The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-04-22

lent majesty, lord of the 1shadden, king
of elephants, master of many white ele-
plants, lord of the mines of gold, silver,
rubies, amber, and the noble serpentine,
sovereign of the empires of Thunaparata
and Tampadipa, and other great empires
aud countries, and of all the umbrella
wearing chiefs, the supporter of religion,
the sun-descended monarch, arbiter
of life, the great righteous king, king Of
kings, and professor of boundless domin-
ions and supreme wisdom.
Theebau was at this time about twen-
ty years old. He is described as a tall,
well-built comely young fellow, with
smooth olive complexion, good fore
head, clear, steady, bright black eyes,
firm but pleasant mouth, sensual chin,
and "a will all his own" Of this last
quality the young king soon gave unmis-
taxable proof. To begin with, the re-
forming ministers who had advanced him
to the throne were shut up in prison and
the King formed ministry of his own,
composed mainly of youths of his own
age, who had right royal time in the
palace, which became, as it is described,
the scene of orgies conducted absolutely
without restraint. Recognizing, how
ever, that he had no title to the throne,
Theebau proceeded to get rid of possible
rivals by the simple plan of killing all
his relatives.
There were great many of them, for
his father had left thirty-seven of his
wives and tifty-nine of his children liv-
ing, and their massacre, year or two
ago, attracted the attention OF the whole
world, and was the occasion of some in.
effectual diplomatic Representations on
the part of Great Britain. The descrip-
tions given of this bloodthirsty perform
ance are most revolving. At first the
victims were led from their cells in two
and threes to shekho to the king; then
their heads were tied to their respective
pairs of ankles, and blows with heavy
club on the backs of their necks ended
their misery. But this soon proved too
mild spectacle for the fendish malig-
nifty of Theebau. One Of his elder broth
ers professed utter scorn for what could
be done to him, aud was fogged to
death.
Another, who had looked upon the
foreigners as the dirt beneath his feet
and as utterly unworthy to crawl be-
tween heaven and earth, was taunted
and driven to madness before receiving
a half-fatal blow, and his writhing body
was then thrown into the gigantic trench
dug to receive the dead. A former Gov
ernor of Rangoon had his nose and mouth
filled with gunpowder, match applied,
and he was also flung into the trench, to
be stifed by the succeeding bodies. One
young girl of 16 was pitched into the
same heaving grave after having suffered
every outrage which could be devised by
eight soldiers of the guard. One princess
was cut in two, and her husband was
called to see his wife and child be-
fore he died. The massacre was carried
on in this lesurely fashion until Thee
bau and the executioners wearied of the
sport; then the women were simply bat
tered over the head and the children
were swung against the palace walls
This accomplished, King Theebau set
tied down to business as an Oriental
despot upon a grand scale. He spent
money furiously, and to provide royal
revenue he devised system of lotteries,
of which his ministers were the mana
gers, and they were given to understand
that they must get plenty of subscrip-
tions if they expected to retain the roy
al pleasure. This resulted in the use of
force by them to induce investments, and
the community became so demoraized
that trade stopped, drawings were held
even on the oobonays, or old-fashioned
sacred days, and Damayona-a place Of
worship and prayer-was selected and
used as lottery Office. Meanwhile, the
) master Of many white elephants was 60
: : ing from bad to worse.
A correspondent who visited him a
year ago described his face as puffed and
bloated, his eyes sunken and dead, and
his whole physiognomy repulsive and un
wholesome. giving prophecy of his early
death. Last week the report came thai
this young beast had taken the small
pox and died. Yesterday it was said
that he had the leprosy and that the
propitiatory sacrifice he had ordered wa'
designed for the benefit Of his health
To-day a new explanation is given, anG
there is no intimation concerning tn,
kings health or whether he is alive o.
dead. 1t should be mentioned in thi
connection that in spite of his heroic
|. measures. three or four of his brothers es
! capped into India, where they have beer
= under the protection of the Anglo-Indial
'' government. and it is not inconceivabl
that the present disturbances may hav
: something to do with the question Of sue
! cession.
AS was seen in the case of the forme
;, King, the Burmese are little timi,
about announcing a royal demise. Tn
& obscurity of the information from Bur
u nah, however, is sufficiently accounte
:, for by the fact that King Theebau, a
Il Il the time he was killing off his relatives
= threatened to exterminate all foreigner
= = as well, and the English residents wer
L L l.