The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-28
Cost SI5,OOO,OOO-Took 10000
hen Ia Years to Build 1t.
Many Palaces Where Kings
Lived in Royal SplendOr.
Enjoyed These Sights by Light
Of the Midnight Moon.

sunday January a.
yesterday afternoon, we left Luck
now, and came by railroad train to
Agra, arriving late at night. Immedi-
ately after our arrival we drove to the
Tai Mahal, the most beautiful build
ing in the world 1t is built of white
marble, and I viii attempt to describe
1t later. 1t is said that the Tai is par
ticulariy Impressive by moonlight, and
we saw it at midnight. with full moon
shining Later, We saw it in the bright
sunlight.
on our way from Lucknow to Agra,
we stopped awhile at Cawnpore. where,
in 1857 during the mutiny, 300 English
men, women and children were brutally
massacred by the natives. After a siege
OF i've weeks, the English agreed to
surrender on condition that they be
permitted to leave the town without
arms. The men and women were sep
arated, and the men were shot down as
they took boats to leave Cawnpore. Then
the women and children, 80 IN number,
were butchered. and their bodies were
thrown into an old well. If you have
read the history of the Indian mutiny
you viii recall that the outbreak at
Calcutta occurred in 1857 and one result
OF that was the Black Hole horror. The
English suppressed this insurrectiOn,
and gradually extended their power to
Benares, CaWnpore, Agra, Delhi etc.
The Indian princes had a superstition
that if they rebelled again in a hundred
years they would be able to throw of
the English yoke. Therefore the mu-
tiny Of 1857 the massacre at Cawnpore,
the sieges al Delhi and Lucknow, and
the final supremacy Of the English
arms
Because Of the massacre at Cawnpore,
General Neil blew certain of the ring
leaders from the mouths of cannon and
made others lick up, with their tongues.
the blood of the murdered women and
children. And for this act. he is still
hated by the natives, who spat upon his
tomb at Lucknow. Then an order was
issued that no native would be permit
ted to enter the cemetery at Lucknow.
Natives are also barred from the
garden marking the scene of the mas
Eacre at Cawnpore: and they are not
permitted to enter the fort at Agra
without special permission.
I'm the journey from Cawnpore to
Agra we met an Englishman who was
born In india. as was his father and
his grandfather. He says it is no place
for q white man. and abused the ma
tives freely But for that matter, he
abused the Prince of Wales, saying
he was a miserable little chap" He
spoke better OF the Princess of Wales,
saying she was a worthy woman, but
looked no better than a housemaid.
He had attended reception given in
their honor at Calcutta. I told him
was spending two weeks in India, and
he inquired, do you intend writing
a book" 1t lis an old joke but he
sprang an older one: He related that
railway contractors introduced wheel
barrows into India. intending to break
up the practice of the natives carry
ing dirt I'm baskets on their heads. But
the natives fled the Wheelbarrows
with dirt, and placing the wheeIbar-
rows on their heads carried them to
the dumping place. Every English
man I meet tells me this story, and I
read it thirty years ago.
This Englishman viii be passenger
on the steamship Persia" which
sails from Bombay on the goth I will
be a passenger on the same ship.
have lost all my old friends of the
siberia" and "Simla," and "Somali.''
but I am picking up acquaintance
with passengers who will sail with
me on the Persia. One of these
is Chicago man who tries to dress
and act like an Englishman. I stood
this patiently from Boston man 7
met on the siberia" but [ refused
to stand it from a Chicago man, and
exposed him
Agra where this LETTER is x4frffta,, fs