THE SOLUN ASSASSINS - Part 01

THE SOLUN ASSASSINS

In the long preparatory period for the uprising, filled with frequent clashes with the authorities, the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization did not use dynamite, assassinations, or any other

diversionary measures in the cities or on the transportation lines. These measures were very complex and risky and required capable and dedicated staff for their successful execution, which the Organization did not have. These actions began to appear in the beginning of 1903. They were first carried out by Supremacist units and those of Boris Sarafov.

On January 15, 1903 an attempt was made to derail the Solun to Dede Agach train. Another train was also attacked the same day and close to the same place (near Poroi station). The telegraph line running along the railway line was attacked in two places in the same area and a long stretch of it was torn out. The same region also witnessed similar diversionary attacks in the last ten days of March 1903. All of these diversions were carried out by the famous bandit Aleko from Dolni Poroi, who was in the service of Colonel Tsonchev of the Supreme Committee. (Krste Bitoski, Diplomatic Vigil for the Ilinden Uprising, Skopje 1983, 101-103.) These attacks were carried out without consequences.

Supplied and ordered by Boris Sarafov, A. Kiprov formed a special unit tasked to blow up the express train in Odrin Region. However, since there had already been an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the railroad, the Ottoman authorities began to pay special attention to its security. In addition to that, Kiprov, in March 1903, dynamited a railway bridge on the Tsari Grad – Vienna railway line near the Bulgarian border. (A. Kiprov, Ts. Illustration Ilinden.)

The first successful diversionary action carried out in Macedonia was not carried out by the Solun Gemidzhii, but by Gotse Delchev. Between March 31 and April 7, 1903 Gotse Delchev demolished the great railway bridge at Angista (Seres Region) and the nearby tunnel. This was the first major action taken against the Ottoman authorities and against the European capitalists within the framework of the Macedonian liberation struggle in the pre-Ilinden period. Delchev was satisfied with the results. Here is what he wrote to Iavorov: “We destroyed the Angista railway bridge and the tunnel close to it. We dug out the train tracks in one place and destroyed the telegraph wires in two places. Everything was done so successfully that even the best military engineers would envy us. There are no Ottoman movements so far. When you write in the

newspaper about what was done, do not credit my unit. Just attribute the demolition to the general Ortses located throughout the whole country under the name Secret Revolutionary Organization. (Hristo Andonov-Polianski, Gotse Delchev - Prepiska, Skopje 1972, 178.)

And indeed in the article regarding the “Angista incident” published an April 7, 1903, in the newspaper “Freedom or Death”, edited by Javopov, it was written: “Angista is the beginning of the Ottoman fate in our struggles. Let the Sultan know this, let the whole world know this... Angista is the work of the Secret Revolutionary Organization.” (Ibid.)

Delchev stayed with his unit in this region for a week and then left alone for Solun to meet with Damian Gruev and with the Central Committee to discuss the uprising. He was planning to stay in Solun for ten days but left the city just before the Gemidzhii began their actions. This would be Delchev’s last visit of this great city.

Actions in Macedonia began to take shape often and were getting more serious with time. These were the kind of actions never witnessed by the wider public in the near past, especially in Europe. The Macedonian people’s suffering under Ottoman rule was a “normal” phenomenon and more and more was written about it. However, the saddest part about all this was that more attention was given to European and foreign interests than to the Macedonians who were suffering. Diplomatic preventatives in Tsari Grad and Macedonia were often telegraphically reporting to their governments in great detail about what was going on.

The Austro-Hungarian government, taking into consideration the serious diversion carried out at Angista, instructed Count Forgach, its representative in Sofia, to warn the Bulgarian government that it would be held liable if any further damage of the same kind was inflicted on the property of any Austrian company in Macedonia. (Institute of National History (INI), f. 424 / 178-179 - Elliot to the Marxist Lansdowne, No. 66, Sofia, April 8, 1903.) Of course, the Bulgarian government had nothing to do with what Delchev did or with what the Gemidzhii were about to do. However, assuming the Supreme Committee had organized these actions against the Ottomans in Macedonia, which the Bulgarians considered to be

Bulgarian territory, the Great Powers often blamed the Bulgarian government for acts committed by the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, which had nothing to do with the Bulgarian government. It is true that the MRO used Bulgarian territory to acquire arms and other needs, and the Bulgarian government often made serious attempts to prevent it but did not always succeed, but the MRO was never part any Bulgarian plans in Macedonia.

