The Sun.
London, England, 1826-10-03 00:00:00

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PRICE 71).

A SUTTEE.

The following is an extract from a letter just received
by a Gentleman from his son, employed in the Bom-
bay army :

" MANDURA, FEB. 9.8.

" As you say you like to hear all about the manners of
the natives, &c. I send a description ofaSettee,or burning
of a woman, that I wrote down the morning after I wit-
nessed it. It is any thing hut a pleasant sight; but as I
think all the descriptions you ma}' have•read of such have
been of rich people, the following will give you an idea
how it is conducted when the poor are the dramatis per-,
sorm—As we. were strolling about in the evening, our
attention was attracted to a procession, preceded by Tpm-
toms, &c., then pugging through the gate of the town. On
inquiry we were told that a Suttee was about to take place,
or a woman going to burn herself with the body of her
child. We joined the procession fur two reasons: Ara,
to endeavour to prevent so shocking a sacrifice taking place;
and, secondly, if that • should fail, we were prompted
by curiosity to witness so extraordinary, a circumstance
once in our lives. The woman was seated on a suttoo,
or small pony, holding u small brunch in each hand,
and surrounded by men and women crying "Ram, ram,"
and other words of approbation and respect. On arriving at
the place w:iere she was to sacrifice herself, she dismounted
from the suttoo, and a circle being formed around her by the
numerous friends and spectutors,she contiimedgivingrice,&c.
(or rather went through thalami of doing so, as she was
very poor), whilst the people kept up their horrid cries,
evidently to present the poor creature from thinking on
her situation, by keeping her in a 'state of continual excite-
ment during the time the pile was being made : it con-
sisted of three or four sticks, forming acirele of about three
feet in diameter at bottom, and tied in a point at top, like.a
cone, at the bottom of which, on the ground, large logs of
wood were placed, so us to form a seat.—The woman'a
husband was watching the body of the child, which was
lying on the bier close by.. We asked him it it was his
wish that his wife should burn'herselt.and why he allowed.
• it. He said Yes, that his wife wished it herself, and that
was sufficient ; besides that, he had two wives, and his
wouldzain greet afro, er;.cheracter, by it. We
then went up to the woman, and asked her if it was
optional on her part, as, if it was not, that our Government
would protect her (as she would have been turned out of
her caste, and family, and left to starve, if she had refused to
burn herself, after expressing her intention so to do.) She un-
swered, that she wished to burn herself, that it was not
forced on her, and that she would do it.' 'Phis re-
peated even after she had seated herself on the pile. After
she had given away all the rice, &cl. she made a signal to.
the, surrounding crowd, who opened the way for her, and
she moved on and seated herself on the logs of wood at
the bottom of the pile, her son, about six years old, being
laid on her lap ; she kept fanning him with the branches,
and singing, or rather crying out, some unintelligible words,
and moving backwards and forwards, evidently in a state
of the greatest excitement, .from a great quimtity Lang,
or opium, that she had been eating all the time. Large
logs of wood were then piled round her up to her chin,
• Just leaving sufficient space for her to bit in, and a kind of
dry thorn bush was thickly la;(1 on the outside of the pile;
two pieces of cotton steeped in glue being Kiri* to her, she
threW them up amongst the dry thorn, which immediately
ignited, and at the saute time itwas lighted in severalplaces
by the attendants. As a very strong wind blew at the time,
it burned moat rapidly, and the poor creature must havo been.
suffocated almost directly. She made not the slightest strug-
gle, nor was even a cry or groan heard. When the thorns
had burned away a little, we could plainly see her, with
her head hanging back, of course perfectly dead. She had
not moved her situation in the least. It is, perhaps, doubt-
ful whether she could have done so, on account of the
heavy wood which was placed on her knees, and piled
round her. One of our party went close to, anti looked
into the pile, after she had lighted it, but the expression
of her face was not in the least degree chenged : at that
time she quietly drew a cloth over her face. From the
quantity of opium she had eaten, added, perhaps, to the.,
pitch to which her feelings had been worked up,
.she had
a very wild appearance, and was most likely prevented
froni giving a thought to what she was about to do by the
continued cries or her friends around. The natives 'ap-
peared really to' go about it with as little concern us
school-boys burn Guy Fawkes. Not a single expression
•of pity or horror was heard, and the' poor infatuated WO-
man appeared more like an animated piece of mechanism
than a Inman being. The Thait, or great Maxi of Man-
, darn, had offered her considerable sums of money not to
burn herielf, but with. no effect."

