The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-25
THE BLACK HOLE At CALCUTTA.
FRoM rnE plARY or A mpsu1pMAr.

mad commenced. This cold season begins
about the first of November, and lasts through
February; but it is not like one of our winters
not IN the least-being really warmer than
our early autumnal or spring temperature.
AS might be supposed, one of my chief de-
slres, on reaching Calcutta, was to see the
famous Black Hole. My readers have proba-
ply all heard of it, and many of them may be
as well acquainted with the story as ] am.
Stlll, as some may not know the circumstances,
will give them as gathered them briefly.
In 1890 the English gained possession OF
three small villages upon the river Hoogly,
where they erected trading factories; and eight
years later an Indian prince, named Azeen
Ooshan, who was friendly to the English, gave
them a perpetual lease of these villages, and
allowed them TO erect fOrtiiioations, The first
I0rtihcation was erected at the village oil Cal
Outta, and was called Fort William, in compli-
ment to the English King of the time. Under
the protection of this fort quite settlement
sprang up here and the business of the Com
pany throve exceedingly. Towards the mid
die of the eighteenth century, France and Eng
land being at war, trouble sprang up between
the French and English in India, which was
pushed to the extent of pitched warfare; and
it was while the attention of the English COM
manders was turned towards their Christian
enemy that Surajah Dowlah, who had recently
become Nabob of Bengal, and who hated the
British, gathered together a large army, and
made an attack upon Calcutta when the Eng
ish were in no way prepared for proper de-
fense.
1t was in June, 1855, that the Nabob made
his attack, with an army of seventy thousand
horsemen and four hundred elephants. Cal
Cutta was easily taken, and those who could
do so fled to the fort for protection. After
plundering the town, and setting it on fire in
many places, Surajah Dowlah turned his
attention to the fort, which was defended by
mere handful of men with great bravery;
but they could not hope to hold out against
such odds, and towards evening, on the 10th
of june the garrison surrendered, there being
one hundred and forty-six of them left alive.
Down in the basement of the fort was a
dungeon, not quite eighteen feet square, con-
structed for the confinement of refractory sol
dlers or dangerous prisoners; and never had
those in command deemed it safe to keep
more than four persons in it at the same time,
the ventilation being such that not more than
that number could be safely kept there over
night. Into this dungeon Surajah DOwlah
ordered his prisoners to be put and locked up
for the night; and Mr.. Howell, who was of
the number and who CHANGED to be among
the survivors, says that it required the united
strength of many men to close the door of the
dungeon, so tightly were the prisoners
pressed in
To this dungeon there were two windows,
or small barred loop-holes, both upon one
side through which but little air could come
at best; bat when we remember that the town
was on fire in many places and that the air
without was hardly fit to breathe from the
dense smoke with which it was laden, what
must have been the air within that dungeon
The unhappy prisoners had been thus con-
fined but very few moments when they
broke forth into profuse perspiration, and as
the system thus began to throw off its water,
of course they were seized with fierce thirst.
Those near the windows held up their faces to
the air, while those who were in the rear
~strove to press forward. Some one of their
number suggested that if they removed their
clothing they would have more room to stand
in, and most of them stripped themselves bare;
but the relief was not perceptible.
One of the guard, who stood by window,
was offered a thousand rupees if he would
have them conveyed to larger room. He
went away, but soon returned, saying that it
could not be done. The offer was then dOu-
bled; but the man told them that the Nabob
was asleep, and that no one dared to awaken
him !
AS the night advanced, the cry for water
became general, and at length one of the guard
brought some in pail but the pail could not
be taken through the bars, so those who stood
by the windows took it in their hats, and in
the rush to secure it most of it was spilled.
No more was brought, and the prisoners now
shooting them. They howled, and hooted,
and taunted the sentinels hoping that they
would fire upon them; but, instead of that, the
dark-skinned soldiers of the Nabob brought
torches, and crowded about the windows to
enjoy the horrible spectacle
AS the night crept on, all selt-control was
lost many of the unfortunates became delirl-
Gus; those in the rear pressed madly forward
towards the windows; the weak and faintine
ones were borne down and trampled under
foot; and ever and anon some poor creature
in a far corner would sink down and die from
asphyxia. After midnight the stencil became
dreadful, and grew worse and worse every
moment. Entirely bereft of sense and reason,
the suffering wretches stamped and hoWled,
and prayed and cursed, and fought like mad
men. To say that it had become bedlan
would convey no idea at all OF the horrors ol
the place.
By midnight the victims began to drop of
fast, and long before daylight all sentient erie
for succor had ceased; for those who survived
were either powerless or utterly raving. AT
o'clock in the morning the Nabob awoke, anc
ordered the dungeon to be opened. vi the
one hundred and forty-siX men who had beer
there shut up on the evening before, only
twenty-three were found alive, and even they
were SO stupefed as to be utterly powerless
hut the fresh air revived them, and in TIM
they recovered their senses and their strength
Mr.. Howell was willing to believe tina
Suraiah Dowlah did not intend to cause an.
such catastrophe, and that the awful resul
was due to the malevolence Of few lntero
officers; but the majority of those who Wer
eoenizant of the facts were unwilling thus I