A TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13453, 1 June 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

A TALE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

In an article in the Cavalry Journal, Sergeant Forbes-Mitchell, 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, gives some reminiscences of the Indian Mutiny, and incidentally relates an instance of Lucknow that came under his own notice of tbs force of a sword-cut from a. curved sword of rigid steel:— !

"There were three brothers of the mime of Ready in the 93rd, called David, James, . and John. They were all powerful, tall men, in the prime of life, and oil three had served through the Crimea. David was a sergeant, and his two brothers were privates. When falling in for the assault on the Begum's palace, John Ready took off his Crimean medal and gave it to his brother David, telling him that he felt a presentiment that lie would rv. killed in the attack, arid' that David hrfd' beticv'keeu his medal and send it home to their mother. ;, David tried to reason him out of his fearx, • but to no purpose. John Ready replied that he had no fear, and his mother might know that he hud died doing his duty. " Well, the assault took place, and in- the . inner courts of the palace there was one division held by a regiment of dismounted cavalry, armed with .swords us keen as razors, and circular shields, and the party of the 93rd who got into the court were far outnumbered on this occasion, as in fact we were everywhere else. On enter- V ing James Ready was attacked by a sowar armed with sword and shield. Ready's feather bonnet was knocked off, and the sowar got one cut at him, right over his head, which severed the skull clean in two, the sword cutting right through his neck and half-way down through the breast bone. John Ready sprang to the assistauce of his brother, but too late; and although his bayonet reached the side of his oppo- ~ nent and was driven home with a fatal thrust in doing so 'he came within the : ; swoop of that same terrible sword, wielded by the powerful arm of a tall man, and he was also cut right through the left shoulder diagonally across the chest, and his head and right arm were clean severed from the body. The sowar delivered his stroke of the sword at the same moment that he received the bayonet of John Ready through his heart, and" both men fell dead togefch«r. David Ready, the sergeant, seized the tulva.r that had killed both his brothers, ami used it with terrible effect, cutting off the , heads of men as if they had been mere, •heads of cabbage. When the fight was over I examined that sword. It was ot ordinary weight, well balanced, curved about "a. quarter-circle, as sharp as the sharpest razor, and the blade as rigid as cast-iron. Now, my experience is that . none of our very best English swords could have cut like this one. A sword of that quality could cut through a man's skull or thighbone without the least quiver, as easily as an ordinary Birmingham Wade would cut through a willow.