DETAILS OF THE DISASTER.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7870, 22 May 1891, Page 5

DETAILS OF THE DISASTER.

(Per San Francisco Mail, at Auckland.)

SIMLA, April 13. Captain Boileau, who, with Mrs Grimwood, Lieutenant Gurdon, Captain Butcher, and other officers, made good hia escape from Manipur, and reached Lakiupur on March 31st, has made his report to the Indian Government on the subject of recent events at Manipur. His description of the occurrences before and after the abortive Durbar, summoned by Mr Quinton, only confirms the previous narratives. When the siege on the British residency began the Manipurs manned the loopholed walls of the palace, which were about sixty yards from the residency and separated from it by an unfordable moat. At eight o'clock in the evening of March 24th Mr Quinton sent a letter to the Regent, proposing the terms which he would grant. A reply was soon afterwards received in which the Regent said that the only terms which he would grant were the unconditional surrender of the whole British force. Colonel Skene advised against any capitulation. Mr Quinton however, observed that the Residency would not be tenantable if the guns opened fire on it. He discussed the question of the abandonment of the place with Mr Grimwood, the Resident. Lieut. Simpson after a time went out and spoke with the enemy. He came back and reported that the Jubraj would meet Mr Quinton if the latter would come to the gate of the palace. The Commissioner accordingly went after some time, accompanied by Colonel Skene, Mr Grimwood, Lieut. Shnpson, and Mr Cossirs. With them went also a. bugler, who carried j the chairs required at the conference, which it was supposed was to be held at the palace gateway. This bugler, however, was speedily ordered back by the Manipuris as he was armed with a rifle. At half-past ten the Manipuris shouted out to the people in the Residency that Mr Quinton would not return, and they then opened fire again. Our men, under Captain Boileau, replied freely. At midnight, Lieutenant Gurdon, Lieutenant Woods, Captain Butcher, and Mrs Grimwood were standing upon the , Residency steps among the Sepoys, and | shells were bursting in the compound. Captain Boileau consulted his brother officers as to what should be done. He said that he would go with the majority. Ultimately it was resolved to evacuate the Residency, and a retreat was effected in good order. The fugitives made their way across the hills, and finally met Captain Cowley's detachment, with which they proceeded to Lakhipur. Captain Boileau thinks that the Jubraj is alone responsible for all that happened. The British officers state that no cruelty whatever was practised by our men, nor indeed was such a thing possible. One of the Telegraph officers reports having seen the headless corpses of Mr Melville and Mr O'Brien lying on the road twenty-four miles from Manipur. "The Rangoon correspondent says :—" Trustworthy details of the deaths of Mr Quinton and the other British officers with him have been brought to Tamu from Manipur. These unfortunate gentlemen were put to death under circumstances of the most revolting barbarity. After Mr Quinton's capture, he and two British officers and a bugler were taken before the Regent, who ordered them to be made over to the Knki levies to be killed. Mr Quinton was killed, his head being cut off, and his body hacked to pieces. His dismembered limbs were then thrown outside the walls, to be devoured by pariah dogs. The two officers, whose names are not given, and the bugler were speared by the Kukis, and their bodies afterwardsmntilatedand also thrown to the pariah dogs. Mr''Grimwood, the political agent, and two other officers who were captured alive were shot by order of Linkazing Law, the Minister. Their bodies were also cut to pieces and treated as those of Mr Quinton 'and his companions. The bedies of two British officers who were killed during the fighting were also cut to pieces, I and thrown outside the city. Only vague reports of these atrocities had previously I reached Tamu through a native source. Large rewards have been offered for the capture of the Regent and the other leaders, including the Senapati, whose fate appears | to be uncertain.

Fifty released prisoners aid fugitivea were arrested on Friday at Kuzzema, a frontier post near Kohima, and among them (says the " Times'" correspondent at Calcutta) was a Native trader named Tansah Doss, who affirms that he had seen the, mutilated bodies of British officers, with their heads and feet cut off. It will be remembered that the Bengalee head clerk's report said that, the officers were killed in action, and therefore there is room to hope they were not murdered in cold blood, but were killed while still resisting, or immediately after their seizure, ana that the mutilation was effected after death. This is the view taken By the Indian Government, and on the whole it is the more probable. The event has caused a deep feeling of sorrow and indignation throughout India, especially in the province of Assam, where the victims were well known and where it was universally believed that no violence woidd be offered to them. Natives as well as Europeans are calling for prompt retaliation, and whatever may be the fate of Manipur itself -here can be no doubt that effective puniahment will be meted out to the treacherous Jubraj. His story that he has executed the Senapati is almost certainly false, as all probabilities point to the fact that the latter fell in an unsuccessful attack on the mud fort at Alaungtoong, near Thobal, which Lieut. Grant so gallantly defended. Lieut. Grant appears to have supported his force with the corn he captured in the Thobal fort. Hia ammunition was almost exhausted. The three columns are now rapidly concentrating at Ronima, Silchar and Tamu, and although the Manipuris are said to be fortifying the capital, it is not likely they will offer any resistance. The difficulty of the road and transport will be the only serious obstacles, and these, so far at least as the Cathas column is concerned, are so considerable that it is understood that the route was not selected without opposition on the part of some competent authority.