The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-03-16 00:00:00

reckless

THE ASSASSINATION OF LORD MAYO.

By the arrival of the Bombay Mail we have the Indian
Paper!, containing full details of the assassination of Lord
Mayo at Fort Blair on the Fth of Fobruary. The following
interesting particulars are from a letter by an officer on
board her Majesty's ship Geavolo

11.31 S. Glasgow, Andaman Islands, Feb. 9.
I hardly thought when I laid down my pen yester-
day morning that I should take it up again to recount
to you one of the greatest tragedies that has occurred
in our time. I can hardly describe to you our horror
when we came alongside yesterday evening to find in
our steam launch the murdered corpse of Lord May,
life just extinct. Lord Mayo landed yesterday fore-
noon, and was received by a strong guard which ac-
companied him throughout the day; he came off
to luncheon at one o'clock, and the last words that I
heard him speak wa.s to tell the captain that he hoped
he would not trouble the officers to come on deck any
more for him when he came on board. After luncheon
he went ashore again to visit the garrison and inspect
the convict prison. In the evening, about five o'clock,
Lady Mayo, being eager about fishing, we got up a
party and went ashore in two boats, Lady Mayo fol-
lowing with the captain in the barge. We had
tolerable luck, and Lady Mayo was delighted with
some of the fish that were caught, and hoped they
Might have some for dinner that evening. She left
us about 6. All the rest came to our knowledge
afterwards. it appears that Lord Mayo, ac-
companied by General Stewart, Major Borne
(Private Secretary), Colonel Jervois, and Captain
Lockwood (A. 1). C.) visited the convict prison at
Chatham Island, They seemed to have thought it
rather a dangerous place, for all the guards were
doubled, and Captain L. had his sword drawn in his
hand all day. As the prison was first in.dituted for
the prisoners of the mutiny, one can easily imagine
that there would be good reason for every caution bring
taken. They had finished their inspection and were re-
turning to the boats (7 1).111.) tired, dusty, and hungry,
no doubt glad of the prospect of being soon off to
dinner. All their day's work finished, they seemed to
have relaxed their caution, and were rather scat-
tered from about Lord Mayo's person, although
he was still surrounded by guards. The night
was dark, but lit up by torches, and they had
walked down to the pier and were about fifty
yards from where the boat lay at the end of the
pier. Suddenly there was a nosh made—in the
confusion some of the torches went out—two men,
natives and convicts, glided through the ,guard, reached
Lord Mayo, he fell stabbed in the back in two places,
anti rolled down the bank into the water mortally
wounded. Every one, alas ! that it was too late,
rushed to his assistance. He was carried up the bank,
and the bluejackets of the launch conveyed him down to
the boat. In the meantime the guard had taken one
of the convicts red handed with his knife in his hana
(the other had escaped), and the murderer and his great
victim were taken on board in the same boat. Im.
noediately they got Lord Mayo into the boat they
cut his coat and waistcoat off, and bound up his
wounds ; but the blood flowed fast, and internal
luemorrnage hastened the end. He expired in
agony just before the boat came alongside. The
only words that he uttered after he was struck, when
they were lifting him out of the water, were "I don't
think I am much hurt ;" and just before the end,
"Lift up my head." The wounds, which the doctors
say are from the same knife, were both struck from
behind: one below the shoulder blade on the right of
the spine penetrated the liver ; the other, on the left
shoulder, pierced the lungs through and through.
Either was a mortal wound. The knife with which he
was stabbed is made of one piece of iron, a very rough
weapon, though formidable in the band of a strong
man. Immediately they were alongside, Major 13urne
rushed up to break the news to Lady Mayo before she
should hear it at other bands, Door thing. Ile says
she bore up very bravely, though how should she
realise it yet.
The murderer was brought up immediately after
the corpse, strongly guarded. When I saw him he
was thrown on his back on a grating lashed down by
his elbows and knees doubly handcuffed and ironed,
with four sentries with loaded rifles guarding him ; so
anxious were they lest the villain should escape the
grip of justice. Anything more awful than the deep
quiet that reigned throughout the ship I have never
experienced. Although over 600 souls were on board
there was not a sound that the ear could catch. Every
one's voice sank to the lowest whisper, and hardly
seemed to draw breath—so oppressive was the death.
like calm that existed everywhere.

