The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-06-19
PUNJAB TROUBLE OCCASI0NED BY
 SEDITI0N BILL

FL of their leaders led few days later to the massacre of 1000 Indians trapped in a great square at Amrit- sar, in the Punjab district of India in the spring of 1919, says a report now made public by native investi- gators. The report was prepared by the Punjab subcommittee of the h. dian National Congress. In its pre- paration more than 1,70O witnesses were examined and depositions taken from survivors and relatives of the dead.
 Dissatisfaction among the natives first became apparent with the pas sage of the Rowlatt Bills, designed to punish Sedition.
 All over the country resolutions were passed by huge mass meetings protesting against the law and de- manding its repeal.
 The trouble between natives and officials, the report states, began in earnest on the night of April g, when two influential natives, Drs. Kitchew and Satyapal, were arrested and their friends heard they were to be deport- ed.
 'tThe news spread through Amritsar like lightning" the report continues. "A crowd immediately gathered to- gether. It was a crowd of mourners, 'bareheaded, many unshod, and all without sticks. It was on the way to the Deputy Commissioners bungalow to, plead for the release of it's loved ones.
 "It marched through the principal streets of Amritsar, passed the Ma tiona1 Bank. the Town Hall and the Christian Mission Hall, the very buildings, which, within a short time were to be destroyed by some of them. Its progress was stopped, however, at the railway overbridge which was guarded by a military picket. The men demanded passage and said that they wanted to go to the Deputy Commissioners bungalow to make -faryad'-a prayer.
 ''They pushed forward and the picket fell back a little. They ad- vanced and the military fired, killing and wounding some of them. The crowd fell back.
 Tt was no longer a peaceful crowd It was a crowd foiled in it's effort to secure the release of it's leaders and exasperated at the killing and wounu- ing of some of it's members. The sight of the dead bodies and the wounded inflamed the citizens who saw them and who gathered again near the bridge, this time carrying
 
 The report continues with a de- scription of the fight between natives and soldiery, during which many of the former were killed and the sur vivors inf1amed to such a pitch of fury that they returned into the city and applied the torch to several of the principal buildings. It says:
 "The authorities omitted all the usual parleyS with the natives and other intermediates resorted to in civ ilized countries. There was no par leying, no humoring and no use of milder force. Immediately the crowd became insistent the order was given to f1re.''
 One eye witness told later of the scene at the bridge: "Salaria and I shouted to the Deputy Commissioner and the officers to get back and not to fire, as we still hoped to take the crowd back. A few in the crowd threw wood and stones at the soldiers, who at once opened with a volley with out warning. Bullets whistled to my right and left. After the first few shots the crowd rushed back but the firing was continued. Many of them were hit in the back. The crowd dis persed leaving 25 or 30 killed and wounded.
 "It should be remembered" the re- port goes on, that the mob had not | as yet committed eXcesses. There was therefore no occasion for impa- | tience, indifference of ca1lousness which, according to this witness, was 1 evidently exhibited.
 | While, therefore, we deplore the 1 deportation order and the firing and | consider both as unjustifab1e and the absence of any ambulance arrange | ment as inhuman, nothing can be held | to Justify wanton destruction by the mob of the innocent lives and prop : critics 1 "The first thing General Dyer did l was to make arrests. He entered the l city and made about 12 arrests with | out any molestation or resistence | whatever"
 that the city's water and electric | supplies were cut off for three or foul | days as a punishment.
 The occurrence which directly led | to the subsequent wholesale massa cres in the Jalleanwala Bagh, the re | port asserts, was a proclamation IS sued about this time by General Dye | for bid ding the natives to assembl, publicly.
 '"The public meeting in the Ja11ean wala Bagh,' the report states, 'twa 1 called DefOre the prOclamat1On hat | reached more than half the popula i ton. Shortly before the arrival o
 General Dyer on the scene with g
 soldiers and two armored cars, Han
 Raj had taken charge of the meet
 ing, the audience numbering abou
 2O,0O0.
 ''The bagh is an irregular quadran
 gle, indifferently walled, and, in mos l cases, with the back walls of house
 surrounding it enclosing the quadran
 gle. There are three trees, a dilap , dated tomb with a dome and a, vel The ground at, the entrance is al
 elevation, remarkably fit for postin
 soldiers and firing upon a crowd i
 front The main entrance is a mar
 row passage through, which happily 1 the armored cars could not pass
 There are no other regular entrance :, but at four or five points it was pos sible to get out through narroy
 openings. The audience include |, many boys and children and som men had come with infants in thei
 arms.
 General Dyer dep1oyed 25 soldier
 to the right and 25 to the left, O