, 1884-11-15

station Superintendent SERGEANT Giblan
left his men in charge of a Corporal of
Police, and went on towards Marbella
Village where he met some patches of
uproariOus Coolies making for San Fer
nando. With the assistance of others,
bent on a similar purpose, he succeeded III
calming those and thus preventing the
necessity of the bloOdShed which is the
most painful feature of the two other
places of defence.
Early in the afternoon the dead, wounded
and dying were being taken to the Hos
pital in the Government ambulance and
in carts, and up to this morning the casual
ties were reported as follows 9 killed on
the spot, 4 died in Hospital, and 1O1 wound
ed-a few of which it is expected will not
survive. Besides these, several Coolies
have been slightly wounded, whose injuries
are not OF so grave a nature as to have
brought them to Hospital.
The following passages are from an
article in the same paper:
With the cries of pity and regret from
a multitude ~unaCCuStOmod to carnage and
blOodShed still sounding in our ears, the
ambulance conveying the wounded and
the dead from the open highway to the
hospital, the roads stained with the blood
OF a Senseless, ill.advised and slaughtered
mob still before us, the moaning of the
suffering and dying under the surgeons
relentless knife, and the dead carted one
after the other to the last resting place,
fresh in our minds, we question the
judgment which might fairly be trusted to
tue review OF circumstances which, what
ever may be the first cause, have been
unparalleled in the history of Trinidad"
"That the Coolies have offended, there
Hoes NOT Spnm a fjttIn of Aonht Tho
vindication of the Government follows,
therefore, as a consequence. The question
Of the future will be the justification of the
cause that led to this extraordinary act of
INSTRUMENTATION against the Government;
and 1T must sooner or later be aScertained
whether the offence was commensurate
with the punishment which followed.
These questions are not to us unanswer-
able, nor do We expect to see them left
Unanswered. The gravity of the matter
lies with the Government, and with the
Government only, with whom also rests
the explanation of proceedings that to
many are as yet inexplicable and unex-
planned. The terrible effect is before us.
The cause is hidden in the motive which
gave rise to the resolutions which abridged
the mode Of action of the Coolie festivities.
Let us hope that the Government will, i'll
the end, be as justified in the first cause as
they have been in maintaining the majesty
of the law i'll the present unfortunate
circumstances.
News reached us by last nights tele-
gram of a terrible tragedy enacted on
Thursday in Trinidad. The coolies of
Naparima were holding Tadjah and had
set out to carry the temple to San Fernan-
do to set adrift on the tide, after their
usual custom, when they were met at
Les Efforts by a company of soldiers, who
had been instructed to prevent the coolies
using the public road for their Tadjah pro-
c%essiOn, as it was against the Government
regulations. The coolies in their religious
ferVOur persisted in going onward, where
upon the soldiers fired upon them, killing
ten, and %wounding a prOportlOnate num-
Der. If an Imperial Commission is sent
out to enquire into the deplOrable occur
renee, we shall not be surprised at it. 1t
will be hard to explain satisfactorily to
men in England,-where Salvation armies
parade the streets to the disgust of de-
cent people and are Through misplaced
liberation is it Never fred into by q
company of her Majesty's troops,-how it
becomes necessary in an English colony
to shoot down MahOmedanS who are doing
nothing more sinful than celebrating after
their own time-honOured fashion their
annual religious festival. Until fuller par.
ticulars than the telegram affords US ar
rive, it would be reckless to a~nimadvert
upon the persons responsible for the fatal
volley but the salient features in the
story-the armed troops pouring a volley
into men, bent only upon carrying out the
RELIGIONS rites cOnuacted with their faith