RESPONSE TO THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S WIFE

It was January 1913 and Baku public and perhaps the entire empire had directed their attention to Tbilisi. The judicial chamber was considering an appeal against the Baku district court's decision on the "G. Z. Tagiyev case". It dealt with a domestic incident between Tagiyev and an employee of his office, Lutfali Bay Behbutov, which took place in Baku on 16 May 1911. There were rumours in the city about a love affair between Tagiyev's wife, Sofiya Vladimirovna, and Lutfali Bay. To clarify the matters Tagiyev summoned Behbutov to a family council where his closest associates were present. Rumour had it that Behbutov was severely beaten at Tagiyev's house. Participants in the incident which perturbed entire Baku interpreted causes of the incident differently. It is hard to say now how severely Lutfali Bay was beaten. He said that his hands had been tied and six people had beaten him. The other side said that Lutfali Bay had simply been hurt as he fell down the stairs. 

In any event, the Baku district court found the following persons guilty of beating Behbutov: Tagiyev himself, his son Sadix, Irza Bay Mammadbayov (the husband of Tagiyev's niece), Persian prince Mansur Mirza Gajar, the head of the logistics department of the Caspian typography, Hasan Aga Hasanov, factory director Mehdi Cafarov and Tagiyev's nephew, Mammad Rza Tagiyev. The persons were sentenced to various terms in prison. Tagiyev was sentenced to two and a half years and the others to two years. Nevertheless, the persons never went to prison because they had paid a security guarantee to remain free. Tagiyev paid 200,000 and others 20,000-25,000 each. After the verdict was announced, the culprits filed an appeal which was then considered by the Tbilisi judicial chamber. 

The proceedings in Tbilisi started on 10 January and continued for three days. In Tbilisi Tagiyev was defended by lawyers Kazarinov, Zamyslovkiy, Bykov, Vonsovich and Makalinskiy. Behbutov's lawyer was prince Baratov. Professor Kosorotov and doctors Elaishvili, Zhitkov, Rodionov, Leplinskiy and Semenov, Axundov and Sultanov (who had checked the victim the day after the incident) were summoned to the court. "There is a huge interest in the trial. Many people want to attend the trial," the newspaper Caspian wrote at the time. "Certainly there were not enough tickets for the trial as the proceedings hall could only accommodate 85 people. Nevertheless, all journalists managed to get seats in the hall. 

On the third day, the court returned a verdict. All defendants were found guilty but were given commuted sentences. As a result, Tagiyev was sentenced to two months in a military guardroom and the rest were given one month arrest each. News about this reached Baku at about two o'clock during the day and many people perceived this as Tagiyev's victory. People rushed to Tagiyev's house at Gorchakovkaya Street to congratulate him on the successful completion of the court trial. 

In February 1913, in connection with the 300-th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty he was granted amnesty. Tagiyev's prison term was reduced to one month. In November, tsar Nikolay II altered the prison term to home arrest of seven days.   

A week later, the public was overwhelmed by new rumours, this time, regarding Tagiyev's relations with the local authorities (the city administration). The chairwoman of the Baku Charity Society and the wife of Baku city administrator, Yelena Martynova, sent a letter to the pro-Armenian newspaper Baku. Her letter was published in the Letter to the Editorial Staff rubric. This is what she wrote: "Dear editor-in-chief! I would like to request you to take 10 rubles I, as the chairwoman of the Charity Society, have received from H. Z. Tagiyev, as a donation and to use it for the cause of strengthening the Muslim Literacy Society, Nicat. With deep respect, Y. Martynova, chairwoman of the Baku Charity Society."

It is not difficult to guess that the rude gesture of the city administrator's wife triggered a negative response. Ill-wishers gloated while Muslim intelligentsia, and Tagiyev himself, felt insulted. Therefore, it was necessary that Tagiyev wrote a well-weighted, moderate response. On 23 January, Tagiyev published a response in the same newspaper:

"Dear editor-in-chief! In the 15th edition of your newspaper you published a letter by the chairwoman of the Baku Charity Society. In her letter she requested that you accept 10 rubles she had received from me and to transfer it to the Nicat Muslim Society. Given that the letter has caused certain negative sentiments among the local public and press, I would like to request you to publish my short explanation in this connection. It is one thing that it is illegal for one charity to give a donation to another charity without the knowledge of the donator (I will leave it to the public to make judgments on this). I can only do so much as clarify the reasons that prompted the Baku Charity Society to take the step. 

Unfortunately, the chairwoman's letter did not provide any answers. However, from all possible theories we think the only possible explanation is that the society refused to accept the money from me because it was a small sum. If my assumption is right, that is, the administration of the Baku Charity Society wanted to let me know that it had grounds and a moral right to expect a more generous donation from me, I believe it is my obligation to say that the small amount of my donation was the result of a misunderstanding. Persons who arrived in my office and asked me to buy a ticket for their charity event, apparently failed to explain the purpose and meaning of their visit. Since I was unable to personally receive them, I thought that they were talking about an ordinary ticket for an ordinary event. Therefore, I instructed that we pay for the ticket alone. The ticket itself was left with collectors. This was probably why the money was registered  as a donation, not as a payment for the ticket. 

I am not an outsider for the Baku Charity Society. In the past, I actively participated in their activities and so far I have never refused to support their good beginnings. I would think that this allowed me to expect that any such misunderstanding would be settled between us, without resorting to such decisive measures as their refusal to accept the donation (however small), or without the publication of a letter in the newspaper which has engendered absolutely different sentiments and unpalatable comments. With great respect H.Z. Tagiyev." 

Tagiyev's best response to such a rude gesture by the city administrator's wife were his further donations. He donated 100,000 rubles for supporting two-year teacher-training courses for Muslim women at the women-only Baku Russian-Muslim institution. These women were trained to work for women's schools that were opening in the region at the time.