The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1894-12-21

il the Ndll6ryS ''tJn, ne was Inc AITlcdl
who sat at that point, and when an.
one of our men ventured across TIN
road he would drop him by rifle ball
i Bob was a sure marksman. The onl,
way to get across the road for waite
from the well was to wait until his gun
! flashed and then instantly cross before
he had time to load. The only way WI
could get rid of him was by digging |
mine under the house where he wa
hidden. When the house was blown up
Bob the Mailer went with it." sale
to him, Had you made up your minds
what you and the other sufferers woult
do in case the fends actually broke imp
''Oh, yes!" said my escort. 1--WE had
it all planned, for the probability wa.
every hour for nearly five months that
they would break in. You must remem
Der it was 1000 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. 1t was only from the mercy Of
God that we were not massacred soon
after the besiegement. We were re-
solved 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 Cawnpur, and we knew what defeat
meant. 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 the cellar of
the residency. With shudder of horror
indescribable I entered the cellars
where 622 women and children had been
crowded until the whole room was full.
know the exact number, for Icounted
their names on the roll. AS one of the
ladies wrote in her dairy-speaking 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 hus-
bands would shoot them rather than
let them fall into the hands of these
The women within the
residency were kept on the smallest
allowance that would maintain life.
No opportunity of privacy. The death
angel and the birth angel touched wings
as they passed. Flies, mosquitoes, YER
min in full possession of the place, and
these women in momentary expecta-
lion that the enraged savages would
rush upon them, in 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
lid not despair. They encouraged the
,oldiery. They waited on the wound
ID and dying in the hospital. They
rave up their stockings for holders of
he grape-shot. They solaced each
,ther when their children died. When
! husband or father fell such prayers
# sympathy were offered as only wom-
n can offer. They endured without
They prepared their own
children for burial. They were inspi-
alton for the men who stood at their
,osts fighting till they dropped
Our escort told us that again and
gain news had come that Have
ock and Outram were on the way to
etch these besieged ones out of their
They had received a
etter from Havelock rolled up in a
Iuill and carried in the mouth of a
disguised messenger, a letter telling |
hem he was on the way, but the next |
Jews was that Havelock had been |
to retreat. 1t was constant |
'acillation between hope and despair. |
But one day they heard the guns of re-
ief sounding nearer and nearer. Yet |
IL the houses of Lucknow were fort
resses filed with armed miscreants,
nd every step of Havelock and his
rmy was contested-firing from house
ops, firing from windows, firing from
oorways.
l asked our friend if he thought that
he world famous story of a Scotch lass
n her delirium hearing the Scotch bag
ipes advancing with the Scotch regi-
nent was a true story. He said he did
lot know but that it was true. Without
his mans telling me knew from my
wn observation that delirium some
ines quickens some of the faculties,
nd rather think the Scotch lass in her
lelirium was the first to hear the bag
ipes. decline to believe that class of
eople who would like to kill all the
'oetry of the world and Danish all the
me sentiment. They tell us that Whit
ier's poem about Barbara Freitchie was
ounded on delusion, and that Long
elbows poems immortalized things
hat never occurred. The Scotch lass
i'd hear the slogan. almost heard it
myself as stood inside the residency
While my escort told of the coming on
4 the Seventy-eighth highland regi-
1ent