Nothing could be done that night except making
arrangements. Fortunately there were two British
Indian steamers in port. One, the Scotia' is under
orders this afternoon for Madras to convoy Lord Napier
to the command in Calcutta; the other, the Dacca,
with the rest of the Viceregal party, will push on to
catch the mail at Calcutta. We are now throwing in
coal as fast as possible, an,d shall be off in a few hours
with all despatch backto Calcutta. The corpse will be
pre,erved in spirits in a lead coffin ; it is thought that
it will be sent home and some tl.ik that we should
take it. No one has seen Lady Mayo this morning.
A cast was taken of the features last night. This morn-
ing a court of inquiry was held on the prisoner before
Mr. Ellis (memter of council), Mr. Ashley Eden, and
otheis. Ihe murderer's name is Shore All, a native
of the Kyber Paso, on the borders of Affghanistan.
He was committed for murder two years ago, and
sentenced to imprisonment for life. A Mussulman
and a fanatic, when asked for his reason, be said that
" God bad ordered him to kill the enemy of his
country," that he had no associate in his crime, but
that God was his "Shereek." He is of middle height,
brownish complexion, brown beard, and not at all a had
face as far as one can judge—at least he does not con-
vey the idea of a criminal I have just come downfrom
the Court of Inquiry since writing my last sentence, and
have been listening to the evidence. His manner is
perfectly easy and free from fear. though he will scarce
see the sun rise twice again. The way in which he
glories in the act with his harsh triumphant laugh is
revolting to a degree. Hanging is a thousand times
too good for him. In his case it is a pity that the
faggot has gone out of fashion. The ship is all in
mourning today ; the broad white stripe, a dull grey,
the yards hanging topped different ways, all the ropes
slack and in bights, flags half mast, and everything
bearing the most mournful aspect.

I am so out of spirits that I cannot Bend you a de-
scription of our veil, pleasant cruise to Rangoon and
Moulmein. Our principal host is token; we had all
got to like him so much; he would come and chat
with us on watch just like one of ourselves.

practical, and when he had given his word be had given
his bond. I noticed only a few weeks since Ms n an-
te! declaration when people talked of putting off
the Brehm° Marriage Bill. ' Postpone it !' he said,
• shy both Mr. Stephen and I have given our cords'
If postponement woe out of the (million after
that. It woo the high spirit of an English gentleman,
and it ran into everything be did. You never will send
us a Viceroy who will retire more endeared to the country
than Lord Mayo. You will never send ua a harder worker,
or a juater, or kinder, or more single-hearted man. You
may send us a sterner man, and perhaps we need one of
that class. The late Viceroy was not Stern as a rule. He
hated revolutionary troth, lie cleansed the Augean
stable,' as Mr. Odger may call it, little by tulle, now
putting down a gutter, now a drain, now disinfecting,
but always working like a loan who counted the
hours in advance, and resolved to make the most
he could of the present ones. We never knew him an
Whig or Tory. Ile was the representative of the queen,
and magniti ently he represented her. Ile had no creed,
hatred, or prijuillee, no cant, and immense charity and for-
braranee towards eve. y native custom not immoral. I never
saw anything more marked than the mixture of dignity and
homilitv with which he represented lhr Majesty. A
stranger dropped from the clouds into the Durbar at which
the King of Slim was received would have said of the
'lteroy—' He cannot be a King, and yet neither can he he •
subject to-day.' I know no other way of expressing the fact
that seemed to impress every one. That, at all events!, is
Lord Mayo as we viewed him here, and as his memory will
remain for ninny long years to come."

It seems from information transmitted from the
Commissioner of Peshawur to Calcutta, that Shere All,
the assassin of the Viceroy, was the son of a certain
\Vallee of the Kookee Kheyl tribe, and belongs to Gaz-
ree, near Jain rood. Shere All was employed as an orderly
of the Commissioner of Peshawur. saving been con-
fined, for some offence not stated, in the lock-up at
Peshawur, he was taken from that place in 1857
by Major James, and sent to Hindostan with
Mir Jafir's regiment, apparently for service in
the mutiny. Alter the mutiny Major James took him
as an orderly, and he served in the same capacity
under Colonels Taylor, Becher, and Pollock. He is
reported to have committed a murder in his boyhood.
In 1867 he was concerned in the murder of a kinsman,
near the Commissioner's house at Peshawur, in pursu-
ance of a blood feud, but his capital sentence was com-
muted to imprisonment for life, as there was some
ground for believing that the actual blow might have
been struck by a comrade, who escaped. In pursuance
of the same feud he tired at a woman beyond the limits
of British territory.

As may be imagined, intense excitement was created
among the European community in India when the terrible
news of the Viceroy's assassination became known. The ex-
citement was not, however, confined to the European com-
munity, for the Madras Athenceunt says