All these actions were new for the Ottomans but in no case did they allude to the Solun events. We will later see that some of the Great Power consuls in Solun wondered why the Ottoman authorities failed to suspect or discover that major events were being prepared in the city. Early in April 1903, twenty days before the Gemidzhii began their actions, Evgeniadis, the Greek consul in Solun, informed the foreign minister in Athens about the rumours being spread in Solun of riots starting later that month. The riots were expected to begin on April 19, 1903, Easter day.

“Rumours are being spread,” wrote the Greek consul, “in Solun that the ‘Bulgarians will commit crimes by using dynamite.’ They will attack churches and night processions during the Easter holidays, as well as other public institutions, in order to create panic and give the impression that the Ottoman government cannot provide security and that they will become the lords of the country.”

These rumours were so persistently spread that some Jews, Italian subjects, turned to the Italian Consul General demanding protection. The English General Consul, who was also informed about the “bad news”, turned to the Solun Vali begging him to take military measures to protect the city from such possible attacks.

At that time the Ottoman Solun garrison was shorthanded because most of the soldiers had been sent to Kosovska Mitrovitsa to suppress an Albanian rebellion. The Solun Vali also received orders from Tsari Grad to take extraordinary measures to protect the city from revolutionary threats.

Pisi, the merciful, French Catholic sister, who at the time worked in the French hospital in Solun and was in contact with the Macedonian people who she knew lived under terrible conditions,

wrote the following in her diary: “How long will this go on? Has it not overfilled the glass of bitterness? And if it has, how will it end when these unfortunate people get caught in a showdown with an empire? There are voices being heard saying the day of reckoning will be May 9th (1903) when the poor Macedonian people are pitted against the Ottoman Empire. Assassinations are planned for that day with the use of dynamite bombs at different points in cities and railways. Among others, the first place to attack will be Solun... Oh, my God! How will this endeavour, equal to suicide, come to an end?” (Ioanis Notaris, Ta gegonota tis Thesalonikis ton Aprilio tu 1903 me vasi eggrafa tu istoriku arhiu tu Elliniku ipurgiu exoterikon - Makedonika, X, en Solun 1970, 57-58; Slavko Dimevski, the Solun Assassins. From the Diary of a Merciful Sister “Nova Makedonija”, January 9, 1961.)

The rumours were taken very seriously by the Turkish authorities. The Solun military commander diverted three battalions (2,400 soldiers) destined from Smirna to Albania to go to Solun. The English Consul Beloit contacted the English Ambassador in Tsari Grad and asked him, if possible, to send the warships stationed in Volos and elsewhere to Solun to protect the city from possible disturbances. (Makedonika, 57-58.)

However, not everyone believed the rumours. Even Evgeniadis, the Greek Consul, himself did not believe the rumours. He believed that they had been deliberately spread to “terrorize” Solun as well as all of Macedonia.

Given the circumstances in Macedonia at the time, we don’t believe it was the Macedonians who were spreading these rumours. The least interested in spreading such rumours were the Gemidzhii who were most familiar with such pending actions. Given how the situation had intensified in Solun it would have been detrimental to their plans to spread such rumours. It seems that the rumours surfaced in Solun spontaneously with Delchev’s diversionary actions carried out at Angista. These rumours emerged just after the dynamite diversions in Angista took place. The news that revolutionary attacks would be carried out with dynamite could also be linked to the dynamite used in Angista. This kind of diversion, as we mentioned earlier, was the first in Macedonia and had a strong

and unusual effect, both with the Ottoman authorities and with those who learned about it. The special measures taken by the Solun Vilayet Authority for protecting the railway lines were related to the Angista incident. (Ibid, 58.)

The extra military and police measures taken in Solun proved unnecessary. The Easter holidays passed without any incident and the city continued with its normal life. At this time, the Gemidzhii were completing their final preparations for action.

* * *

In addition to dynamiting the Ottoman bank, the Gemidzhii decided to also damage and perhaps sink a European ship. There were many European ships visiting the port of Solun every day so it was a question of whose ship to attack. After some discussion they decided to attack a French ship. That choice was based on the assumption that France had the highest economic interests in the Ottoman state and the destruction of a French ship would definitely get the attention of the others. The Gemidzhii partly blamed the political and economic problems and the uncertainty that ruled in Macedonia on foreign meddling, which they saw as an obstacle to the Macedonian people obtaining their rights. In their minds, exploitation of Macedonia by the wealthy Europeans, particularly by the French capitalists, was holding Macedonia back. The French government was very keen in introducing reforms in Macedonia but these reforms were not designed to contribute to the liberation of the conquered Macedonian population, they were introduced to frustrate a general uprising. This is why the Gemidzhii thought that dynamiting a French ship would get a lot more attention than dynamiting any ship. Based on historic French democratic tradition and progressive opinion, the Gemidzhii were certain that their actions would have greater understanding in France than in any other Great Power country, even if they were targeting French property!!

