The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-08
THE LOST LEGION.

When the indian mutiny broke out, and
a little time before the siege of Delhi,
regiment of Native Irregular Horse was
stationed at Peshawur on the frontier OF
India That regiment caught what Jonn
Lawrence called at the time ''the prevalent
MANIA" and would have thrown in its lot
with the mutineers had it been allowed to
do so. The chance never came, for as the
regiment swept off down South it was
headed off by remnant of an English
corps into the hills of Afghanistan, and
there the newly conquered tribesmen
turned against it as wolves turn against
buck. 1t was hunted for the sake OF its
arms and accoutrements from hill to hill,
from ravine to ravine, up and down the
dried beds of rivers and round the shout
ders of bluffs, till it disappeared as water
sinks in the sand-this officerless, rebel
regiment. The only, trace left of its exist
ence today is a nominal roll drawn up in
neat round hand and countersigned by an
officer who called himself "Adjutant," late
-- Irregular Cavalry" The paper is
yellow with years and dirt, but on the back
of it you can still read pencil note by
John Lawrence, to this effect: "See that
the two native officers who remained loyal
are not deprived Of their estates. J. L."
OF $50 sabers only two stood strain, and
John Lawrence, in the midst of all the
agony of the first months of the mutiny,
found time to think about their merits.
That was more than thirty-six years ago,
and the tribesmen across the Afghan bor-
der who helped to annihilate the regiment
are now old men. Sometimes greybeard
speaks of his share in the massacre.
"They came" he will say, "across the bor-
der, very proud, calling upon us to rise
and kill the English and go down to the
sack of Delhi. But we who had just been
conquered by the same English, knew that
they were over-bold and that the govern
ment could account easily for those down.
country dogs This Hindostani regiment,
therefore, we treated with fair words, and
kept standing in one place till the redcoats
came after them very hot and angry. Then
this regiment ran forward little more
into our hills to avoid the wrath of the
English, and we lay upon their TANKS
watching from the sides of the hill until
we were assured that their path was lost
behind them. Then we came down, for
we desired their clothes, and their brides,
and their rifles, and their boots-more es-
pecially their boots. That was a great
killing-done slowly" Here the old man
will rub his nose, and shake his long
snaky locks, and lick his bearded lips, and
grin till the yellow tooth stumps show.
"Yea, we killed them because we needed
their gear. and We knew that their lives
had been forfeited to God on account of
their sin--the SIN of treachery to the salt
which they had eaten. They rode up and
down the valleys, stumbling and rocking
in their saddles and bowling for
mercy. We drove them slowly like
cattle till they were all assembled in
one place, the fat. wide valley of Sheer
Kot. Many had died from want of water,
but there still were many left, and they
could not make any stand. We went
among them, pulling them down with our
hands two at time, and our boys killed
them who were new to the sword. NY
share of the plumber was such and such