" From personal observations we can speak to the
fact that a great deal of vague terror has been created.
The Mahornmedana we have come across are remark-
ably placid in their demeanour, but this is as they
usually are, whilst the Hindus seem to imagine that
event is a portentous one, and that, hi some vague way,
the British Government has received a terrible and un-
looked-for wound. We need scarcely mention the well-
known fact that all of the more intelligent Hindus,
at least in this presidency, are bitter and earnest
haters of Musselmans. A Mahommedan Govern-
ment to them would be utter, absolute, and irretrievable
ruination. Not having papers to depend upon, or only
depending upon the news afforded by papers which
they cannot trust because they are English ones, they
are teriified by wild and foolish reports. We should
not wonder if we heard in a few days of a rumour
flying about the presidency, especially about those
portions of it remote from railways and English
stations, startling ignorant natives into a belief of a
Mahommedan rising in the North. It is well
known with what extraordinary rapidity news cir-
culates in India. The echoes of a bazaar fly about
the country with marvellous speed. The rapidity
of their flight is only beaten by lightning or by
the electric telegraph. In the old times of'
Clive and Hastings, authentic news has been
known to travel four hundred miles in forty-eight
hours ! How, no one can tell. And the news which
thundered through Madras yesterday morning is most
probably echoing in remote hamlets and lonely hill-
villages to-day. The pith of it is of such a nature as
is caloulated to strike, and fix itself into, the native
mind. The head of the Indian Government, no
matter where, the representative of her Majesty the
Queen, no matter how, has been slain by the hand of a
son of Islam. 'rhis intelligence will be magnified, dis-
torted, and rendered still more horrible; so that,
many years hence, some lone European traveller,
passing through the secluded valleys of Coorg, or
the wild passes of Canara, may hear with astonish-
ment some strange lingering echo of the rumours of
to-day. The assassination of Earl Mayo as a fact
stands alone in the history of modern India. The
murder of Chief Justice Norman was nothing—or
next to nothing—to the minds of the great majority of
natives in the mofussil. Judge Sahib was killed, that
was all. But Earl Mayo occupies in the public Hindu
mind a vastly different position. Rajahs went to see
the Duke of Edinburgh, and to do homage to him as
the son of the Queen of England. To their ineffable
astonishment they found that the Viceroy was a
greater man still, at least in India. They learnt
with amazement that the Viceroy in person was
the representative in India of the person. of
the Queen. If Shere AU is purely a religious
fanatic, perhaps some rumour of this high honour
enjoyed by the Viceroy might have floated to him.
How greedily would his ears have devoured the in.
telligence. Ihink of the miscreant sharpening hue
knife as the day approached when the representative
of the Queen was to enter that island to which the
hateful infidel English power had condemned him for a
murder which, perhaps, he esteemed a righteous one.
Around him spread the impassable waves like a wall.
hut rumours of the world beyond his island prison had
doubtlessly reached his ears. Even the news of urape
has found its way to the Nicobars. We learn of a sign
board in a street of Port Blair having the meeting of
the rival Emperors at Sedan painted upon it. In a like
manner the news of the death of the Chief Justice
might have reached the ears of the fanatic Shere Al"

The Correspondent of The Timu, in writing of the
deceased Viceroy, says of him :
Lord Mayo served his Sovereign and country with entire
devotion, and in doing sostood high above all Indian cliques.
His 'Seethes werevf lin simplest, his tdeas "army. WM $o the

TrnP,ToTTRIMIDGE OBSERVER.

I not deny
I "drunt.

numl

"but it was only a joke; I was
utl never fir the Prefecture; I will prove
to you I did not. My mistress will come, and she will
tell you that I was with her all the time they
were setting fire to the building." "We will hear
what she has to say," said the imperturbable Presi
debt, Colonel de in Porte, who then called the
woman whose words could free the man from the
terror of &Ali. But, instead of saying words in Ids
favour, she began by accusing him of violence and
evil temper ; and then she proved that he was at the
Prefecture on the memorable 23rd of May, and that
he fought at the barricades, and that he only came
home on the evening of the 25th. The prisoner cast
at her agonising looks of entreaty, but she turned upon
him in fierce wrath. "You beat me ; I have not for-
gotten that; and I mean to tell the truth to
these gentlemen, and get rid of you." That
speech left no hope for the prisoner. Alter deliberat-
ing for twenty-five minutes, the Court returned with
the verdict that they found the prisoner guilty of all
the charges against him, and condemned him to death.

Another interesting trial by court-martial has taken
place. The prisoners were 'three. During the last
terrible days of the Commune these men arrested a
number of citizens, and stowed them away in a coal-
cellar under the sacristy, in the Church Of St. Eloi.
One of these unfortunates, a Madame Lecuyer, the wife
of a grocer, was arrested because she refused to make
known the biding-place of her husband, who had been
declared a traitor by the Commune. She was a
brave woman. Despite the threats of instant
death she steadfastly refused to betray her husband,
and hence she was thrust into a small cellar in which
were confined twelve other unfortunate people. On
the 25th of May, Boudoin, the chief prisoner, endea-
voured to force her to betray her husband. She refused,
and was again shut up in the cellar, with the com-
fortable assurance from her gaolor that she would suffer
for her devotion. Next morning the prisoners were
one by one made to pass before Boudoin, who
asked them whether they would go out and de-
fend a barricade, or stay and be shot. Most of
them accepted the first alternative, and by this means
saved their lives. One, however, who had the misfor-
tune to excite Boudoin's wrath, was shot by him on
the spot. Just as Madame Lecuver stepped out into
the garden the deed was done. he was led into the
church by Boudoin, who put a revolver to her face,
and told her she had but ten minutes to live. The brave
woman offered him her life if he would let the rest of
the prisoners go. "Seeing that I was not afraid,"
said she, "Boudoin took me by the hands, exclaimed,
'You are the right sort of citizenese—l wish we had
more like you,' and he then gave me a kiss." Madame
Licuyer had saved her own life by her bravery,. since,
for the moment at least, Boudoin gave up the idea of
shooting her; and in a few hours afterwards the Ver.
saillais had entered Paris, and the Commune wee over-
thrown. The Court condemned Boudoin to death, and
two of the prisoners to imprisonment; the fourth has
been acquitted.
•