The Gemidzhii also did some consultations regarding this issue. Here is what Shatev had to say: “Before leaving for Macedonia, while we were in Sofia, Mechev and I visited a Macedonian man familiar with European diplomacy and asked him to tell us what he

thought of our plan in general. He responded positively. He also said that: ‘That part of Europe (the European part of the Ottoman Empire) is a sick place made sick by the European capitalists’. We asked him which would be the best country to harm. After describing the mood of the European countries, he said the countries that had interfered in our (Macedonian) affairs the most were Russia and Austria. They were interested in Macedonia the most. If their investments were affected, however, they would do nothing because they didn’t intend to change things in Macedonia. He pointed out, for example, the killing of the Russian consuls. Russia could have used these reasons to act in any way it wanted, even carry out reforms. But it didn’t. It’s the same with Austria. That is why he recommended that we attack the interests of the others, except for English interests. The English, even though they were strong, they were alone, without allies, and therefore would not start something. That left us with France, Italy, little Belgium and the others. We thought that France could instigate and encourage Russia to act. So we decided to attack a French ship. Regarding France, our advisor wanted to tell me not to touch France either…” (P. Shatev, The Solun assassin, 35-36.)

While looking for a French ship to attack, the Gemidzhii found out that the steamer the “Guadalquivir” was due to arrive in Solun on April 27, 1903 and leave the next day. This ship belonged to the “Massager Maritim Company”. It carried about 2,500 tons of cargo and traveled the line Marseille-Solun-Tsari Grad.

The Gemidzhii decided to attack the ship on April 28, 1903. A plan was drawn up and finalized during a meeting held outside the city. The following were decided: sink the French ship; mine the railroad near Solun station; ignite the gas tank used for providing light to the city; blow up the bank; burn down “Boshnak” Inn; and start street fights with bombs and revolvers. Interruption of the lighting system and throwing the city into darkness was the signal to start the other actions.

Roles were divided and everyone knew exactly what their task was in the specified time during the actions. P. Shatev’s (Georgi Manasov) task was to attack the French steamer.

As pointed out many times, the Gemidzhii did not expect or want to survive and were willing and prepared to die for their cause. Now, however, when the time came to act, the question rose whether it was wise to die at any cost or avoid being killed to live and fight another day. Determined to attack the first city in Macedonia, an attack that could have incalculable consequences for all of Macedonia, the Gemidzhii questioned whether they had the right to survive and continue their work or, according to their ideology, were they obliged to perish while performing their first task. It was a serious moral issue that yielded no consensus. Some thought that their work should continue and, therefore, it would be useful to save themselves if possible. This was the attitude taken and defended by Shatev, Boshnakov, Arsov and Bogdanov. Ortse, Kirkov, Mechev and others, however, were uncompromising in their demands to immediately sacrifice themselves…

“We will fight and we will perish…” was the attitude taken and defended by Ortse, Kirkov, Mechev and the others.

“They,” wrote Hristo Silianov, “could not see themselves in the struggle, except in connection with a brazen gesture of suicide. To stay alive meant to obscure the magnitude of their work and their own morale of being fighters who viewed death with contempt. They saw themselves as spreaders of death and horror in unprecedented proportions, without looking down. And what would remain of their pride if they accidentally fell into enemy hands? The success of what they started depended on their absolute will to die… (Silianov, 255)

The main reason why Ortse, Kosta, Mecheto, Ilia and Vlado insisted on sacrificing themselves, at all costs, was that they thought that with their death they would attract more fighters willing to fight for the freedom of their homeland and that they would follow in their footsteps by demolishing structures and killing hostile soldiers in the streets of Solun with dynamite and bombs. On the other hand, they were afraid that their actions would be unsuccessful if, while performing them, they thought of saving their lives.

