Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-07
THE CITY OF LUCKNOW
Memorable BY Rpason of the
Famous siege.
cAwNpoRE MASSACRE
OF THE GREAT TRAGEDY
OF 1857 RECALLED.
Home Of the Mohammedan Aristocracy
Of India-Herd of Army
Elephants.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
LUCKNOW, India, March 8, 1904.
ckn and C~awnpore are usually neg
lected by American travellers, but are OBJ
jects Of pilgrimage to all Englishmen be-
cause of their terrible memories Of the mu-
tiny of the Sepoys or native soldiers in 1857
and their heroic defense and heroic relief by
a handful of British troops under Sir Henry
Havelock, Gen. James Outram and Sir Colin
Campbell. Although more has been written
about Lucknow, yet the tragedy of Gavin
pore is to me the more thrilling in several
particulars, and that city was the scene Of
the greater agony.
Upon the shores of the Ganges river is
a pretty park of sixty acres, in the center
of which rises a mound. Tha mound covers
the site of a well in which the bodies of $50
of the victims of the massacres were cast.
1t is inclosed by a Gothic wall, and in the
center stands a beautiful figure of an angel
in white marble. Her arms are crossed
upon her breast and in each hand she holds
a palm branch. The archway is inscribed:
These Are They Which Came Out Of
Great Tribulation."
Chiseled in the wall that mark the circle
of the well are these words:
Sacred to the Perpetual Memory of a
great COMPANY VI SHTlSIldH people,, Chiefly
Women and Children. who near this Spot
were cruelty Murdered by the Followers of
the Rebel Mana Dhundu Panth of Bithur,
and cast. the Dying with the Dead, into the
Well below on the XVIII day of July,
MDCCCLVII."
The Cawnpore Massacre.
The story of ~Cawnpore has no parallel in
history. It might have been repeated at
= eking two or three years ago, for the con-
dit'ons existed there. In the summer Of
1867 sixty-one English artillerymen and
about 5000 Sepoys were attached to the
garrison at that place, where about 800 for
eigners resided. Upon the 9Th of June the
native troops rose in mutiny, sacked the
paymaster's office and burned several of
the public buildings. The frightened for
eigners fled into one of the larger buildings
of the government, where they hastily
threw up Notifications and resisted a siege
of three weeks. Their position having be-
come untenable. they arranged terms of
capitulation with Mana sahib, the leader Of
the mutiny. who had been refused the
throne and the allowance paid by the Brit
ish government to the late maharajah,< al
though the latter had adopted him in legal
form and had proclaimed him his heir. This
was one of the principal reasons for the mu-
tiny, and, without considering the question
of justice or injustice, Mana Sahib satiated
his desire for vengeance under the most
atrocious circumstances.
Having accepted the surrender of the lit
tie garrison upon. his personal assurances of
their security and safe conduct to Alfalfa
bad. he placed the survivors, about 100 in
number, in boats upon the Ganges river
and bade them good-by. AS soon as the
last child was ON board and the word was
given to start down the, stream the blast of
a bugle was heard. At that signal the
crews of the boats leaped into the water.
leaving the passengers without oars, and
Immediately the straw roofs of the boats
burst into flames and showers Of bullets
were fired from lines Of infantry drawn up
on the banks. Most of those who jumped
into the water to escape the flames were
shot down by the bullets. And many who
escaped both and e~ndeavored to reach the
shore were sabered by cavalrymen who
awaited them. One boat load escaped.
The survivors of this incident, about 200
In number, were led back into the city,
past their old home, now in smoldering
ruins, and were locked up in two rooms
twenty feet long and ten feet wide. They
had no beds. no furniture, no blankets, not
even straw to lie upon. They were given
one meal a day of coarse bread and water.
and after suffering untold agonies for if
teen days were called out in squads and
hacked to pieces by the r~ufiians of Nana's
guard. Their bodies We're cast into the
well. which was afterward filled with earth
and has since been the center of a memo-
rial park.
The Siege Of Lucknow.