Democratic messenger., 1894-12-15


which signal the boatmen and armed
natives jumped from the boats and swan
for tho shore, and from innumcrablc
guns the natives on the bank fired on
the boats, and masked batteries above
and below roarcd with destruction, and
the boats sank with their precious car
g., and all went down save three strong
swimmers, who got to the opposite
shore Those who struggled ont near by
were dashed to death. Mana Sahib and
his staff with their swords slashcd To
pieces General Wheeler and his staff.
who had hot got well away from the
shore
| said that the young and attractive
women Were not allowed To get into the
boats These were marched away under
tho guard of the sepoys.
Days of Horror.
Which way inquired. Il Will
show you, said Mr. Lee Again wc
took seats i'll the carriage and started for
the climax of desperation and diabolism.
house, called the assembly rooms.
which had been built for recreation and
pleasure Ii had two rooms, each - hy
10, and some windowless closets. and
here We're imprisoned 206 helpless pco-
pie. It was To become tho prison of
these women and children. Some Of
these sepoys got permission of Mana
Sahib TO take.one or more of these la
dies To their own place on the promise
they should be brought back 10 the sum
mer garden next Iuorning. y daughter
of General Wheeler was so taken and
did not return. She afterward married
the Mohammcdan who had taken her
to his tent. Some sepUys amused them
selves by thruSting children through
with bayonctS and holding them up be-
fore their mothers in the summer house.
All the doors closed and the scpoys
standing guard, the crowded women
and children waited their doom for Is
days and nights amid sickness and flies
and stencil and starvation.
Then Mana Sahib heard that Have
lock was coming, and his name was
terror to the sepoys. Lest the women
and children imprisoned III the summer
house, or assembly rooms, should be lib
Grated, he ordered that their throats
should be cut. The officers were COM
manded to do the work and attempted
il, but failed because the law of caste
would not allow the Hindoo to hold the
victims while they were being slain.
Then 100 men were ordered to fire
through the windows, but they fired
over the heads of the imprisoned ones,
and only few We're killed Then Mana
Sahib was i'll rage and ordered pro-
fessional butchers from among the low
est of the gypsies to go at the work.
Five of them, with hatchetS and swords
and knives. began the work. but three
of them collapsed and tainted under the
ghaStlineSs, and il was left to two
butchers to complete the slaughter.
The struggle. the sharp cut, the blind
ing blow. the cleaving through scalp
and skull, the begging for life, the
death agony of hour after hour. the
tangled limbs of the corpses. the piled
up dead-only God and those who Were
inside the summer house can ever know.
they had done their work, and
the doors We're closed, but when they
were again opened three women and
three boys We're still alive. All these
were soon dispatched, and not Chris
tian or European was left i'll Gavin
pur The murderers were paid 80 cents
for each lady slain. The Mohammedan
assaSsins dragged by the hair the dead
bodies out OF the summer house and
threw them into y well, hy which |
stood with such feelings rs You cannot
imagine But after the mutilated bodies
had been thrown into the well the rec
ord of the scene remained III hieroglyph-
les of crimson on the floor and wall
Of the slaughter house. An eyewitness
SAYS that rs he walked in the blood was
shoe deep, and on this blood Were tufts
Of hair, pieces of muslin, broken combs,
fragm, nts of pinafores, children straw
hats, Il carlcase containing a curl. with
the inscription, "Ned's hair. with
love-" a few leaves of an Episcopal
prayer book; also book entitled
a Preparation For Death" n Bible ON
the fly leaf of which was written. For
darling mamma. from her aifcctionatc
daughter, Isabella Blair both tho one
who presented it and tho one to whom
it was presented departed forever.
said, MIR. Lee, / have heard that
indelicate things were found written on
the walls. He answered. mo. but
these poor creatures wrote i'll charcoal
and scratched OH the wall the story of
the brutalities they had suffered. "
HaveIock to the Rescue.
When the English and Scotch troops
came upon the scene, their wrath was
so great that General Neill had the
butchers arrested, and before being shot
.hem to wipe up part of the
floor of this place of massacre, this be-
ing the worst of their punishment, for
there is nothing that Hindoo so hates
as to touch blood.
When Havelock came upon the scene.
he had this order annulled The well
was now not only full of human bodies,
but corpSes piled on the outside. The
soldiers were for many hours engaged in
covering the dead.
1t was about o'clock i'll the evening
when came upon this place i'll Gavin
pur. The building in which the mas
sacrc took place has been torn, down and
q garden of exquisite and fragrant
flowers surrounds the scene. Mr.. Lee
pointed out to us some 20 mounds CON
tanning bodies or portions of bodies of
those not thrown into the we'll \ sol
iier stands OH guard to keep the foliage
and flowers from being ruthlessly pulled.
| asked soldier if l might take rose
as q memento. and he handed me a
cluster Of roses, red and white. both
colors suggestive TO me-the red typical
Of the carnage there enacted and the
white for the purity Of those who from
that spot assembled.
Bat of course the most absorbing in
iorest concentrated at tho we'll. into
which hundreds Of women and c!::::i;Iren