“Before we put our plans into action this is how we thought:” wrote Shatev. “Some of us thought that if we all died there would be no

one to continue with our work. Some of us thought that it would be beneficial to our work if we survived and remained alive after performing our task so that we could do more. I, Milan Arsov and Boshnakov were of that opinion. Mechev, Kirkov and Ortse, on the other hand, were of the opinion that we were obliged to end our lives with our tasks. We proposed that we don’t do everything at once. Do our tasks gradually, one by one, and blow up the bank last. The whole idea was to bring uncertainty to the unscrupulous European capitalists. Mechev and his friends were of the opinion that nothing could guarantee our survival after our first attempt. We could all be caught and put in jail and besides, we had no dynamite to continue with our work. Therefore, it was strongly suggested that we not take measures to escape and that we should die while performing our tasks. And that’s exactly what some of us did. I, however, did not agree with that; I was against dying. The others, unfortunately, wanted to create a very powerful effect. I could not dissuade them from doing that…” (P. Shatev, 53.)

Everything was ready as they waited for the ship to arrive. The Gemidzhii spent the last days of their lives walking through the new “Pergite” court and talking about their mission and the effects it would have if completed successfully.

At that time, while in Veles, Todor Organdzhiev received a telegram from Solun in which it said: “Send all the money you have, Shurkov went broke.” Organdzhiev sold all the rice in which he had transported the dynamite from Kochani and telegraphically sent all the money to Solun. He then received a new telegram from Solun in which it said: “Shurkov went bankrupt, take the money back.” (T. Organdzhiev, 122.)

This was about 3 to 4 days before the Gemidzhii began their actions. After years of preparation the Gemidzhii, for the first time, were sure their plans would come to fruition and would not need any more money.

Shatev wanted to engage himself with the most urgent task first, but it had to also be a task that offered him a chance to save himself if he wanted to stay alive. Of all the Gemidzhii, Shatev was the most qualified to destroy the “Guadalquivir” (French ship). He had a

passport that showed him as a “foreigner” who, accordingly, could legally board the ship. He also spoke French which could be of benefit to him.

The “Guadalquivir” arrived in Solun the same day that it was expected with only a few hours of delay. The next day Shatev, as Georgi Manasov, arrived at the docks in a horse drawn wagon with a suitcase in his hand. Among other things in it he was also carrying a number of nicely wrapped, disguised gift packages in which he had hid the dynamite. A fuse was added to one of those packages so that it could easily and quickly be lit with a cigarette in the event that it was discovered.

After examining his passport and registering him as a passenger, Manasov’s suitcase was sent to the customs office. He decided to carry it himself fearing that a crewman might find his suitcase a little too heavy. The suitcase was examined superficially and very quickly because departure time was nearing. Shatev, as Manasov, was now on deck. All of the Gemidzhii, except for Ortse who was on duty at the grocery storehouse, sat near the harbour cafeteria waving goodbye, for the last time, and preparing to witness the beginning of their actions.

On board Shatev was placed in a second-class cabin just above water level. Unfortunately an explosion at this level would only damage the ship and not necessarily sink it. Shatev’s mission, however, was to destroy the ship and sink it. There was no time for thinking. The ship set off and began to increase its speed. Shatev had orders to blow it up as close to the port as possible. Shatev reorganized the dynamite and created a single slab from all the packages he had in his suitcase and prepared it for detonation. He wrapped it nicely, left it in his cabin and went off searching for an adequate place to detonate it. But no matter where he looked it was all above sea level. In other words, all he could do was damage the ship and not necessarily sink it. Shatev decided to look for a convenient place closer to the engine rook where the detonation would cause maximum damage. If he couldn’t sink it then why not burn it down. Then, when there was no one in the corridor and the ship had not yet left the harbour, Shatev lit the fuse. A strong

explosion was heard. The hull of the ship was slightly damaged but the engine room immediately caught fire.

There was panic on board. All the passengers were wondering what had happened. Frightened, they ran all over the place without knowing where they were going. The ship began to blow its whistle continuously, signaling that it was in danger and needed help. The passengers were told to assemble on deck. The ship’s captain ordered the sailors to save the people and their luggage first. The other goods, including the cattle, were to remain behind. The lifeboats were lowered. Two military boats from the port arrived immediately. Other boats followed. All passengers and crew on deck were transferred to the rescue boats. The sailors then turned their effort to rescuing the few crew members who were trapped in the lower part of the ship and who were in danger of being burned. By then most of the ship was engulfed in flames. The passengers in the rescue boats, overwhelmed with a terrible fear, watched the burning ship and wondered what had happened. The prevailing opinion was that the fire was the result of spraying the ship’s steam boilers with cold water.

