The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-01-22
3ouht that the mutiny had occurred as

nru6ent to leave our work to investigate,
and il was well we did not. The out
break occurred carlyin the forenoon, just
rs planned, and the Colonel was the first
victim. He was shot down by some OF
the native officers of the cavalry, and he
had no sooner fallen than they turned
upon their English Captain. Strogan was
the third man killed. He was shot in
front of his own bungalow, as was also
another civil officer who was with him.
The anxiety of the nutincers to secure
plumber permitted the women and chill,
dren to find a place Of safety, and all
eventually escaped to Bella, and from
thence to Cawnpoor. 1t was toward even
ING of Tuesday before squad set out IN
search of us. Our servants were anxious
to see us murdered, for the sake of the
"loot" to be divided. About dark, while
we were wondering if one of us had not
better 90 out after information, we heard
a voice calling us, and recognized 1t as
that of my syce or groom. We climbed
out OF our fort and went to the edge OF
the thickct and answered him, and he
soon appcared. Matters had changed.
The slave had exchanged places with the
master. The fellow was as cool and i'm
pudent as you pleased. When we asked
what had become of the horses, he
promptiv acknowledged to having stolen
mine, and further informed me that L
ought to be very thankful that he had not
taken nv life as well. lie informed us OF
all that had occurred at the barracks, and
stated that party had come out to make
terms with us. Being that we were
Americans, and had had nothing to DO
with their oppression, they did not thirst
for our blood. If we would surrender
everything we had we could go where we
pleased. If not they would kill us and
take what they wanted.
We very soon sent the fellow away
with an answer. If we escaped from
this gang it would be to fall into the
hands of another. We should be de-
fenceless and penniless, and what could
we do2 We told him we had decided to
fight it out, and as soon as he dlsap-
peared We returned to the fort. The
two other members Of the party were
Henry Wilds and George Fisher. We
had then been in India together for
wear, and had stood back to back IN
many tight places. Wilds was typical
Yankee, good-natured but courageous,
and his long arms had the strength OF a
horses leg. The thicket was so dense
that our fort could not be seen unless one
penetratcd it few yards. The natives
simply supposed that we were lying close
in the centre of the jungle, and half an
hour after the groom left us about thirty
muskets began blazing away at our posi-
ton. Some of the balls whistled over
us, others entered the earth, and now and
then one struck the heavy blocks of
stone with dull ring. We took turns
as sentinel, while the other two slept,
and soon after midnight all was quiet.
It was 10 o'clock next morning before
We were troubled again. Then the
members of the old gang seemed to have
been added to, and fifty or more muskets
kept up pretty steady fire until 3
o'clock in the afternoon. BY this time
we ought to have been all shot to pieces,
as the bullets had cut through every foot
! of the Jungle The natives believed it
was time to advance ald see. We could
locate them by their loud talk and con-
slant dissensions, and when we found
that all had gathered on the eastern
edge of the thicket and were about
to advance, we climbed out, crept
forward, and lay down behind big
block of stone to receive them. They
entered the thicket as mob would have
done, and the first three men sighted
were dropped in their tracks. This
caused a.panic, and they withdrew, and
aside from few stray shots fired to let
us know that we were still besicged, we
were not annoyed until next morning.
Then we heard great hurrah, a1d after
a little were given the information that
they had brought down the two pieces Of
artillery from the station to shell US out.
They were very slow in getting to work,
and when they began firing it was plain
enough that they knew nothing about
artillery. On the first four shells fired,
all went too high and burst far beyond
us. The fifth one burst short and tarew
the dirt over our walls. Then we de-
cidcd to cool their ardor bit. We
climbed over the walls, got out of the
line of fire, and crept to the edge of the
thicket. There we saw mob of over a
hundred natives with the two guns
planted within pistol shot. One OF
them had become disabled by ranming
the ball down before the cartridge, and
the other was about to be fired. We Sc
!ected three of the gunners, frel togeth-
or, and they fell dead on the grass. Be-
fore the gang could get out of range we
killed two more and wounded
third. Then Wilds ran forward
under cover of our rifles and
spiked both pieces by driving
some nails, which he happened to have
in his pocket, into the vents. Seeing q
move to flank us we returned to oul
shelter, and all the rest of that day and
all night were left in peace. On the
third day there were but twenty natives
in the besieging force, and they fired
into the thicket only at long intervals.
On the fourth day this force was re,
Guced to ten. At noon Wilds made &
scout and found them eating dinner, and
we crcpt up and killed one and wounded
two, and consequently raised the siege
1o<l