The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-04-28 00:00:00

BTORMINO A SATURY.

AN INeIIiENT IN THE DIVENCE or THE " HENIDENCT."
Isiotwithstawling the lapse of time—now 2$ years
ago there are numbers still living who must have
vivid recollection of the wave of alarm which
swept over the country, awl the agonising feeling of
anyiety aroused in the minds of the people, In 3
receipt .4 the alarming intelligence nuns ludia in
oay, 1537. The wholesale massacre, not only .4
men, but • 4 helphe. WoMOU and children, aroused
in the country a suite of (ruling Iswdering upon
terror. The people, after the first shock, read with
enthusiasm .4 the her. achievements .4 the handful
.4 troop* then in Ind,., who, at all risks and under
all circumstances, were doing so much to save the lives
.4 their fellow-countrymen and WoMell.
General Haveloks c' effortsalas, fruitless) to sive
1 cawnpore, and Isis suleespient saving .4 the suffering
garrison h sed in at Isickn.sw, are all matters
within lis iig memory. In consequence of the
frightful looi received in the latter operation, the
force found marl( unable (owing to impedimenta in
the shape of a large emistary and the her Of
w,,iiiin and children) to extricate itself, and was in
its tuni hemmed in.
'haring the early days of the siege storming parties
were frequently sent out from the entmichnients
capture sonic gun or position, the fire from which
was becoming insufferable. The road to Car/upore
led out Incas the residency, and abutting on this road,
and protected by the surrounding homes*, the enemy
had constructed • two-gun battery at a instance .4 oily
about 130 yards from our entrenchment, and from its
position on the Cawaliore-road, we termed it the Cairn-
pore lottery. On the 27th, two slays after sir entry,
a storming party, consisting .4 all available lion of the
regiment to which I had the honour to Is-bdig, an.l a
few men of the 32nd Regiment, wlio, knowing the
locality, were to act as guides, were told If to capture
the Cawniswe battery, which, owing to its position, it
was otherwiae found impracticable to silence. For
this ',wring to previous heavy coining
up country, and the bes .4 103 two days previously)
cmild only muster about 150 men. Instead .4
snaking a rusli straight for the lottery it Was illeellied
prudent to make a circuit, and cow, so bar as the
cmfortuation of the b00..s woold iwnnit, on the dank
.4 the peitims. In onliei, if possible, to take the
enemy by su al prise, alio' Me di le asce * derietlyenjoined,
and we stepped hilt .4 the " 'gaily Gate " our
perilous mission. Circling to our right aud keeping
well under shelter .4 the houses, we presently, on
turning a owner, came upon a narrow passage leading
between two I.4ty flat•eisefed hisews, and iii the
verandah, under dui projecting nsif .4 one ef these
h. 1111.1". DIUW sentry of (li,' hut
silent •nil wi tautios had been our advance that ens
le. had time to give any alarm or make the least
sipsvenemt, he war 'pirouetted on his post. At the
swine moment a sudden outcry was raised ,sp• the iss,(s
of the houses, and in an instant,aiifidst wild yells
and impreesitions, • shower of bricks, teirthenwart.
chattels, and every description if tui..de to baud, Wy.
poen,' down upon oar devoted heads in the WlrroW
passage. The screams .4 the ocinapwits if the roofs,
apparently WOllllll, at once Arouses( the enemyiiior
front, who wen. now ',mons' to give us a warm
reception. A straight road now lay before ic up to
the position, and without a moment's hesitation, in
the lace of • 1,4670-gnu id bullets, we dashed up the
road and into the lottery. Mhos-% as wa. the
distance • few MOM were Whichtd over, and antilop'
them the man .4 the 32nd wh.• had I,seen deputed
I" carry the " spikes" to be used in spiking the guns
when captured. The guns were situated ii, • small
contiesynd or courtyard, and it living impossible to
remove t4sin, tind the man who carriol the spikes
having unfortunately brim killed, there was lersctically
nothing more to d... The bulk of the tarty it mice
. returned to the passage, fnmf when,* we had been
acutiled (non the rod's, but a few .4 us, to the •
her a eleven, I think, and an effacer, pushed on into
• swill square or yard beyond, but adjoining that
which wintained the gun.. Two sergeants and a pri-
vate still died by the guns, emirs% miring to spike
them with the points of their bayonets, and thus
render them useless to the enemy, The rebel,., of
course, had 'oily dispersed amongst the adjacent
houses, and issi Imesseing aware that the patty had
retired, returned at onys to their guns, and in the
cur's' • 4 a Very few 1111 l the Odor awl few men
in the tiny courtyard Were enconipitaseil by over•
whelming minders of the enemy. At the fictior end
of the area stood a building, with a verandah sip.