The secretary of the French consulate arrived at the scene. A little later Steg, the French consul himself arrived at the scene. Thinking seriously about what may have caused the ship to catch fire the secretary concluded that it could not have been a result of spraying the ship’s steam boilers with cold water. So the question on Steg’s mind was “what really caused the fire?” It could not have been the boilers. If the fire was caused by a damaged boiler the flames would have appeared much later, an hour or two after the explosion took place, not together with the explosion. On closer examination they also found a hole in the ships hull, which no doubt was created as a consequence of some kind of explosive.

“We don’t know when they decided what the fire was caused by. That responsibility was transferred to the authorities. In the meantime the passengers being offloaded believed and spread the news that it was a boiler explosion.

All the passengers and crew abandoned the ship and headed towards the quay. The passengers were asked to report to the French

company’s office where they took their names and were told to come back the next day to claim their luggage. Also in that luggage was my (Shatev) suitcase.” (P. Shatev, Macedonia under slavery, 358-367.)

About five or six crew members were wounded during the explosion. They were taken to the French hospital. At the request of the French consul, all crew members were also accommodated at the hospital. With the exception of the chief mechanic, who was badly wounded, the wounded crew members quickly fell asleep. Unable to sleep the chief mechanic decided to tell his side of the story, of what had happened on the ship after the explosion. After the explosion took place, he said, many of the traveling merchants on board forgot about their precious cargoes and in panic jumped into the sea. Frantic, several women knelt in front of the captain begging him to save them. At first, the captain and the crew were in disarray but came together very quickly. Several sailors jumped in the water and pulled out the merchants who sought their salvation in the sea. Since the entire engine room was not destroyed, the mechanic managed to steer the ship to port. While doing this he constantly thought about what may have caused the explosion and increasingly came to believe that it may have been done intentionally, that the engine room was rigged to explode.

“Oh, my lord,” wrote sister Pisi, “how can that be? Did the poor Macedonians do that? What did my countrymen do to provoke it?”

A huge crowd gathered on the quay and watched with great curiosity the light from the sea illuminating the city. This is what H. Kotsev saw and had to say about it: “On the Sunday night of April 27, 1903, a bomb blew up in the station and broke only a few glasses in the front wagons. The effect was terrible: everyone wondered and was perplexed as to who might have done this. The consuls and attachés ran to see what had happened but there was no one there to tell them and to satisfy their curiosity. (This diversion was carried out in the evening of April 28, 1903, the same day the ‘Guadalquivir’ was burnt down.)

During the evening of the next day the ‘Guadalquivir’ was in flames in the middle of the sea. At that time Garvanov, T. Lazarov and I

were sitting at ‘Nonio’s’ tavern drinking our beer, looking at each other and wondering how the ship had caught on fire in the middle of the sea and, with so much water all around it, how they were unable to extinguish it right away. A person had to have the heart of Nero to enjoy that sight, watching the burning steamer in the bay. All night and the next day until the evening Solun was illuminated so much so that the Sultan Hamid himself would have regretted that he had not had such a ‘donanda’ (festivity) in Tsari Grad on August 19, when he celebrated his coronation.

That second act (bombing of the ship) made everyone tremble: The Ottomans, the Jews, the Greeks, the Europeans… (Solun at that time was a big city.) All these people felt clamped down by the invisible hand hanging over the city, threatening to ignite it from all sides... The voices that told them the boiler had exploded... did not seem believable any more…” (H. Kotsev, 48-49.)

That same evening at 8 o’clock, while Shatev, under the name Georgi Manasov, was staying at the hotel “Parthenon”, he was visited by Mechev, Trchev and Arsov who had failed in their mission to destroy the Tsari Grad to Solun passenger train. They had placed dynamite at the corner between the big station outside of the city and the small station inside the city. They were supposed to set off the dynamite the moment the train appeared but, unfortunately, the locomotive had passed over the dynamite before the explosion took place. The dynamite did explode but did not do much damage. Also none of the passengers were hurt. The only thing the explosion did, wrote Kotsev, was cause excitement and fear in the city. Many began to believe that the “Guadalquivir” being ablaze was not an accident, but the work of coordinated actions committed by the revolutionary committees that existed everywhere in Macedonia. Many felt that the “committee” had now expanded their revolutionary activities to include Solun.

