The Foreign Service Journal, November 2005

The disintegration of the Russian government following the Bolshevik Revolution removed the main safe- guard on which the Christians in Persia relied. In early 1918, mobs entered the several mission com- pounds, driving nearly all the remaining Christians around Urmia, estimated at 70,000, south toward Hamadan and the British lines. Only about half made it. In June 1918, because of a Turkish advance on Tabriz, the American consulate and many members of the Allied community moved to Kazvin, where they remained from June 29 until Dec. 27, 1918. At the same time, famine conditions aggravated by the war created a desperate need for relief and an increasingly brutal competition for the limited supplies of money, food and medicine the missionaries were providing on behalf of an American charity, Near East Relief. Tensions between the Kurds and the Christians flared up when the principal Kurdish chief in the region, Ismael Agha, known as Simko, killed the principal Assyrian leader, Mar Simon, who had come to see him on a peace mission. The Christians, seeking revenge, attacked the Kurds, and drove Agha from his stronghold. The Kurds, in turn, attacked Urmia, but were driven off by Persian troops. The Persian gov- ernment, in its own effort to restrain the Kurds, sent a package bomb to Agha. He escaped injury, but his brother was killed. In response, Persian mobs, joined in some cases by soldiers, looted the Presbyterian mission compound in Urmia and attacked Christians. Harry Packard, in an account written later, described what was happening when he sent his appeal to Paddock: “We found about 280 more Christians and had them brought, for small presents, to the governor’s yard. Surgical dressings were obtained and the wounded were all dressed and with a few instruments a number of operations were done in dingy rooms or in the governor’s yard and many patients were seen and treated. Then, for the next 24 days, we were captives in that Muslim yard, hoping and pray- ing for word from Tabriz and trying in every possible way to send out a report on our condition and appeal for help. ” It was at this point that Packard appealed for help to Consul Paddock. Riding to the Rescue Back in Tabriz, Paddock pon- dered how to respond. Urmia was, as the crow flies, 75 miles away on the other side of Lake Urmia (later known as Lake Rezaiyeh). The route around the lake was more than 200 miles over bad roads and through potentially hostile territory. On the afternoon of June 6, 1919, he sent for three missionaries residing in Tabriz: Hugo Muller, Frederick Jessup and Dr. Edward M. Dodd. He told them, “I’ve been thinking a good deal about Urmia and the Packards and I decided last night that I could not sit still and wait for the Powers to act, but that I must do something myself. I have consulted with my colleagues the British and French consuls and I have called on Sipar-Salar, governor of Azerbaijan, and have formulated a plan which I would like to present to you.” He then outlined a proposal to take two automobiles, accompanied by an ex-governor of Urmia, Sardar- i-Fateh, and a former British soldier, Donald Ferguson (who would be a driver), around the north end of the lake. After seeking out the Kurds to provide safe escort as far as their lines went, he hoped to get in touch with the present governor of Urmia and, after securing the release of the Christians, arrange for them to be transported back to Tabriz by lake steamer. Paddock acknowledged that this would be no easy task. It was Rama- dan, the Muslim fasting month, which would complicate preparations and travel. While Sardar-i-Fateh had been successful in protecting the Christians and avoiding conflict with the Kurds, that was before the assassination attempt had outraged Ismael Agha’s tribesmen. Making matters worse, those parts of the territory not con- trolled by the Kurds were the domain of a Persian bandit, known as Kazim (full name unknown). The missionaries, nevertheless, heartily endorsed the plan, though they recommended transporting the automobiles part of the way by train to save gasoline. In addition, Muller and Dodd volunteered to join the party; the latter knew the Kurdish language well and was acquainted with Ismael Agha, whose assistance would be vital to the mission. Once the necessary papers arrived from the Persian authorities, the party set out at 4:30 p.m. the next day, Saturday, June 7, 1919, on the four-mile trip to the railway line 58 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 Paddock probably expected to spend his time following the Persian carpet trade, issuing visas and promoting American exports — not rescuing missionaries.