The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-12-07

14C tue IeuldlQS OF a DQlAuluE TIC uISt
floor of which in other days had been
used as banqueting hall, but the1 as
used as hospital. At this part TIL. a1A-
putations took place, and all such pa
tients die,S. The heat was so great and
the food 81 insufficient that the poor
fellows could not recover from the loss
of blood. They all died. Amputati0Ps
were performed without chloroforIn.
All the anRstheticS were exhausted. a
fracture that in other climates and un-
der other circumstances would have
come to easy convalescence here proved
fatal Yonder was DR.. Fayrer's house,
who was surgeon of the place and is
now Queen Victoria's doctor. This up
per room was the officers room, and
there Sir Henry Lawrence, our dear
commander, was wounded. While he
sat there a she'll struck the room, and
some one suggested that he had better
leave the room, but he smiled and said:
lightning never strikes twice in the
same place Hardly had he said this
when another shell tore off his thigh,
and he was carried dying into DR.. Fay
rer's house on the other side of the road.
Sir Henry Lawrence had been in poor
health for long time before the mu-
tiny. He had been in the Indian service
for years, and he had started for Eng
land to recover his health, but getting
as far as Bombay the English govern
ment requested him to remain at least
awhile. for he could not be spared in
such dangerous times. He came here
to Lucknow, and foreseeing the siege
of this residency had filed many of
the rooms with grain, without which
the residency would have been obliged
to surrender. There were also taken
by him into this residency rice and
sugar and charcoal and fodder for the
oxen and hay for the horses. But now,
at the time when all the people were
looking to him for wisdom and cour-
age, Sir Henry is dying"
Our escort describes the scene.
unique, tender, beautiful and Overpow-
ering, and while ] stood on the very
spot where the signs and groans of the
besieged and lacerated and broken
hearted met the whiz Of bullets, and
the demoniac hiss of bursting she'll
and the roar of batteries, my escort
gave me the particulars.
''As soon as Sir Henry was told that
he had not many hours to live he asked
the chaplain to administer t. him the
holy communion. lie felt particularly
anxious for the safety of the women in
the resSencv, who, at any moment,
might be subjected to the savages who
howled around the residency, their
breaking in only a matter of time un-
less re-enforcements should come. He
would frequently say to those who sur
rounded his death couch: Save the
ladies. God help the poor women and
children He gave directions for the
desperate defense of the place. He
asked forgiveness of all those whom
he might Internationally have neglect
ed or offended. He left a message for
all his friends. He forgot not to give
direction for the care of his favorite
horse. He charged the officers, say
ing: By no means surrender. Make
no treaty or compromise with the des-
peradoes Die fighting. He took
charge of the asylum he had establish
ed for the children of soldiers. He
gave directions for his burial,
saying: No nonsense; no fuss. Let
me be buried with the men, He die
tated his own epitaph, which l read
above his tomb: Here lies Henry Law
renee, who tried to do his duty. May
the Lord have mercy on his soul He
said: y would like to have a passage of
Scripture added to the words on my
grave, such as, '"To the Lord our God be-
long mercies and forgivenesses, though
we have rebelled against him" Isn'T
it from Daniel? So as brave a man as
England or India ever saw expired. The
soldiers lifted the cover from his face
and kissed him before they carried him
out. The chaplain offered PRAYER
Then they moved the great hero amid
the rafting hail of guns and put
him down among other soldiers buried
at the same time" All of which l state
for the benefit of those who would have
US believe that the Christian religion
is fit only for women in the eighties
and children under seven. There was
glory enough in that departure to halo
Christendom.
There" said our escort, Bob the
Mailer did the work. ''Who was Bob
the Nailer?" "Oh, he was the African
who sat at that point. and when any
one of our men vcntured across the
road he would drop him by rifle ball.
Bob was a sure marksman. The only
way to get across the road for water
from the we'll was to wait until his gun
flashed and then instantly cross before
he had time to load. The, only way we
could get rid of him was by digging a
mine under the house where he was
hidden. When the house was blown up.
Bob the Mailer went with it. ! said
to him, Had you made up your minds
what you and the other sufferers would
do in case the fiends actually broke imp
"Oh, yes!' said my escort. I'VE had
it all planned, for the probability was
every hour for nearly five months that
they would break in. You must remem-
Der it was 1,6OO against 10000, and
for the latter part of the time it was
nine hundred against sixty thousand,
and the reSidency and the earthworks
around it were not put up for such an
attack. IT was only from the mercy of
God that we were not massacred soon
after the besiegement We were re-
solved not 10 allow ourselves to get in
TO the hands of those desperadoes.
You must remember that we and all
the women had heard of the butcherv
at Cawnpur, and we knew what defeat
If unable to hold out any
longer, we would have blown ourselves
up and all gone out of life together"
"Show me, " said, ''the rooms where
the women and children staid during
these awful months" Then we crossed
over and went down into tho cella, Of