President
George Herrick was one of the co-founders of Anatolia College, along with Charles Tracy and Edward Riggs. He served as the second President from 1890 to 1914, a term he did not manage to complete due to a series of events that forced him to leave Merzifon. In January 1893, “incendiary posters” were found posted at the entrance of the school premises, and in February 1893, a fire completely destroyed the Girls’ School building. Following these incidents, Ottoman authorities arrested two professors. President Herrick strongly protested to the Ottoman authorities and demanded the release of the professors, arguing that everything was a result of Ottoman scheming. In his quest for justice, he created a negative climate, and his country’s diplomatic mission advised him to leave Merzifunda and not return. Simultaneously, the diplomatic mission conducted an investigation and concluded that the illegal posters had been posted by an armed revolutionary Armenian group based in Merzifunda and had probably been reproduced in Anatolia’s printing press, while the fire was set in retaliation by the Ottoman authorities. The two professors who were sentenced to death were released, after diplomatic pressure, on the condition that they leave the country.