The police ordered all the hotel guests to stay put in the hotel and not leave the city before they were cleared by the police. Shatev found it very difficult to retrieve his passport from the hotel owner but, nonetheless, he convinced the owner to give it back to him.

Shatev, at this point, found himself in a serious dilemma. By this time the police had discovered that the explosion on the “Guadalquivir” was no accident and were looking for suspects. The names of all passengers who had boarded the ship were recorded and the police had a copy of them. Their names were also recorded by the shipping agency upon their return from the burning ship. So, it was not difficult to pick out anything that looked suspicious. The authorities were particularly suspicious of those who were traveling with Balkan country passports, especially those with a Bulgarian passport who were now looking to return to Bulgaria. (According to some sources (Makedonika) the deputy ship captain noticed Shatev loitering in the corridor. This was the time when Shatev was looking for a good place to set up the dynamite. Shatev himself admitted that a crew member was in the corridor and that he had to wait for him to leave so that he could safely light the dynamite fuse. It was alleged that the ship’s deputy captain provided the authorities with a fairly accurate sketch of the character (Shatev) loitering in the corridor. If Shatev was to be arrested, even on suspicion, it could easily jeopardize the other Gemidzhii by association. They too would be arrested, which in turn would ruin their plans. So it was risky to stay in the hotel because the arrival of the police was expected, but it was also risky to try and escape. Escaping, however, was the better option. Shatev’s main preoccupation was to prevent himself from being arrested before the Gemidzhii had a chance to carry out their actions, the majority of which were to begin on April 29, 1903. Shatev snuck out of the hotel and took a carriage to the train station. He dressed himself elegantly, in the latest European fashion, which enabled him to bypass most security obstacles and safely climb on board the train headed for Skopje.

By late evening the same day it became very clear to everyone that what had happened in Solun was a “big plot” organized by the passenger who fled the Parthenon hotel and did not report to the police. He was the person responsible for blowing up the “Guadalquivir”. Also, he was the only traveler who did not return to claim his suitcase from the “Masagheri Martin” company.

On Wednesday April 29, 1903, the Gemidzhii initiated their actions in Solun. When the French ship blew up, the day before around 11 am, many people in Solun thought it was an accident, a result of a

defect in the machinery, and they had nothing to worry about. Then there was the incident with the train which caused some anxiety, but very few people knew about it. But no one could have missed or ignored what happened on April 29, 1903. It was horrific and caused panic throughout the city.

According to their plan, all the Gemidzhii took their positions at the agreed time on Wednesday and began their actions. The first to act was Kirkov, the most vulnerable in the circle. Around 8:30 pm, using a few kilograms of dynamite, Kirkov set off an explosion and damaged the gas and water pipes going under a small bridge near the sea. Moments later the entire city sank into darkness and was left without water. This was the signal for all other actions to commence.

Minutes after the lights went out, Ortse, who at the time was manning the grocery store, lit the fuse in the basement. He then closed the grocery store window blinds and left for home, which was not far from the bank. There are three versions of the story to what actually happened after Ortse lit the fuse and the explosion took place. According to Simeonov (and Silianov), after lighting the fuse Ortse left the grocery store and ran up to the second floor of the bank where the director and his family resided, to warn them to immediately leave the building because it would explode in five minutes. From there he ran home to his own apartment which he rented from the Italian Antonio Pete, located behind the Catholic Church. (S. Simeonov, 17.)

According to another version of the story, while fleeing from the grocery store to his home, Ortse noticed the bank director entering the bank through the rear entrance. Ortse warned the director to leave immediately and save his family. (K. Tsrnushanov, 171. Where did the author find this information? Perhaps this sounded more plausible to him than what Simeonov had said and was accepted by Silianov?) Regardless of which version of the story is true, the director, at the last moment, left the bank and took his family to the Catholic mission near the bank. P. Shatev, however, wrote (P. Shatev, 386.) that the director had moved from the bank about a week before, fearing that something might happen.

This is what the merciful, French Catholic sister Pisi had written in her diary about the bank explosion: “The bank director’s family, which had miraculously survived the explosion and bank fire, came to us before dawn asking for shelter…” Then came the family of the French and a little later the family of the Austrian consuls. They were afraid that the terrorists were going to attack their consulates and they wanted their families to be safe in the hospital. (Slavko Dimevski, “Nova Makedonija”, January 10, 1961.)

