Mirza Hassan Ali Khan, C.S.I., then British Agent at Shiraz, had to bring considerable pressure on the Persian authorities to get justice done, but was at last successful. Of course there was no moral doubt as to the guilt of the three murderers, but to bring it home to them definitely was no easy matter. To cause the men to be executed was simple enough; the Governor of the town would have been quite pleased to oblige in such a trifling matter; but no example would be made, and the men would be looked on as martyrs, who had suffered from pressure brought by the English Minister at Teheran. In a civilised country these men would doubtless have escaped, but in Persia, justice, though at times very blind, is never slow, unless her palm is greased. Great dissatisfaction was felt among us all that these men should be allowed to escape, yet there seemed no way of bringing the matter home to them. At last artifice was used by the Governor. I was not present, but substantially what took place was the following, and my informant was well posted, and said he saw it all. The three men being brought into the Governor’s presence, he smilingly asked them how they liked prison. Of course they immediately began to assert their innocence, and to call heaven to witness it. “Ah, my friends,” said the Governor, “I, too, am a Mussulman. We are all Mussulmans here—an unbeliever more or less does not much matter. I shall not really punish but reward you. That you killed the Feringhi there is no doubt; I _must_ punish you _nominally_. I shall cut off a joint from a finger of each of you; but your dresses of honour are ready. Clothed with these you will be immediately liberated; and now, my children, tell me all about it; how did you manage it, eh?” The astonished and delighted prisoners fell into the trap, and vied with each other in giving the details. “The European fired twice from one pistol—may we be your sacrifice—and we all fired at once, rushing in on him. He was but a European. We trust in the clemency of your Highness—may we be your sacrifice,” etc. The Governor had now succeeded in bringing the murder home to the three men. From this they did not deny it, but gloried in the fact, gloating over the details. In a few moments they were taken into the public square and their throats cut. A red granite tablet was subscribed for by the engineer officers and non-commissioned officers in Persia, and placed in the Armenian church at Shiraz, to commemorate the death of Sergeant Collins while gallantly defending his life against long odds. Probably had he not been weak and ill at the time the result might have been widely different, for he was pluck personified, and a dead shot with gun or pistol, and he had both.