The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-03-14
A TRAGEDY AND A HEROINE
Bravery of a Danish Lady in a Penal
SettlaI1cut,

SSVGlSI.1cUC. U
Tue Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
situated in the Bay CT Bengal a few
days sail from Calcutta, are the great
penal settlement of India especially the
former, where more than ten thousand
native convicts, many Of them belonging
to the most desperate class of criminals,
are kept under restraint, or employed
in out-of-door labor Under vigilant SUI
pervision. A branch convict settlement
exists at Camorta, the capital OF the
Nicobar Islands, where there are at
present 200 convicts, guarded by thirty
men of the Second Madras Native In
fantry and a like number of police under
q native chief constable. The officers
in charge Of the station was Mr.. de
Roepsterff, q Danish gentleman belong
ing to the Indian Civil U~ncovenanted
Service. A havildar, or native sergeant
of the Madras Infantry. a man of
thirty years service, had been accused
bv a native Waterman of appropriating
cocoanuts, and had in return struck the
Waterman and put him for a short time
under q sentry. The next day Mr.. de
.Roepsterff commenced the investigation
ofthe case, andhaving taken the evidence
for the prosecution, adjourned the
hearing till the following day, when the
hayildar was ordered to bring up his
witness, Shortly afterward he was
riding past the native infantry barracks,
about thirty yards off, when the havildar
fred at him from his room and hit him
between the shoulders, the bullet.
coming out at the breast. He fell from
his horse. and the orderly and groom
who We're with him went Instantly to his
assistance. He was only able to say:
"Do not, be confused: take care of the
'mem-sahib' CHS Wife or she will be
snot too.N Mrs. u- RoepsterA, who
was riding q little behind, cine up, but
hcrhnshand Wa aihs>>hleto spsaA further,
and he died in a few minutes. The
havildar Immediately afterward reipadea.
his ritlc and blew Lis own brains out.
The position Of the poor lady was de-
ploraD le-her husband killed before her
eyes, not {. soul who could speak a word
# English nearer than three hundred
miles off by sea, two hundred convicts
to keep in ORDER, without a prison to
contine them III, and bad feeling exist
ing to a dangerous exsent between the
Sikh police and the Madras native in
fantry. In these trying circumstances
the lady evlnced a force OF character
amounting to heroism. She had her
husbands body carried at once to the
bungalow and afterward buried. She
dispatched a native craft, which hap
pened to be Ill the harbor at Port Blair,
the seat of government in the Anda-
with two constables to report
what had taken place. In the mean
time she assumed command
OF the station, ordering, all reports to
be made to herself, and managed
with perfect success, IN illustration of
how naturally Orientals submit to and
on a European mind when exercised
with hrmness and discretion. In six or
days Maj. Protheroe, the acting
at Port Blair, arrived,
accompanied by some other officers and
the chaplain, and relieved her of her
responsibilities. Then, on the
reading the funeral service over
husbands grave, she broke down,
threw herself on the grave, and had to
be renewed by force.
1t appears hat Mr.. de Roepsterff,
with his wife's assistance, had nearly
completed a dictionary of the Nicobarese
language, and had also made consider
progress in q translation of the
His widow desires to remain for
time at Port Blair to finish work.
Times.