Did Ortse, who did not care about saving his own life, really try to save the bank director and his family? And how could he do it when, as we pointed out earlier, the bank was guarded well by Ottoman guards? It is also unlikely that there was enough time from the moment he lit the fuse to the moment the explosion took place for Ortse to get out of the grocery store, hide from the guards, find the director and then have the director assemble his whole family and run away to safety. Or did the director and his family really move out of the bank earlier for safety reasons? If the family had moved out earlier, why then did it have to leave the new apartment and run off to the safety of the French hospital; not before the bank was blown up, not while the bank was burning, but before dawn after the Ottoman army had arrived when the bank was still burning and the soldiers could shoot at anything suspicious without warning? And, if the director had “another apartment” into which he had moved earlier, then why did his family not leave the French hospital and go home at the same time as the consuls’ families left the hospital and returned to their homes? Sister Pisi wrote in her diary that the director had no place to go because everything he had was burned down. We can argue about this story half a dozen different ways but it seems that Ortse in some way did manage to save the bank director’s family.

After the explosion the bank caught fire. Here is what sister Pisi wrote about this terrible and exciting event:

“...The dice were rolled and there was no turning back. After a blast in the distance the lights went out in the entire city. Suddenly there was a terrible explosion close by that disturbed the peace and a fire broke out at the Ottoman bank. The flames were licking the sky and illuminated our yard like it was daytime. It felt like hellfire. Luckily,

the French sailors who had been brought here the previous night grabbed the hoses... and started to put the fire out from our side. The danger of the fire lasted until 2 am. During that time the city was in a sorry state. Bombs were exploding on all sides of the city. Other institutions were also attacked...

During the blaze the sick and the wounded were horrified. They slipped out of bed and wanted to leave the hospital. Some were transferred to our monastery which was separated from the hospital by a patio yard... They were joined by the families of the consuls and the bank director.” (Ibid.)

Dimitar Mechev and Ilia Trchkov tried to jump a wall and get into the yard of the city lighting factory in order to blow up the reserve gas tank. Unfortunately they were discovered by the caretaker and had to flee before completing their task. From there they took a coach to the Austrian post office. Trchkov went inside, lit the fuse, put the dynamite package near the counter and left. One of the guards spotted the bomb and tried to toss it outside, but it exploded in his hands and blew him up in a “gruesome way”. (Archives of Macedonia (AM), F. 238, French Consulate in Solun - to Delcasse, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Solun, May 7, 1903.) From there the two went to their house, located near the “Tophane” barracks, locked all metal doors and windows and began to throw bombs onto the street from the rooms and the terrace. The army, which arrived almost immediately after the first explosions, responded to their bombs with rifle shots. At first it appeared that some soldiers ran away when the bombs were thrown at them but they quickly realized that the bombs dropped on them did not immediately explode. In other words, there was a short window (while the fuse was burning) between when the bomb was thrown and when it exploded. There was enough time to move away from the bomb after it was dropped. Under instructions from their commander the soldiers were ordered to lie down as willing targets and then, when the next bomb was thrown, shoot at the assailant. The shooting continued for a long time. According to some sources the battle lasted a few hours. Mechev and Trchkov threw more than 40 bombs and then they killed themselves with their own revolvers.

Immediately after the lights went out in Solun, Vladimir Pingov “the barber” went out and, using beret salt and a bottle of phosphoric acid, started a fire at the “Boshnak” Inn. After that he went to Mechev and Trchkov’s house. When he tried to cross through the “Tophane” main gate the guard stopped him and wanted to hold him as a suspect for no apparent reason. The guard was not aware of who Pingov was and what he had done. But, taking no chances, Pingov ignited a bomb and killed himself.

Many people then and now can’t explain why the Gemidzhii set fire to the “Boshnik” Inn. This particular inn was an important place for the Macedonian people to stay when they visited Solun. It did not belong to the European capitalists and there was no one to miss it except the visitors who stayed there.

After he was given the signal, Milan Arsov, the youngest of the Gemidzhii, threw a bomb at the “Alhambra” café. One waiter was killed. Realizing what was going on all around them, visitors to the café managed to escape the explosion before the bomb went off. (Makedonika, 76.) Of course the fuse young Arsov was using was long, which enabled the visitors to move away in good time.

Georgi Bogdanov threw a bomb into the café “Nonio” located on the quay square. He too used a long fuse and caused no casualties. After that both Arsov and Bogdanov took to the streets and continued to throw their bombs.

