The National tribune., 1900-07-19
troopers were being slowly and quietly
surrounded by the 1rartnr cavalry He

troopers were being slowly and quietly
surrounded by the Tartar cavalry. He
rode up to Lieut.. Anderson, and said in
an undertone: "Sahib. these Chinese are
going TO act treacherously TO US. IL you
give the order, there is yet time for us to
cut our way through to our camp, and
some of us in this way may escape" An
derson, in reply, pointed to the savants
who were either on foot or mounted on
IOnies, and of course were unarmed, and
said. But what about these:"
"Sahib. are they here by order, on duty,
or at their own risk
AT their own risk
"rhen, sahib, let them follow us. IL they
choose. at their own risk; it is not part
of our duty TO protect them"
But Anderson answered that he could
not leave them to be certainly murdered;
besides which, being on escort duty. it
was his duty to remain. HabeebOOia said
no more. Murmuring, at is fate he
drew back. to await the certain death
that he saw coming.
The detachment was taken to the rear
Of the Chinese army, the men were over
powered and tied tightly with ropes, their
ankles being fastened firmly to their
wrists 10y short piece of rope. This
causes constant strain on both ankle
and wrist. and is a fayOrite form OF tor
tnre among the Chinese. They We're then
thrown into carts, and joltcd off at 4 trot
to the mountains near Pckin.
Habecboola, by desperate cXcrtion OF
his muscles, managed to throw himself
out of the cart in which he was: but. "a
lll-luck would have it, he was discovered
by one of the guard, who was tagging be-
hind. All the carts Were stopped, Habee-
bOola was cruelty fogged. and flung into
the cart he had managed to get out Of.
An hour or so before dawn, trusting to
the darkness, he again threw himself our,
but the Chinese soldiers were now on the
watch for anything of the sort. and soon
discovered his body on the white road;
this time his flogsing was so severe that
he did not survive it very long, and 50
brave soldier and man of an unconqIer-
able spirit was done to death.
The rest of the prisoners were taken
to fort, and put into Il dungeon in which
they found the men of the Kings Ora
gOon Guards tied up in the same way as
themselves. The torture was such that
the Europeans, first of all, one after an
end to their misery. The last to sue
cumb was Anderson, who Mt AddiscOmbe
had been a wcll-known athlete.
He had with him as his orderly an old
Sikh, between 30 and GO years of age,
whom he had chosen because he had In
his day been grand soldier, though he
had long since become weak and stiff
from age. On foot the man was almost
useless, but on horseback he could last
against many younger man. This man,
seeing that the torture was having its ef-
feet on Anderson, and that he, too. would
go out of his mind, managed somehow to
creep or roll toward him, and with his
teeth began to undo the knots with which
his officers limbs were tied.
He had been partially successful. when
some unwary movement betrayed him to
the Chinese sentry, who gave the alarm,
and the old Sikh was lifted up and
thrown into n corner, after having been,
like Habeeboola before him, severely
beaten.
Again he succeeded in getting back to
Anderson. and again he began 10 open the
knots with his teeth; but, alas. again he
was discovered, aud, like the other brave
man, was fiogged and kicked to death. As
for SO hours, besides being roughly
handled in the carts, one may get some
faint idea of what the old Sikh must have
undergone in his attempts to give ease
to his officer. OF all that were taken
prisoners at that time by the Chinese,
only five or six survived and those were
all either Sikhs or Hindoos. All the
meateaters, whether Mussulmans, Eng
lish, or French, died-and became mad
from the torture before they died.
The survivors of the torture, in addi-
tion to the money given by the Chinese
Government, got the pension allowed
them by the pension rules,
The survivors were all young men, and
we will hope that they long enjoyed their
pensions. The effect of the dreadful time
they had been through showed itself in
their inability to hold up their hands, the
tendOns at the wrists having been cut
through by the cruel cords.