The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-01-10

nor night; the hospital crowded with
the dying; smallpox, scurvy, chol-
era, adding their work to that
of shot and shell; women brought
up in all comfort and never hav-
ing known want crowded and sacri-
feed in cellar where nine children
We're born; less and less food: no water
! except that which was brought from
well under the enemy's fire, so that
the water obtained was at the price OF
| blood; the stencil of the dead horses
added to the effiuvia of corpseS, and all
| waiting for the moment when the army
of 10000 shrieking Hindoo devils should
break in upon the garrison of the resi-
dency, now reduced by wounds and
J sickness and death to 976 men, women
and children.
Call me early" l said, "to-morrow
morning and let us be at the residency
| before the sun becomes too hot" At z
o'clock in the morning we left our ho-
tel in Lucknow, and said to our oblig-
ing, gentlemanly escort, "Please take
us along the road by which Havelock
and Outram came to the relief of the
residency." That was the way we
went. There was solemn stiffness as
we approached the gate of the resi-
dency. Eattered and torn is the ma
| sonry of the entrance. Signature of
| shot and punctuation of cannon ball
all up and down and everywhere.
Here to the left said our escort,
''al'e the remains of a building the first
! floor of which in other days had been
used as a banqueting hall, but then was
used as a hospital. At this part the am
putations took place, and all such pa
tients died. The heat was SO great and
the food so Insufficient that the poor
fellows could not recover from the loss
of blood. They all died. Amputatiops
We're performed without chloroform.
All the anasthetics 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 Shell 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 filled many o1
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
I 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
4 unique, tender, beautiful and overpow'
ering, and while stood on the very
spot where. the sighs 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 %B's~
''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 residency, who, at any moment
might be subjected to the savages who
] howled around the residency, theil
Fbreaking.in only matter of time un
less e-enforcements should come. He
would frequently say to those who sur
rounded his death couch: Save the
ladies. God help the poor women and
desperate defense of the place. He
asked forgiveness of all those whom
he might tunintentionally have neglect.
4 ed or offended. He left message fol
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 fchting.' He tool
charge of the asylum he had establish
ed for the children of soldiers He
gave directions for his burial
saying: No nonsense; no fuss. Lee
me be buried with the men, He die
tated his own epitaph, which reat
above his tomb: Here lies Henry Law
renee, who tried to do his duty MAY
the Lord have mercy on his soul HI
said: I would like to have passage o
Scripture added to the words on m,
grave, such as, ''Tothe Lord our God be
long mercies and forgivenesses, though
we have rebelled against him." Ism
it from Daniel? So as brave a man a
England or India ever saw expired. TIL,
soldiers lifted the. cover from his fac,
and kissed him before they carried hin
ont. The chaplain offered a prayer
Then they moved the great hero ami,
the rafting hail of guns and pu