when Esma Sultan died, but he soon managed to turn the situation around through judicious bribery of Cezayirli Hasan Pasha, so that the malikhane was restored to him. As soon as the news reached Athens, the oligarchic party seized control. Bellos and Bekir were thrown into prison, and the Metropolitan himself placed under house arrest. Haseki returned on 14 February 1789, not only with his malikhane and the voivodeship restored, but also as temporary military governor of the city. His authority was absolute, and a veritable reign of terror began. Bellos, Nikolas Barbanos and his brother Sotirios, Petros Pittakis, Osman Bey, Balitzikos, and Bekir, were all hanged, while Avram and Mitros Kechagias were drowned later. One of his leading Turkish opponents was left to hang from the Frankish Tower of the Acropolis. The 24 mid-ranking notables were brought before a row of stakes and threatened with immediate impalement unless they could ransom themselves, and the entire Christian populace was forced to sign a collective promissory note for 400,000 piastres in money and olive oil. Although the day of payment was fixed for six months after, Haseki began to collect the dues immediately, demanding five to 25 pounds ( piastres) from every citizen, payable in eight days. This proved particularly onerous, forcing many of the poorer citizens to sell their houses and olive yards to provide the money. Some found refuge in flight, but then his share burdened his fellow parishioners who remained behind. According to the contemporary accounts of Benizelos and Skouzes, the voivode "kept for himself all the huge income from the last oil vintage", and demanded from the public twice or thrice his expenses, and his collectors did not hesitate to beat and even kill those who could not pay. Even women were not exempt, and suffered the same as the men, so that the prisons were full. According to Skouzes, who as a boy spent eight days in the prison as a surety for his father's taxes, there were always 150–250 men in the prison, as well as 25–50 women. The men were so tightly packed that there was no room to sit or relieve themselves, and Skouzes describes a smoke "like a black cloud" that went out of the window, from the stink of the place. Only the three Greek primates, and their followers, who supported Haseki, were exempted from his oppression, and even benefited from