On April 29, 1903, during the second day after the Gemidzhii began their actions in Solun, the first of the Gemidzhii circle to fall victim were Dimitar Mechev, Ilia Trchkov and Vlado Pingov. They were all killed. Ortse Popiordanov, Kostadin Kirkov, Milan Arsov, Georgi Bogdanov, Marko Boshnakov and Tsvetko Traikov were still alive and went back to their homes.

As it turned out the Gemidzhii generally did well in putting their plans into action. Despite their dangerous assignments most of them were still alive. Milan Arsov, Georgi Bogdanov and Marko Boshnakov were still alive by choice because they did not surrender to the idea of perishing at any cost and thus far avoided enemy bullets and suicide. Ortse and Kosta, however, were expected to die.

Looking for a glorious way to die they extended their actions for two more days attacking the city, holding its residents hostage and driving the authorities mad.

And just as the city calmed down for a bit it was again shaken up by more explosions on April 30, 1903. Ortse barricaded himself in his own apartment which, as we said earlier, was located in the main part of the city near the Ottoman gardens and the French hospital. Moments after the first explosion both the police and the army arrived in the vicinity and Ortse wasted no time in pummeling them with bombs which he threw from his balcony. This uneven battle lasted for several hours. Then, after Ortse threw his last bomb, he went out on the balcony, pulled out his revolver, stood upright and shot himself. (According to Shatev and S. Simeonov, Ortse did not pull away to hide after he threw his last bomb allowing the soldiers to shoot him.) Upon his death the Ottoman soldiers ran up to defile Ortse’s dead body but the military unit commander, known to some in Solun as Arab Bimbashi, stopped them. The commander was quite taken by Ortse’s courage, heroism, patriotism, coolness and readiness to die for his country. He would not allow his soldiers to take out their frustration on the young revolutionary, showing him as an example of how it is to die for your fatherland.

Because Sister Pisi was in close proximity to the incident while it took place, her accounts are more reliable than those who heard about it from others at various different times. And here is what Solun looked like on April 30, 1903, according to Sister Pisi, the day Ortse lost his life:

“The Ottoman police had enforced maximum control over everyone. There were soldiers stationed at the exit of every street... The city was now in full siege. The shops were closed... The more prominent Ottoman families were being evacuated from the city. The train from Tsari Grad did not arrive that day... The Ottoman and foreign media were all rushing to catch the train to Tsari Grad.

After that Solun looked like a cemetery. At one o’clock in the afternoon, while we tried to rest a little from the sleepless night, we were again surprised by the explosion of more bombs followed by rifle fire in our immediate vicinity. Panic again engulfed the people

who were with us. This time we really believed that our house was being attacked. However, a little later, we realized that the soldiers were after a Macedonian man returning to the apartment in our immediate vicinity. They were after him wanting to arrest him. After going into the building, he started attacking the soldier from the balcony. After throwing 11 bombs, he pulled out a revolver and exclaimed: ‘This is how a hero dies!’ Then the unfortunate man killed himself.” (S. Dimevski, “Nova Makedonija”, January 10, 1961.)

When the Gemidzhii were making their plans of action they included killing the Solun Vali. This was to be done towards the end of their campaign, perhaps a few days after their last actions. Tsvetko Traikov was expected to hide and wait and then, when all the Gemidzhii were dead, to assassinate the Vali. He was to wait for the Vali to come out of his house, or out of the building where he worked and kill him. Traikov was then expected to shoot himself. That was the plan.

Tsvetko Traikov unfortunately had no patience for waiting. The same day Ortse had his last fight with the authorities, at about 5 to 6 o’clock that afternoon, Traikov was waiting for the Vali at “Pirgite”, the new city court. He wanted to kill the Vali as he boarded the wagon to return home. Unfortunately Traikov was seen by the Vali’s bodyguards. Realizing that he would not be able to carry out his task, he pulled back, lit a bomb and sat on it. A few seconds later his body was blown up in front of the surprised Vali and his entourage.

The last to remain alive was Kosta Kirkov. So, when and how did Kosta die? According to Shatev, Kosta allowed himself to be killed by Ottoman soldiers the same day Ortse died. But according to other sources, he died the next day. Handsomely dressed on the Friday morning of May 1, 1903, Kirkov, holding his head up high carrying a briefcase in his hand, left his home and headed for Sabri Pasha Street where the telegraph station was located. He headed there pretending to send a “telegram” but his real aim was to blow up the post office. He knew that all public institutions were vigilantly guarded by the authorities and he would not be able to enter the post office. But that was his mission and this is how he was expected to die.