French sisterhood 
which had for many years conducted a school for giYls in 
Constantinople. Madame Bompard, the wife of the P'rench 
Ambassador, and several ladies of the French colony, had 
particularly requested me to keep a watchful eye on this 
institution. It was a splendidly conducted school ; the 
daughters of many of the best families of all nationalities 
attended it ; when these girls were assembled, the Christians 
wearing silver crosses and the non-Christians silver stars, 
the sight was particularly beautiful and impressive, and 
naturally the thought of the brutal Turks breaking into 
such a community was enough to rouse the wrath of any 
properly constituted man. Though we had nothing more 
definite than an uneasy feeling that something might be 
wrong, Mrs. Morgenthau and I decided to go up immedi- 
ately after breakfast. As we approached the building we 
noted nothing particularly suspicious ; the pJace was quiet 
and the whole atmosphere was one of peace and sanctity. 
Just as we ascended the steps, however, five Turkish police- 
men followed on our heels. They crowded after us into the 
vestibule, much to the consternation of a few of the sisters, 
who happened to be in the waiting room. The mere fact 
that the American Ambassador came w'ith the p>olice in itself 
increased their alarm, though our arrival together was purely 
coincidental. 
"What do you want ?" I asked, turning to the men. As 
they spoke only Turkish, naturally they did not understand 
me, and they started to push me aside. My own knowledge 
of Turkish was extremely limited, but I knew that the Word 
"Elchi" meant "Ambassador." So, jxiinting to myself, I 
said, " Elchi Americaner." / 
This scrap of Turkish worked like magic. In Turkey an 
Ambassador is a sacred object, and these policemen immedi- 
ately respected my authority. Meanwhile the sisters had 
sent for their superior, M^re Elvira. This lady was one of 
the most distinguished and influential personages in Con- 
stantinople. That morning as she came in quietly and faced 
thesa Turkish policemen, showing not a sign of fear, and com- 
pletely overawing them by the splendour and dignity of her 
bearing, she represented to my eyes almost a supernatural 
being. Mere Ellvira was a daughter of one of the most 
aristocratic families of France ; she was a woman of perhaps 
forty years of age. with black hair and shining black eyes, 
all accentuated by a pale face that radiated culture, character, 
and intelligence. I could not help thinking, as I looked at 
her that morning, that there was not a diplomatic circle in 
the world to which she would not have added grace and 
dignity. In a few seconds Merc Elvira had this present 
distracting situation completely under control. She sent for 
a sister wfio sp<}ke Turkish and' queried the policemen. They 
said that they were acting under Bedri's orders. All the 
foreign schools were to be closed that morning ; the Govern- 
ment intended to seize all their buildings. There were about 
seventy-two teachers and sisters in this convent ; the police 
had orders to shut all these into two rooms, where they were 
to be held practically as prisoners. There were about two 
hundred girls ; these were to be turned out into the streets 
and left to shift for themselves. The fact that it was raining 
m torrents, and that the weather was extremely cold, accen- 
tuated the barbarity of this proceeding. Yet "every enemy 
schtwl and religious institution in Constantinople was under- 
gomg a similar experience at this time. Clearly this was a 
situation which I could not handle alone, and I at once tele- 
phoned for a Turkish interpreter. Herein is another incident 
which may have an interest for those who believe in provi- 
dential intervention. When I arrived in Constantinople 
telephones llad'been unknown, but iti the last few months 
an English company had been introducing a system. The 
night before my exjierience with the Sion Soiurs, my legal 
adviser had called me up and proudly told me that his tele- 
phone had just been installed. I jotted down his number, 
and this memorandum I now found in my pocket. Without 
my interpreter I should have been hard pressed, and without 
this telephone I could not have immediately brought him to 
the spot. 
Mrs. Morgenthau to the Rescue 
While waiting for his arrival I delayed the operations of 
the policemen, and mv wife, who fortunately speaks French, 
was obtaining all the details from the sisters. Mrs. Mor- 
genthau understood the Turks well enough to know that 
they had other plans than the mere expulsion of the sisters 
and their charges. The Turks regard these institutions as 
repositories of treasure ; the valuables which they contain 
are greatly exaggerated in the popular mind ; and it was a 
safe assumption that, among other things, this expulsion was 
an industrious raiding expedition for tangible evidences of 
wealth. 
" Have vou any money and other valuables here ? " Mrs. 
Morgenthau asked one of the sisters. 
Yes. they had in fact quite a little ; it was kept in a safe 
upstairs. My wife told me to keep the policemen busy and 
then she and one of the sisters quietly disappeared from the 
scene. Upstairs the sister disclosed about a hundred square 
pieces of white flannel into each of which had been sewed twenty 
gold coins. In all the Sion Soeurs had in this liquid form 
about fifty thousand francs. They had been fearing expul- 
sion for some time — hence these preparations. Besides this 
they had several bundles of securities, and many valuable 
papers, such as the charter of their school. Certainly here 
was something that would appeal to Turkish cupidity. Mrs. 
Morgenthau knew that if the police once obtained control of 
the building there would be little likelihood that the Sion 
sisters would ever see their money again. With the aid of 
the sisters, my wife promptl}- concealed as much as she could 
on her person, descended the stairs, and marched through 
a line of gendarmes out into the rain. Mrs. Morgenthau 
told me afterward that her blood almost ran cold with fright 
as she passed by these guardians of the law ; from all external 
signs, however, she was absolutely calm and collected. She 
stepped into the waiting auto, was driven to the American 
Embassy, placed the money in our vault, and promptly 
returned to the school. Again Mrs. Morgenthau solemn y 
ascended the stairs with the sisters. This time they took 
her to the gallery of the Cathedra], which stood behind the 
convent, but could be entered through it. One of the sisters 
lifted up a tile from a particular spot in the floor, and again 
disclosed a little heap of gold coins. This was secreted on 
Mrs. Morgenthau's clothes, and once more she filed past the 
gendarmes, out into the rain, and was driven rapidly to the 
Embassy. In these two trips she succeeded in getting the 
money of the sisters to a place where it would be safe from 
the Turks. 
Between Mrs. Morgenthau's trips Bedri had arrived. He 
told me that Talaat h&d himself given the order for closing 
all the institutions and that they had intended to have the 
entire job finished before nine o'clock. I have already said 
that the, Turks havfe a sense of humour ; but to "this I 
should add that it sometimes manifests itself in a perverted 
form. Bedri now seemed to think that locking more than 
seventy Catholic sisters in two rooms and turning two hun- 
dred young and carefully nurtured girls into the streets of 
Constantinople was a great joke. 
"We are going at it early in the morning and have it all 
over before you heard anything about it," he said with a 
laugh. "But you seem never to be asleep." 
"You are very foolish to try to play such tricks on us," 
I said. " Don't you know that I am going to write a book ? 
If you go on behaving in this way, I shall put you in as the 
villain." 
This remark was an inspiration of the moment ; it was 
then that it first occurred to me that these experiences might 
prove sufficiently interesting for publication. Bedri took the 
statement seriously, and it seemed to have a sobering effect. 
"Do you really intend to write a book ? " he asked, almost 
anxiously. 
"Wliy not ?" I rejoined. "General Wallace was minister 
here— didn't he write a book ? ' Sunset ' Cox was also minister 
here— didn't he write one ? Why shouldn't I ? And you 
are such an important character "that I shall have to give 
you a part. Why do you go on acting in a way that will make 
ine describe you as a very bad man ? These sisters here have 
always been your friends. They have never done \()u any- 