The following letter is copied from Aris'B Birming-
ham Gazette, of Monday, Sept. 25, 1826 :

TO THE EDITOR OF ARIS'S IHRMINGHAM GAZETTE.
Sta,—ln your account of the Dinner given to Mr. Ludlow by
.his friends at Bridgnorth, I have observed considerable error in
what I am stated to have said in reference to Mr. Thomas Whit-
more, the points of my observations being made more strong,
and their qualifications being wholly omitted. Whatever might
have been mr expressions under the excitement of the occasion,
it was not any intention that they should he construed into per.
tonal hostility:to one who has ever stood so bil,h in any estimation
and regard. His absence on the Continent has preveuted an in-
terview between us till this day, and I am now happy to say that
its result has satisfied- me that the. circumstances which caused
my aniuutdversions on any part of his conduct, (or rather that of
his agents) at the late election, were either in contradiction to his
orderi, or beyond his controul.
The insertion. of the above in your next publication will much
oblige your humble servant, E. S. DAVENPORT.
Wettish' House, Sept. IS,. 1826.'

madeeoflnheee
DRAMATIC SENSIOILITY.—Kcan took his benefit
at Montreal on the 21st August, when he appeared in
cardinal lVolsey and Sylvester Damverwood. In
the latter he gave, amongst the rest, imitations of
certain pantomimic actors and harkquins, which gave
but little satisfaction. At the close, the audience cla-
moured loudly for him to appear. In vain the manager
" Kean, Kean !" and after some
attempted to address them. He was saluted with the
province iitil :le
never
rhbaes
cries of " 011; offr
delay, the latter made his appearance, and addressed
is
the audience to this effect :----" Ladies and Gentlemen,
obedient to your request, I have left my bed-room, to
which i had retired, in considerable exhaustion. The
tonnetmwxitli
heartil ~,t,ihiiisch
The character which I assumed to-night •
never attempt again.
which I have not attempted for many
kind raencertiniporneslsilomnve
up
years, and
Some person
M the pit here cried "give us another tu hl -6 on
ni e t:Are
" This interruption was received•
vougo. , With general
hisses, and cries of " turn him out." m, r
sumed. At the request of the ladies A :.
.'";
c'' 1 re:,
one which I will,
MN gentlemen of
this city I have left my room to •
appear before them.
I always feel a pleasure in obe 'in'
)g their commands,
but as for Mat fellow (alluding ing to the person who
requested the additional tumble) I d *
, evise hi m•
m.---
1 Montreal Herald. ,

(From the litahaester Gazelle.)
At the New Bailey Court-house, on Thursday, a case
was heard by the sating Magistrates, Ralph Wright and
James liibbert, Esqrs., which filled the whole Court with
astonishment and indignation.

The persons charged with this infamous conspiracy were
John Bridgford, the landlord of the :Exchange Tavern' in St.
Mary's-sate; Towers,an attorney,(office,Exchange
Tavern); and Samuel Matelly, John Reddish, Betijamm
Hornbill, and Thomas Hardman, bailiffs.
The victims of the alleged conspiracy were, Mrs., Sand-
ford, and Miss Bridgford, her• sister, two ladies who suc-
ceeded their father, the late much and deservedly respected
Mr. John Bridgford, in the business of seedsman and florist,
in Market-street.

