In the meantime, he studied the provincial dialect of Kharberd, earning him special honor in Patriarch Matthew II Izmirlian's literary competition.

In 1904, he joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) in Kharberd and immigrated to the eastern United States, where he worked for three years as a laborer in a shoe factory in Watertown, Massachusetts.

From 1910 to 1912, Natalie attended Boston University, where he studied English literature, philosophy, and theater as a special student.

In 1912, he decided to return to his home in the Ottoman Empire, but on his way there, he was sent back to the U.S., as Greek authorities would not let him through, considering him a citizen of an enemy nation.

Under the most clandestine circumstances the work of eliminating the main perpetrators of the genocide was organized and the preliminary steps (surveillance, arms-gathering and transport, etc.)

The avengers executed also several Armenian spies and traitors, who, by denouncing their kinsmen to Turkish authorities, were responsible for their deaths.

The ARF Bureau was against these assassinations because they hindered its attempt of collaboration with Azeri and Turkish activists to regain control after being ousted from the homeland with the Sovietization of Armenia.

Shahan Natalie was elected as a new Bureau member, alongside Shavarsh Misakian, Ruben Ter Minasian, and Arshak Jamalian.

In 1925, a group of nationalistic revolutionaries applied to the Bureau to establish relationships with the Soviet authorities in order to try to find ways of helping the homeland.

Azadamard ("Fight for Freedom") was published under the editorship of Haig Kntouni and Shahan Natalie in Paris from 1928–1929 as an expression of outrage toward the party leadership's orientation.

Shahan Natalie defined the "Freedom Fighter" movement thus: "In Yerevan in 1919 during the Federation's 9th General Congress, many monuments were going to be destroyed and statues were to crumble within innocent and clean souls ... Before the eyes of the "Freedom Fighters", not only was the Revolutionary Federation being horribly transformed, it was also becoming an accomplice against Armenian Revolution.

To forestall the probable victory of the "Freedom Fighters" at the upcoming 11th General Congress (March 27 to May 2, 1929), on the eve of the meeting, the Bureau began a "cleansing campaign".

Azadamard having ceased publication, the ousted revolutionaries of France established Mardgots (Bastion), a semi-weekly newspaper, under the editorship of Mesrob Kouyoumjian and Mgrdich Yeritziants.

Contrary to popular belief, Shahan Natalie did not establish or lead the Bastion movement, because at that time he had returned to America.

[citation needed] Generals Dro and Garegin Nzhdeh came to Paris for the purpose of defusing the schism within the party, but they failed.

Revolutionaries who had remained loyal to the Bastion group in 1934 established the Western Armenian Liberation Alliance in Paris and began to publish the Amrots (Fortress) weekly.

[4] Natalie was laid to rest in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, later being joined by his wife of 57 years, Angéle.