SHOT DEAD BY FANATIC

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 8 September 1926, Page 2

SHOT DEAD BY FANATIC

AN INDIAN STREET TRAGEDY

BRITISH OFFICER’S FATE

THE LURE OF ADVENTURE

Colonel Henry Arthur Bransbury, P. 5.0., shot dea’d by a fanatic in the streets of l.ueknow, was a victim oi an irresistible attraction towards India and tin* fiitKilioism nf its natives. Onlv 49 yr;vrs old, ;md mnmmirtl, tlu* i:oloncil had been in command ol I lie Lucknow Hospital since last 1 li-ccniber. He v.as shot dead in the street by a bearer, who also attacked bis groom anil killed the groom's wife. Colonel Bransliury, the son of Mrs F. M. Brnnslmry, oi' Redhill, saw service with tlie army in I he South African War, and at the close took an appoint mciit. as house surgeon at St. Georges Hospital, The hire of adventure took him abroad many times, and finally called him back to the army on the outbreak of war .12 years ago. lie served with the R.A..M.C. in If ranee, India, and Mesopotamia, being one of those who volunteered for duty when the fact about the breakdown of the medical service in Mesopotamia leaked out. lie was twice mentioned in dis patches. The deceased had a passion for probing mysteries associated with rare diseases, and lie undertook perilous adventures into remote parts of India and other countries, with the object of adding to his store of knowledge. In these quests, always fraught with danger, from pestilence, or from the hate of the native he encountered, he developed a rare knowledge of the people and their ways. His'passion for rubbing shoulders with danger, and his enthusiasm for learning all lie could about tropical diseases, caused him to make long excursions in his holidays into the interior, and to mix with the natives as one of themselves —a thing he was able to do because he had mastered the language, the dialects, and the customs of the people.

AMONG THE FANATICS Colonel Bransbury came into contact with every undercurrent of unrest in India, ami no man had a clearer conception of what is going on under the surface in that part, of the Empire. One of the things forced cm him shortly before hi* death was the growing number of fanatics who were let loose in the country with tlie fixed determination to Rill someone, associated with "the hated English rule.” As recently as a month before his death Colonel Bransbury had urged that everything pointed to a state _oJ unrest in the lower strata of the native population, suggestive of the days of the Mutiny, and he had pressed on the political officers the need for taking measures to deal with the evil. It was, therefore, all the more remarkable that he, himself, should he the first victim o{ the fanatics whose presence in the country he had found out when mixing with tin* throngs in the bazaars lie used to frequent in ordeFTo perfect his knowledge- of the people and their ways. Despite his detestation of the methods of the Indian revolutionaries, Colonel Bransbury was one of the old school of Indian administrators, who had immense admiration for the people, and had their confidence as an officer brought up with a passionate, love for justice and the liner traditions of British rule in India.

TRACKED DQWN BY SEOREI SOCIETY

Though the attack on the colonel was apparently the result of an accidental meeting, there is reason to think that lie had been tracked down by one of the many secret- societies in India whose members suspected him of knowing more about their secrets than they liked. Some time ago lie bad made a journey into the liill country in the role of a native student of medicine, and he apparently surprised some of the members of one of these, societies, for tie was set on one night by a party of tinned men, and mnly eeaped by the timely intervention of an influential Indian whose life lie had saved. It is thought that Colonel Bransbury accidentally stumbled on a meetingplace of this society, and the members taking it into their heads that lie was really a political officer sent to find out their secrets, had vowed his death. He, himself, was convinced that lie was followed all the way back to Lucknow, and that emissaries of the society were never far from Ins trail until the tragedy. ESCAPE FROM DACOITS One of the secrets that Colonel Bransbury bad probed was in connection with the revival of dacoitry. Ho had ventured into the haunts of one of the worst of these gangs, and on one occasion had a narrow escape from death. They had suspicions that In knew of their presence, for in the night they made an attempt t«7 enter his room and kill him

Fortunately, Colonel Bransbury was alert, and on bearing the noise he got out of bed. After arranging his cloth ing to suggest that be was still there he hid in a recess; and when the stealthy figure stole into the room the colonel opened tire. The native was wounded, but. mamiged to escape with the aid of his accomplices, leaving behind him as a grim trophy for the colonel a piece of thin rope; the only weapon used by these bandits in despatching their 'victims.