The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-09 00:00:00

THE MUTINY AT REBA ISMAIL KHAN.

The following account of the Mutiny at Dera
Ismail Khan has been received :
" DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Aug. 12, 1858.
" My dear —,—We have had an excitement
here which has kept us on the stir for the last three
weeks, and I wanted to see how the thing really
stood before I•wrote.
" You know, I dare say, that among the Sikhs
there are two or three classes, and that of these the
Malwas come from the Cis-Sutlej, and form a clan,
and rather a large one, who, from their known in-
solence and insubordination under the Sikh Raj,
were not much entertained or trusted in ; but our
Government, thinking that part of the abuse of
them arose from their being in our States, did not
hesitate to employ them, and at one time the Fero-
zepore, Loodiana, and some other regiments raised.
at Umballa and there away in former days were all
composed of Malwas. How this is now I don't
quite know, but I believe a good deal modified.
Renny's Regiment, however, the 3d Sikhs, now at
Bunnoo, is nearly all of this class, or was until the
commencement of the mutiny, when he entertained
other men, such as Pathans, Dogras, Punjabee
Mussulmans, and Sikhs (Mhanga). The 10th Pun-
jab Infantry had on its being raised three com-
panies sent from Renny's Regiment, 80 strong each,
of whom 130 were Malwas, and nearly a like num-
ber of men from the 6th Police Battalian stationed
here at Dera ; each set gave four soubandars, four
jemadars, 48 havildars, and 48 naiks as well; other
vacancies were filled up by Gardiner, the com-
mandant, and two native officers came from the
Guides' and ' Coke's.' The regiment now consists
of 10 companies, and in accordance with orders and
the practice adopted with the "new regiments (from
7th to the 25th), classes are fairly represented; say,
Dogras, 100; Pathans, 100; Punjab Mussulmans,
200 ; Sikhs, 400 ; of the Malwa lot we have about
(Renny gave us nearly all we have) 8 native offi-
cers, 69 non-commissioned, and 130 Sepoys. There
was always great hatred between the sets, equally
shared in by those of Renny's and the Police Bat-
talion, and little fights for the biggest share of the
commanding officer's patronage.
" The Malwas are tremendous opium-eaters, out-
doing the most inveterate Mhanga Sikh in consum-
ing the drug; they are also generally more debauched,
being fond of bhang. Jemadar Itunjod Singh (a
' 3d Sikh' man) used to give bhang parties, as your
old ladies might tea ditto, and it was at these
meetings that this rumpus originated, as far as we
can make out.

" I think it was on the evening of the 22d of July
that it was reported to Gardiner, the commandant,
that there was a plot going on among the Malwa
Sikhs, joined by some others of the caste—the bad.
characters—l mean Sikhs generally—the jemadar
being the leader, to rise, murder the officers, in
confusion get hold of the guns, make a party, kill
all who should oppose, and, finally, when success-
ful, send up to Bunnoo for the 3d Sikhs, on being
joined by whom march via Dera Ghazee Khan to
Mooltan, there re-arm the Pandies (they were to
take the 39th, poor things, from here in the same
delightful way ; I may as well say that on account
of this business the 39th marched four days ago for
Sealkote), achieve triumphant success in every
direction, and then march on to Lahore, trusting to
fate, that the jemadar had 25 good men to back him
in the regiment at once, and that the Sikhs of the
Artillery, Cavalry, and Police Battalion were tam-
pered with and ready to join. So much for opium
bhang and a boastful idea of one's own powers ; of
course, the jemadar was to be the General Sahib of
future operations.
" Gardiner, on hearing the story, goes to Col.
M'Donald, commanding the stationed, tells him, and
goes to the lines of the regiment to place these
loyal men in limbo. It was quite dark, about 10
p.m., when he went accompanied by the Colonel;
they went to the quarter-guard, and from there
sent to call Runjod Singh and a sepoy, Bussawa,
Singh, whose name had been given up. Bussawa
came first, and Gardiner ordered a- naik and four
from the guard to step out and put him in arrest ;
on hearing this he bolted down the lines towards
Runjod Singh's house, some of the men after him,
the soubandar of the guard leading. The Sepoy
called out as he ran, They are killing me,' and on
coming near the jemadar's the latter came out with
a drawn sword, and followed, some say by 10 and
some 20 men armed. The jemadar cut down the
soubandar and another Sepoy, but the remainder of
the guard coming up with G---, the fellow bolted,
and has not since been heard of ; darkness, confu-
sion, and the speed with which the affair was got
through prevented any arrests or recognitions ; they
scattered like chaff. The regiment fell in,' parties
were sent off in pursuit before a roll-call was made,
and hence our doubt as to who was in the plot.
It was the impression that night that six men had.
accompanied the jemadar in his flight,- but next
morning it turned out that all were present except
the jemadar and Sepoy Bussawa Singh.
" A court of inquiry at once assembled, and 43
witnesses were examined, but little satisfactory or
direct evidencereame out ; enough, however, to show
that, though the plot was rather fresh, there was a
degree of complicity attached to the Mhanga Sikhs
not pleasant to the view. The Court put one havil-
dar, three naiks, and four Sepoys in quod, against
whom there is more than suspicion ; but the evi-
dence was stiff to come at at all ; the Sikhs of all
sorts lied like fiends. General Chamberlain arrived.
here three days ago, and since then three Sikh
native officers have been added to the list of arrests,
two of whom are not Malwa Sikhs. This is not a. pleasant beginning for the new army, is it ? Another
court has assembled to-day ; I hope it will get at
something. The Sepoy, Bussawa Sing
an h, gave
self up (half that and half caught) at outpost
and is now in gaol. The Sikh portion of the
regiment are naturally excited, whether implicated
or not, but the rest of the fellows take it very
quietly, and if it came to a row and we European
officers were not shot down (a great probability),
master Khalsajee would get a proper powdering.
" The regiment is sure to be improved by it, as
we shall get rid of the evil spirits, and I hope both.
sides will take a lesson. It will be years before
the old quietness returns, if it ever does among the
new troops, for the antagonism of tribe and caste
will prevent it, but this well-handled ought to be
our best protection."