Mr. W. A. WOODDURNE, who appeared as the advocate.
of the complainants, stated that this was one of the most •
important cases that ever came into that Cart. It was a
charge of conspiracy to cheat, defraud, harass, oppress, and
impoverish, an inoffensive .and respectable widow lady,
named Sandford. Mr. Woodburne then detailed the facts
of the ease, from which it appeared, that on the death of
the late Mr. Bridgford, Mrs. Sandford entered into part. •
nership with her sister, Miss Bridgford.- On that ()era-
sion, Mt's. Sandford gave notice to the landlord of the
house in which she then resided, that she should quit at a
certain time, but the notice not being deemed sufficiently
long, the landlord sent her a bill for the rant np to the fall
time, which amounted-to 10/. Mrs. Sandford, not being
prompt in the payment of the money, he-directed his at,
torney, Mr. Ratcliffe, to commence proceedings *just
her, and the.. result was, a cognovit - was prepared by Mr.
Ratcliffe's clerk, and signed by Mrs. Sandford, at the bot-
tom of which was a memorandum or defeusance, which
stipulated that judgment should not be entered up, pro-
vided that the costs and .5/. were paid down, and the re-
maining 5/. in two months front the date of the instrument.
The defendant, Bridgford, the brother of the. complainant,
being desirous •to get possession of the papers- and do-
cuments of his late father, entered into a conspiracy for
that purpose with the other defendants, and Towers
acted as the attorney in the business. Bridgford, with'
out the knowledge or concurrence of Mrs. Sandford's
creditor (Mr. Robert Jones); obtained the coon.
tit from Mr. Ratcliffe, and Towers,' who acted in
the business as his attorney, sent • the eageovit. to Pres'.
ton, the defeasance or memorandum at the foot of it hav-
ing first been cut off by Hombin, who, on being told by
Mr. Jones that he had done wrong,: said,...-0 Oh, be d—d ;
I've done that many times before. I served one last week
the same sauce." On the 22d instant •'a letter. .Orrived at
the Exchange Tavern, ,directed.to Towers, and containing
the execution; and after the defendants had dined toge-
ther, Mawley, Reddiah, Horabin„ and Ilcuilmon, .not one
of
.whom was named in the execution, took a cart, and
proceeded with it to the plaintiff's shop. Mrs. Sandford,
at the time, was pnwell, and lying on the sofa in the buck.
room., Miss Bridgford asked them what they wanted.—
They said they had an execution at the suit of Bendier
and others. Why," said. Miss Bridgford, "you have
had part of the money." " Oh," said Mawley, turning to
his companions, "Tire away." They then seized the
drawers and boxes containing the family papers, together
with all
,Miss Bridgford's clothes and trinkets,,a calamity
of seeds, •ft quantity of valuable books, a 51. note, a box of
medals, and numerous other articles, to the amount of
about 501. for a debt of about 5/. In great distrets of
mind Miss Bridgford and her sister went to Mr. Wood-
burne'a office, and acquainting'llim with what had hap-
pened, engaged his professional assistance. Mr. Wood-
burne immediately went to Mr. Bridgford's house, and
seeing Mr. Bridgford, asked him if there was any property
there that had been brought from his (Mr. Bridgford's)
sisters', in Market-street; upon which Bridgford said
" No; you may go to —." On the same evening, Mr. W.
wrote to Preston, and learnt that Towers, the attorney, had
sent off the cognopit for the execution, and that the defeasanes
was torn off.. On Saturday Mr. Woodburne went to the
Eiehange Tavern, and saw a :ban= announeiug the sa4+
of furniture. Towers. was there, and admitted to Mr.
Niroodhorne, that he was the attorney in Mrs. Sandford's
„case. " I sin conic,'' said Mr. Woodburne, "to pay the
debt and eosts.'', Towers and .Horabin, who acted as his
clerk, then went into a room, followed by Mr. Wood-
Inane,
when Horabin produced the execution, and Mr.
Woodburne paid 10/. 18s. Od. for the debt and costs, and
Horabin signed a receipt for it. 'Whilst this transaction
was taking place, .the sale of the goods was going on;
"and to show," said Mr. Woodburne, " the manner in
which the timings were thrown away, I have to state that
183 numbers of a valuable wt4rk,, called Curtiei Botanical
-Magazine, for which the executors of the late Mr. Bridg-
ford refused. 20. guineas, were knocked down for the paltry
sum of Bs. 6d.. No,account of what way sold was reeder.
ecl, nor were more thann one half of the goods returned;
the 5/. note, which could not have been sold, wuselso not
returned. Mr. Woodburne then proceeded to call his
witnesses.

The Magistrates immediately ordered Bridgford to enter
into recognizanees to appear at the Sessions to answer to
any indictment for misdemeanour that might be preferred
against him—himself in 200/, and two sureties in 100/.
each. The remainder of the defendants were also ordered
to enter into recognizanees for a similar purpose, each of
them in 100/. and two sureties of 504 each, and 24 hours'
notice of the bail to be given to Mr. Woodburne.
Bridgford finding bail was liberated; but the remainder
not being able to do so, were committed to prison, and
tl►ey were all locked up, Mr. Towers the attorney, includ-
ed. This gentleman affected to laugh .on the oecusion,
but it was evidently an attempt at merriment.