The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-11-21
| Atrocities by the English near Benares.
The = berdeen HeraM publishes the fol-
owing letter from a soldier of the 18th
Iighlanders to relative in Perth:

! Uigblanders, to a relative in Perth:
On the evening of the 9th Of June ther,
were 240 of the 7Sth-I was one Of them
and 100 of the 3ikhs, and 30 Of the sewars
that is, native cavalry, went Of Benares il
carts, except the horsemen. At 3 O'Clock
=. NJ. next day, we were divided into three
lots to scour the country. The division
was in wen. TO village, which was desert
ed. We set fire to it and burned il to the
gaound. We were coming back when a
gentleman came TO us and said that vii.
lage, about two miles off, was full of them,
and they were drawn up TO give US battle.
We marched, or rather ran to them; we got
! within 800 yards of them, when they ran
We fired after them, and shot eight OF
them. We were going to the village when a
i, man came runnfng out TO us, and up with
his hand and saiuted our officer. We
shouted, he was Sepoy that Is, a native
soldier-to seize him. He was taken, and
about twelve more. We came back to the
carts on the road, and an old fat man came
! TO Us, and wanted to be paid for the village
we had burned. We had a magistrate with
US; he found him out Of harboring these
villains and giving them arms and food
Five minutes settled it; the Sepoy and the
/ man that wanted money were taken TO the
/ roadside and hanged to a tree. We lay on
/ the road all night beside the two men hang
/ ing. Next morning, we got up and marched
/ some miles through the fields, tue rain
, pouring down in torrents. We came to
another village. set fire to it, and came back
/ to the road. BY that time the other divi-
sious were not Idle. They had done as
much as US.
There were about 60 prisoners; 6 were
hung that day and about 30 of them fog
ged After that, the magistrate said that
there was iioidar that he would give 1000
rupees 10 get, dead OF alive. We slept on
the road tHat night, and the six men hanging
beside uS. At 3 o'clock F. NJ the bugle
sounded fall in" OF We marched up to
our knees ia clay and water. We came to a
village and set it On fire. The sun came
out and we got dry, but we soon got wet
again with sweat We came to a village,
full Of people We took about 200 and set
fire to il. went in, and it was all in
flames. | saw an old man trying to trail out
a bed lie was not able to walk, far less
carry out TIE cot. | ordered him out of the
vilage and pointed out the flames, and told
him as well as | could that if he did not he
would be burned. | took the cot and drag
gtd him out.
| came round corner Of street Or lane,
and | could see nothing but smoke and
flames. | stood for a moment to think
which way | should 90. just as | was
looking around saw a house and the flames
bu, sting out Of the walls, and to my sur
prise saw little boy about four years old
i9oking out at the door 20 nted the way
out to the Old man and told him if he did
not 20 | would shoot bin. | rushed TO the
house | saw the little boy az. The door was
81 = a. Il
myself; | thought Of the poor helpless child.
! rushed in, and after got in there was
sort Of square, and all round this were
houses, and they were all in flames; and in
stead Of seeing the helpless child, bcneid
six children fIom two TO eight years old, an
old dotal woman, an old man unable to walk
wit ont help. and 4 young woman about
twenty y,ags old, with a child wrapped up
IN her bosom. | am sure the child was not
above I've or six hours Old The mother
was in a ho; fever stood and looked, but
looking at that time would not do. | Iried
to ge: tie lir.le boys to hy but they would
not. | took the infant; the mother would
have il; gave Il back a took the woman
IN my arms TO carry her and the babe out.
The children took the old man and woman.
| took the lead, knowing they would follow.
| cane TO a place where il was impossible to
see where | was on account of the flames. |
dashed through, and call d on the others to
follow. After hard fight | got them all
safe ont, but that vas all Even coming
through the fire, part Of their clothes, that
did not cover half Of their bodies, was burn
cd. st them down in the field, and went
in at another place. ! saw nothing but
flames al around. A little further, saw
poor old woman trying 70 come out. She
could not walk she only could creep on her
hands and feet. | went UP to her ami told
her | would carry her out; but no, she
would not allow ne to do it; but when
saw it was no use to put off with her, l took
her up in my arms and carried her out.
went in at the other end, and came across a
woman about twenty-five years of age. She
was sitting over man that, TO all appear
ance, would not see the day out. She was
wctting his lips with some SiSte. The fire
was coming fast, and others all around were
in flames. Not far from this | saw Iour wo-
men. ran up to them, and asked them to
come and help the sick man and woman
out, but they thought they had enough to
do, and SO they had, poor things; but, to
save the woman and the man, | drew my
bayonet, and told them if they did not |
weuId xiii them. They came, carried them
them. To look on, any one would have said
that the flames were in the clouds. When
went to the other side of the village, there
were about l40 women and about TO child
ren, all cryiRg and lamenting what had been
done The old woman of that small family
| took out came, and | thought she would
have kissed the ground stood on. | offer
ed them some biscuit which had Tor my
days rations, but they would not take it; it
would break their caste, they said. The
assemble sounded, and back | went with
es many blessings as they could pour out on
anything nearest their heart.
Out of the prisoners that were taken, the
man that the two thousand rupees were Of
fered for was taken by US for nothing. We
hanged ten of them on the spot, and tiogged
a great many-about sixty. We burned
another village that night If you had seen
the ten march round the grove, and seen
them looking the same as if nothing was 60
ing to happen them There was one of
them fell; the rope broke ana down he
came. He rose up and looked all round ; he
was hung up again. After they were ali
hanged, the others were taken round to see
them.
On the 9th we-a number of 1S0-went
out against 1000. We came up close to
them; they were all drawn up in three
lines; it looked too many for US, but on We
dashed, and in short time they began to
run. We set fire to a large village that was
full of them; we surrounded it, and as they
came rushing out Of the flames, shot them.
We took eighteen of them prisoners; they
were all tied together, and We fired a volley
at them and shot all Of them on the spot
We came home that night, after marching
more than twenty miles, and fighting nearly
thirty to one. We are told that we killed
over five hundred; our loss was one man
and one horse killed, and one man and one
horse wounded.
Some poet has stated "the world is full OF
change" Don't believe it. II so, where is