File 1508/1905 Pt 1 'Bahrain: situation; disurbances (1904-1905); Sheikh Ali's surrender; Question of Administration Reforms (Customs etc)' [‎243r] (491/531)

in that direction, thinking I might be able to help Mahomed Reza (Abdu
Nabi’s brother), perhaps by carrying him home or in any other way.
There was no one at the Musjid. The row had stopped and the
wounded men had been removed to their houses. I then went home. I did
not see any one wounded then, but next day I saw Abdu Rahim Kal Awaz’s
servant and he was wounded, and also another man related to Husseinu,
whose name I do not know. I did not see the beginning of the row. I know
no more. I did not see what was in the hands of Abdu Nabi’s masons. I
went to Sheikh Ahmed's last Friday with the others.
No further cross-examination.
No. 19.
Hussein Mahomed, Arab, aged 25 : states on solemn affirmation :
I remember the occasion of the disturbance ; it was 5 or 6 days from the
beginning of Ramzan. I am a butcher and have a shop in the meat bazaar.
I went to the Halwa shops, but had not bought anything. I saw a crowd
quarrelling near the shop of Muallim. There were 7 or 8 persons. When I
just saw them, each man had his string of beads in his hands. They were saying
prayers over them and saying, “Subhan Allah, Subhan Allah.’* They then
began to quarrel. I looked on. I saw a servant of Abdu Nabi’s, a boy with a
blind eye, standing there. Another boy, an Arab, passed him and gave a pull at
his coat. Abdu Nabi*s servant turned round and hit the other boy with his fist
in the neck. They thereupon closed upon one another. Upon this the servants
of Kal Awaz (father of Abdu Nabi) came out.
The servant Ghulum (of Abdu Nabi) tried to stop the two hoys, but the
other servant hit the Arab boy, who had pulled the blind youth’s coat with a
stick. The Arab youth fell down. They were separated by other Arabs who
had by now collected. At this time Abdu Nabi was standing near Muallim’s
shop. Abdu Nabi had a mason with him, whose name I do not know, a
Persian. Abdu Nabi cried out “ Bezan ” to the blind boy and to the mason.
They went on ahead of Abdu Nabi, calling out “ Bezan, Bezan” strike,
strike ; and anyone they met they beat. They had in their hands thick canes
from Bombay. The blind boy, when he first quarrelled with the Arab boy,
had a thin stick in his hand, but afterwards used bigger sticks which they
fetched from the house of Abdu Nabi, about 400 yards away.
I now say I don’t know whether Abdu Nabi was in his house or in the
Amara or elsewhere. After the two boys were separated, Abdu Nabi’s one-
eyed boy went away and came back with Abdu Nabi and about 15 labourers
(masons). They all had sticks. They began to beat Arabs and anybody they
saw in the bazaar. I went to my house. I got accidentally touched by one
stick on the way, but whether it was the stick of a Persian or an Arab I can
not say. I made myself scarce when the beating began. Beyond the 15
or 20 Persians I cannot say at all how many people there were there altogether,
whether there were 2 J or i ,000 or how many.
On above being read over to him, he says besides the 15 masons there were
other Persians collected from their shops, he cannot say how many, nor can he
say how many people there were, but there were a large number.
Asked if he saw anybody badly hurt, he says he saw two Arabs lying in the
road with blood on their faces. He did not help them. He does not know^who
they were. I went to Mullah Sheikh Ahmed with the others last Friday.
Asked by Sheikh Hamad if he saw a revolver, he replies, “Punishment
after death is severe; I cannot say I saw any revolver.”
No. 20.
Mahomed Ali bin Buzzeizi, Arab, aged 40, states on solemn affirmation
I work with my father, who has a grocer’s shop in the bazzar.
I came here yesterday with the other witnesses. I had work and I saw
that there were plenty of other witnesses to be examined. I therefore went
away and told Mansur bin Khairullah that I was going to be acquiesced.
This morning Vazier Shereideh met me in the bazaar and told me to come to
the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. *
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