The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-11-22
The Cabul Massacre.
TIE MURDER OF THE ENGLISH ExBAssY-cAvAG
SARI's IND.

TIE MURDER OF THE ENGLISH ENBAssY-cAyAG-
SARI's END.
The best story of the Cabul massacre is the
following, taken dOwn from the lips of one of the
survivors and furnished 10 the London Standard.
Says the writer l have just had a long CONVEX
sation with one Of Sir Louis Cayagnari's servants
who escaped he and three others are, as far as
known, the sole survivors of the hIdeOus massacre
Of which, doubtless. you have been already IN
formed by wire. The particulars of the case are
as follows At about ~half-past Z A. N. on the ID,
crowds of armed Afghan soldiers were perceived
running towards the ResIdency. Sir Louis
Cavagnari must have expected something, as be
ordered all the SOwars inside and had the gates
closed. Soon a mob of about 4 900 men had col
lected. The gate was broken down, and in a few
seconds the SOwars, though they fought nobly,
were borne down by numbers and massacred 10 a
man. A few soldiers, with the four white men,
met the assault of the Infatuated throng, who,
wild with fanaticism and the exultation of feeling
their prey in their grasp, swarmed TO the attack.
No h~inching, no wild firing was to be seen in the
gallant little band that met and repealed the
attack. Again and again did the Afghans, like
a recurring wave, forced on by the pressure Of
those behind, vainly essay to win their way into
the house. Each effort but increased the heap of
slain that fast accumulated round the house.
COwed by their reception, they Withdrew to the
cover available from walls and houses, and from
their vantage ground poured a hail of lead into
every opening in the building. Gallant HamIl-
ton, so lately adorned with the Victoria Cross,
adorned it with his heroic bravery. He exposed
himself undauntedly 10 the hottest fire for a
time he seemed to bear a charmed life, but at
length a bullet pierced his heart, and be, fighting
nObly, fell. DIR. Kelly ran to his and, and a bull
let speedily laid him low, too. Jenkyns was the
next to fall. Cavagnari, still unhurt, cheered ON
the misunderstanding band his presence in
spired all. Cheerfully and resolutely they dealt
out death to many a treacherOus Afghan. Cavag-
mari would strike while he could he ordered the
treasure-chest to be emptied into the courtyard
his fire momentarily ceased. The Afghans,
yielding to their greed, and thinking resistance
over, crowded to seize the glIttering rupees. In
a moment our men concentrated their fire on the
crowd struggling for the plumber. \ fire more
internal than before was soon reopened by the
attackers, and now, to their other mIsfortunes, the
magazine of the defenders exploded, and the roof
was set on fire. With numbers reduced by half,
fire within, bullets from without, nothing daunt-
ed, each man stood to his post but the reduced
numbers told ; a sudden rush of the enemy gained
the door; that feeble barrier gave way, yet no
sign Of fear was SNOWFALL met their death
a surging throng filled the room where Cavag-
narI, a ~jemadar, and three natives were. Cav
agnari's revolver spoke three times the death
knell of as many Afghans, and then a blow from
a heavy Afghan knife laid him low. His muir
derer did not long survive. With one blow of
sabre the jemadar swept off his head. A few
more such blows he made, and then he lay beside
bis master. But one escaped-the narrator of
the tale u me he hid ia a bath. The roof was
now blazing a part had fallen on the dead body
Of Cayagnari, so the crowd did not wait to search,
buL dragging the bodies vi the killed from the
house, they did not search for any con-
persons. and 50 my informant escaped. he
was a man who was thoroughly conversant with
the Afghan tongue, and, being n M~ussulman, he
managed after his escape from the house to pass
himself of as a Cabuli. The bodies were treated
with all the uncomfortable indignities which
Asiatics infict on their enemies. From 3 A. II.
till 2 P. n. the attack on the Residency continued.
HakOob had plenty OF other troops besides those
that attacked the ResIdency, yet he made no at
tempt even to send them To the rescue. Dad
Shah, the COmmander-in-Chief found a sufficient
reason IN the pelting of a couple of stones at him
not to Interfere Yakoob's son, a mere boy, WIS.,
the scene of attack, but being politely told
to interfere. could not conquer bis feelings of
sympathy with the slayers OF the Kafirs, he, too.
did nothing. One noble man there was, a Mol
"a Mussulman priest) who sought Yakoob
turing the attack and begged him to interfere,
md reproached him with the disgrace of killing a
friend and an Ambassador but Yakoob said
: can do nothing" Ii is stated that all was
design, and the seeming mutiny of
troops was but a skillful cloak for the murderous
let of his own Originaunn 1t IL strange that. at
he massacre OF McNaughtOn, of the former Mis-
lion, a Mollah had. similarly reproached the
Ameer, and that his words were the means OF saw
the lives Of George Lawrence and others of
he mission who had been seized and were mo-
expecting their death. No such good
Crtune was in store for our unfortunate country
men.