The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1884-06-06

9AY !AlIIY JUNE s, 1884.
7 1As1Ao11oT cAyvH1o1x
q visas - sAs Oesas e /" 4hs 2aasksss
0kanAs - 1anAA Z1sssey."
Cawnpore is thriving manufacturing
city Of some 125, 600 inhabitants. In
Commercial importancsit il Il only second
TO Calcutta and Bombay. Il furnishes
tho railways centering here with more
traffic than any to OF three interior towns
put together. It's greatest notority,
however, is associated with its past.
Here was perpetrated what many have
called "the blackest crime in human
history" the horrible Cawnpore massa-
ere.
I shall only review the incidents Of
this massacre, which are necessary in
connection with my visitation Of the
scenes which il involved.
Early one morning after Chota Hazree,
rode over to the Memorial Church in
company with q citizen. The Memorial
Church, as the name implies, is an edi-
Rce Of the State religion, erected near
the scene Of the memorable resistance of
Gen. Wheeler. The church is splen-
did European-built structure. with mar
ble memorial tablets, exquisite tile floors,
and allthe appointments Of high-toned
house Of worship. Indeed, the build
ing is SO modern and elegant, without
regard to the climate, that in the sum-
mer it is. found impossible to use It,
Summer services, by the way, COM
.mence at 6 o'clock in theimorning in
this part Of the country universally.
just without the church was the in
trenchment of 1867, miserable mud
wall about four feet high, every vestage
of which has now disappeared. Here
1000 persons defended themselves for
twenty-five days against the hottest
kind Of fire from thousands Of blood
thirsty pagan foes. OF the number $50
were women and children, and only 44O
men. The sufferings of these women
and children are almost beyond belief.
They had no shelter except such as
their disraught male protectors could
| inprovise for thers. The thermometer
\ aeent up to 40 degrees in the shade,
and the SUMS rays penetrated every part
Of tho intrenchment. Many perished
from annstroke or disease. Their food
was scarcely sufficient to keep them
alive. When they wanted water they
hnd to risk their lives by venturing out
to q we'll, which is still to be seen here,
in plain view Of the enemy. Shot and
shell wrought sal mischief until the 27tf,
of June, when the ncen ordered semi
surrender; chiefly out of consideration
for the dying women and children.
The Mana Aahib, leader Of the Sepoy
mutineers, had promised to hoporably
conduct the party to the Ganges, EN-
bark them, and send them down the
river in perfect safety.
Accordingly the people who were not
and confided themselves to the prptec-
tion of the treacherous Mana. It was
understood the sick should be returnal
for.
The eager prisoners marched down to
the river, and embarked from the Gate
Chowra Chat. No sooner had they
| been loaded upon the boats than hun
dreds of unseen natives opened fire up
on them. Their boats were stranded,
and although they did their best to re-
turn the fire and get of, they could but
become easy victims ii, this, the foulest
instance of treachery on record in mill
tary history. Only three men in all
that company of l GOO escaped death, and
but 206 women and children were left.
Among the massacred. were few Amer
leans.
These 2O6 women and children were
then dragged TO building which has
gone down into history as the House of
Massacre. They were crowded into
two small rooms, twenty by ten feet in
dimensions, and kept there until July
Is, when by the order of the same M.
ma, they were every one slaughtered.
Mana had heard of Gen. Havelock's
advance, and while he boasted of the
strength to vanquisll him, in battle, he
gave orders that this most shocking
deed should he carried into execution,
lest by any chance rescue should be
effected. But even the cruel Sepoys
rebelled at the thought of such crime,
aud Mana had to hire five butchers of
she city to enter the house and profess
sionally carry out his will. This they
did. the five men consuming an hour
and half in taking the 2O6 lives. They
were paid one rupee per victim, or in
American money, about $85 jointly for
the bloody deed.
Then by order of Mana the mangled
bodies were dragged to we'll in the
immediate vicinity, and cast down, the
dying with the dead, into its crimson
waters fifty feet below!
1t is matter f regret to every SYM
pathetic traveller to know that this in
human monster soon after disappeared,
and has never since been heard from;
80 that he probably escaped the punish
ment he merited.
When Gen. Havelock, the pious SOL
der, at length arrived at Cawnpore, and
repaired to this Assembly-room, he
found himself Just thirty six hours too
late The floor was still nearly ankle
deep with coagulating blood, while
shreds of flesh and tufts of hair told of
the barbarous violence that had been
administered. The cuts on the walls
that had been made with the butchers,
knives were low down, showing how
the poor victims had crouched
before their assailants. In the mean
time the sick who had been left behind
at the intrenchment had also been
slaughtered. There were many other.
massacres in the county round about
that were as shocking, but none that
were SO Wholesale. I have talked with
men here who saw as mere boys the
forms Of European women cutting open.
bottle of gunpowder inserted while
they were still alive, and then the whole
body blown to atoms.
How different is the Cawnpore Of to-
day. These scenes that were go bloody
in 1857 are now the fairest spots in In
dia. Loving hands and an appreciative
government have caused lovely flowers
to spring up out of the ground that was
so drenched with innocent blood, and
marble memorials tell the sad story.
Correspondence New Orleans Times.
Democrat.