is.rt.sl by pillars of maisnri, acid here. for the
moment, We sought shelter. "There was a doorway -
Fr.'.,, which thy door haul bola removed the right
hand side of thy little yard, &nil RA many of the
enemy as could poseilily dy ;$4l had congregated at this
doir, not mow than Si', Or eight pares froni where
we stooi.t. Their 'muskets, with fixed bayonets, were
protruding through, and filled up, this dicrWay, but
they tosk care to keep their bodies far enough back to
Is' invisible to Is. They dared not espies themselves
sufficiently to take deliberate aim, but Inept peppering
away at us at random, while we sought protection
from the bullets by standing as straight and as rigid
(h. use a soldier's phrase) an a rainnal behind the
pillars, with the dust and the lime struck off by the
I bullets blinding. WI. livery second of time luuwrd
thus 'nada our situation, if possible, more desperate,
as the enemy were increasing in numbers, and nothing
but the inherent dread jg Ike heart ist the Asiatic to
close in 1.11.4341 Witt WILIO the European saved US
frm ti annihilathsa • twu sergeant• and Is private,
ras dlerred to hating mot/tined t tuna,
e4rotired to rejoin us, and flergeag il,4liter
rusTilid amine the court, almost touchr thannalingel
bayonets, sad (ell in amongst its riddled with bulleillf
Rerismat Edwards followed with the Annie result.
Private Martin wiw essayed to not the gauntlet, but
lie acted with mote caution and cunning than the
sergeants. H. crept alowy the will, keeping his rifle
well behind him out of sight mild within a face or
two .4 the door through which the hayontes were
levelled ; then, raising his ride, Ise discharged it right 1
amidst them, and in the momentary cenfusism jumped
1 past the doorway safely and joined US. We were now
getting fully alive to the fact that the main body
whea retiring had entirely overlooked isr hit sight of
us, and that by yeti nit; act and exertion alone must
we extricate. ourselves. Captain now, in a few
forcible and spirited words, called upon to, Is, make a
dash at the doorway. We were, therefore, at the last
sound of the and "Forward " from bin) to rush out
and cut Mir way tiarowyli. We then gave a hearty
"Hip, hip! Hurrah! Yiwward I lost wit • man moved.
I einoenely believed at that tnineemt that all as over,
that my laid hour earth had ineritsbly conies
Captain F— turned upon 11.1 with a 1..1. of astonish-
ment., and Again urging upon Us the imperative
nessaiity .4 making • dash for our lives, as only by
some act yf unflinching courage--in that moment .4
extreme peril—lay try prospect .4 being saved. Once
more rang 'sit "Hip. lips ilisrrah ! Forward !" and
forward we dashed, as one man, as 1i opening, and
the rebels, panic-stricken, resided hack ant optijed oUt
on all sides. in leas than • minute we were all out on
the road again awil livicg for the main body, followed
tio wpm, and the jeers pp, execrations .4 the
baffled enemy, fn the race down thy mid a num of
the Maid Regiment, who was running straight in front
.4 the senter of this shriek, Was 4.01 dent, and the .
mystery remains, seeing the Inellets were coMing
from straight behind, and the writer was apparently
exactly covering the man in front, how the latter was
shut aid the former escaped. Well, fortune of war!
Ou tbe 2htt, two days • stronger and better
equipped Ninitl Telta organised and directed to take
and destroy the Cos-moire battery ; and in the advance
„( this forms for that purpose there was (mind in a
mind or dcy well, wane te ur SO feet deep.o man of
. ount, named Dwyer, who is the light of dot nth Lad
fallen in there, and being in such Jose prviiimati Isu
the enemy. he dare not allow forth until thus-if,,, him
--4noky arcumetiutce of a round storniing party,
which reepered bun to life and liberty.
G. H. H., Dorchester.
Mkt writer 4 the kregoigsg, and one. or two other
sketches incidestel to jist
. zrol,ltney event., lays no
claim to literary skill or aldalf, and adtaitijaoo only
by a desire to record "a plain, tnevaniunea ten " -
without any fictitious embellishment—of some of Hifi
stirring incidents in which he either actually partici•
paged, or of which he was personally cognizant, trust-
- ing they may Ise fee() with some interest by those
readers of the Zoos, who may find pknaure in
„tones of military adventere.}-6.14,N,