ALLEGED DEATH FROM THE BIT:::
OF A MONKEY.,

The following case came before the Sheriff Court,
Airdrie district, on Friday :—The pursuer, David
Martin, miner, Coatbridge, sued John Leckie,
auctioneer, Sunnyside, Coatbridge, for £lOO, for
loss, damage, and injury to his feelings, in conse-
quence of the want of due care on the part of the
defender in allowing an ape or monkey belonging
to him to attack, bite, and otherwise lacerate the
hands, face, &c., of the pursuer's son, Robert
Martin, a child between two and three years of
age, whereby the child was so seriously injured
that it died in about a month thereafter. After a
proof being led by both parties, the sheriff substi-
tute (Strathern) pronounced an interlocutor, going
over the facts of the case, to the effect that on the
9th of September the child had been bitten by the
monkey on the lip, cheek, temple, and left ear,
from which it suffered much pain, but which
wounds were healed in little more than a fortnight
afterwards. The child, however, from the effects
of the bites became dull and depressed in spirit%
and after going about for six or seven days he le_
came bedfast, the nervous symptoms becoming
worse, exhibited in starts while sleeping, suddenly
waking up, screaming wildly, and violently calling
out in terror, " The monkey !" leaving his bed and
crawling below it, in attempts at night when lying
in his mother's bosom to flee from some imaginary
danger, and in efforts to climb the walls of the bed-
place, in attempts to gnaw his hands, in spasmodic
clutching of the bedclothes, in convulsions, foam-
ing and bleeding at the mouth, latterly in uncon-
sciousness, the whole eventuating in the child's death
on the 28th day of September. The sheriff conse-
quently found, in point of law, that the defender
culpably kept the said monkey, known to be
vicious, insufficiently secured in a courtyard, hav-
ing an open gateway and ruined wall, by which.
children were enabled and tempted by the pre-
sence of the monkey to come, and where, having
Come on the occasion libelled, the monkey, from no
act of the said deceased child irritating or provok-
ing it, was allowed to break his chain, and to bound
and bite and wound the child; and, in consequence,
the defender is liable to the pursuer in damages
finds that, in the circumstances, £2O is a moderate
and reasonable sum in name of damages due to the
surgeon's expenses
pursuer inflicted by the said monkey on the said
Sheriff Alison,
finding
child, and in payment of
therefore finds the defender liable to pursuer in said
sum ; finds the defender also liable in ezeilise.,.
re-
versedhtha The
t etha se et
hwe
deatha
ds e appealeddecision
iotnheof
childto
Sheriff
was
not
owing
to the
bite of the monkey, but was traceable to
water in
the head ; but finding the defender liable in half
the costs, because he was not altogether free of
blame, as the monkey should have been secured by.
a stronger chain.—Edinburgla Courant.

IMPALEMENT OF A PAINTER.—Yesterday morn-
ing a frightful accident occurred to George Main a painter,
aged 27 years who resided at No. 3, Adelaide-place, Step-
ney-green. The unfortunate man was at work on a ladder
at Newington-crescent, when it suddenly snapped in two,
and he fell upon the spikes below with much violence, the
spikes penetrating his body. He was extricated as soon as
eossible,i when he was conveyed to Guy's Hosyital, where
very assistance was rendered, but he remains in a danger-
ous state.