The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-11-28


! poor health for a long time before the
| mutiny. He had been in the Indian serv-
| Ice for years. and he had started for En-
! g-and to recover his health. but getting
| as far as Bombay the English government
| requested him TO remain at least awhile,
| for he could not be spared In such dan
| gerous 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 10 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 peop.e were look
| ing TO him for wisdom and courage, Sir
| Henry Is dying"
Our escort described the scene-unique.
| tender. beautiful and overpowering-an
| while 1 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 shell. and the roar of batteries,
my escort gave me the particulars.
A Glory TO Christendom.
''As soon as Sir Henry was told that he
had not many hours TO live he asked the
| chaplain to administer to him the holy
communion. He felt particularly anxious
for the safety OF the women in the resi-
dency, who at any moment might be sub
jected to the 5avages who howled around
the residency, their breaking in only
matter of time unless reintorcements
should come. He would frequently say 10
those who surrounded his death couch:
Save the ladies' God help the poor wom-
en- and children!
He gave directions for the desperate
defense Of the place. He asked forgive
ness of all those whom he might uninten-
tiOnally have neglected or offended. He
left message for all his friends He for
got not to give direction for the care of
his favorite horse. He charged the Off
GERS, saying: BY no means surrender.
Make no treaty or compromise with the
desperadoes. Die fighting. He took
charge Of the asylum he had established
for the children OF soldiers He gave d.
rections for his burial saying: NO non
sense, no fuss. Let me be buried with the
men He dictated his own epitaph, which
] read above his tomb Here lies Henry
Lawrence, who tried to do his duty. May
the Lord have mercy on his SOUL
He said. i would like to have pas
sage Of scripture added TO the words on
my grave, such as. ITO the Lord our God
ibe.ong mercies and forgiveness, though
we have rebe.led against him" Isn't it
from Daniel? So as brave a man as En-
gland or India ever saw expired. The
soldiers lifted the cover from his face
and kissed him before they carried him
out. The chaplain offered a prayer. Then
they removed the great hero amid the
rafting hail of the guns and put him
down among other soldiers buried at the
same time"
All of which state for the benefit Of
those who would have us believe that the
Christian religion is At only for women in
the eighties and children under seven.
There was glory enough in that departure
to ha.O ChristendOm.
There" said our escort, bob the
Mailer did the work.
who was Bob the Naiier2"
no xx-az 4 African yKrh q
that point and when any one of our men
ventured across the road he would drop
him with a rife ball. Bob was a sure
marksman. The only way TO get across
the road for water from the well was to
wait until his gun flashed and then in
stantly cross before he had time to ioad.
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. "IIad you made up your
minds what you and the other sufferers
would do in case the fiends actually broke
in?"
"Oh yesr' said my escort. I'VE had
it all planned, for the probability was
every hour for nearly five months that
they would break IL. You must remem-
Der it was 1,6O0 against $4,000. and for the
latter part OF the time 1t was 800
against $4,000, and the residency and the
earthworlIs around it were not put up for
such an attack. 1t was only from the
mercy of God that we were not massa-
cred soon after the beslegement. We were
resolved not to allow ourselves TO get in
TO the hands Of those desperadOes. You
must remember that we and all the
women had heard OF the butchery at
CBwnpur. and we knew what defeat
meant. If unable to hold out any longer.
we would have blown ourselves up and
al gone out Of life together"
An Awful Prison.
SHOW me-" ! said 1.-THE rooms where
the women and children staid during
those awful months"
Then we crossed over and went down
into the cellar Of the residency. With
shudder of horror indescribable entered
the cellars where 622 women and children
had been crowded until the whole floor
was full. l know the exact number, for
l counted their names on the roll. As
one Of the ladies wrote in her diary, speak
ing Of these women, she said ''They lay
upon the floor fitting into each other like
bits in a puzzle" Wives had obtained
from their husbands the promise that the
husbands would shoot them rather than
let them fall into the hands of these des-
peradoes. The women within the resi-
dency were kept on the smallest allow
ance that would maintain life No oppor-
tunity Of privacy The death angel and
the birth angel touched wings as they
passed. Flies, mosquitoes, vermin in full
possession Of the place, and these women
in tnomentary expectation that the en-
ragged s1vages would rush upon them in
a violence Of which club and sword and
torch and throat cutting would be the
milder forms
Our escort told us again and again of
the bravery of these women. They did
not despair. They encouraged the SOL
diary They waited on the wounded and
diving in the hospital. They gave up
their stockings for holders of the grape
shot. They solaced each other when their
children died. When husband or
father fell such prayers of sympathy
were offered as only women can offer.
They endured without complaint. They
prepared their own children for burial.
They were inspiration for the men who
stood at their posts fighting tin they
dropped.
news had come that Have.ock and Out
ram were on the way to fetch these be-
sic I'D ones out Of their wretchedness.
They had received a letter from Have
lock rolled up in a quill and carried in
the mouth Of a disguised messenger-a
letter telling them he was on the way
but the next news was that HaveloclI
had been compelled to retreat 1t was
constant vacillatiOn between hope and
despair But one day they heard the
guns of relief sounding nearer and near
er. Yet all the houses Of Lucknow were
fortresses flied with armed miscreants,
and every step Of Havelock and his army