NANA SAHIB.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4020, 6 January 1875, Page 6 (Supplement)

NANA SAHIB.

In a graphic account of the capture of Nana Sahib, the Delhi G:\zelte states :— " Great excitement prevails in the- city of Gwalior. At 9 p.m. on the gist October, shortly after hisVctum from the Dusserah review, the Maharajah Scindia v/as idfornied by a Goosain that Nana Sahib and Bala Sahib, the notorious rebels, v,-uh a large number of followers, had entered the city. Kana and Eala \pere disguised as Bairagees. There were vaiioua rumours of their intentions. Some said they hud come to assasinate the Maharajah, others, that to create a disturbance was their object. These tales spread far and wide. The true story is, however, that a letter was addressed to Scindia by the Nan a, craving his. protection (shavun). The communication said:— 'Since the events of 1557 I have been a miserable wanderer. My strength is now exhausted^ I come to you a suppliant for protection. You can kill me or save me.' Scindia at once mounted hia horse and rode over to call his Dewan, and give him the information and the necessary instructions thereupon. Ho then put himself at the head of a regiment of cavalry, one of infantry, and a battery of artillery, and went tv the place whore the descendants of the old masters of his ancestors were. Ho paid his respects to them, and then placed them in palkecs. The preconcerted signal of success—three guns in rapid succession—was given, and immediately the captives' followers dispersed. The captives were brought to the Maharajah's palace. In the meanwhile, the Dewan and Ebsan Ali. Vakeel, waited on the Resident, Colonel Osborue, and about 11 p.m. brought him to the palace and confronted him with the 2?ana. The excitement in the city continued all night, but ample measures to prevent a tumult and to reassure the people had been taken. The main roads and chief streets were occupied by the military, and large bodies of all arms stood to attention all night. The Maharajah himself visited the posts frequently during the night. On the morning of the 22nd, the prisoners were formally made over to the Morar authorities, and were immediately placed in irons under a strong European guard. Bala Sahib, or Bala Rao, referred" to in the foregoing telegram, is the brother of Nana Sahib. He took part under the Litter in the military operations to resist the march of General Havelock upon Cawnporo after the first outbreak. On the loth July, 1857, at the river Pimdoonudee, while Bala JRao was trying to blow up the bridge—the destruction of which would have disastrously retarded Haveloclc's progress—that general made a forced march from the village of Aong, and, suddenly attacking the rebels, defeated them. Bala Rao was wounded in the shoulder, and himself carried the news to his brother of the failure-in the attempt to blow up the bridge, and of Havelock's advance. After the decisive battle the next day, in which the Nana's troops under his own command were utterly routed, the two brothers fled together."

The Morar correspondent of the Times of Jndia gives the following description of the prisoner:—"He is a man of-appa-rently 40 years of age. He weara a long black beard, and long hair, in .neither of

which is there a.tin go ..of'grey. It has been stated that his hair, and beard are dyed, but this has not yet been proved; He is about sft 9in in height, and of spare figure ; his face is marked with small-pox, and is that of a villian; According to Kaye, the Nana should now be about 50 years old, but tli6 prisoner does not look more than 40 in the opinion of most people who have seen him. Hence doubts are'expressed as to his being the Nana, even in the face of the strong evidence against him.. In the opinion of Dr Tressidder, ; civil surgeon at Cawnpore at the time of the mutiny, the prisoner is too short for the Nana. Dr. Tressidiler thinks him too young and spare to be the right man. He also lacks certain surgical marks by which he could be identified. The scar from a carbuncle and a peculiarity of the nail growing into the flesh are absent. The voice is not the same, and the figure is different. On the other hand, the prisoner was positively identified as Nana of Bithoor by Baba Saheb Aptey, whose son married Bajee Ka'o's daughter. He has also been recognized by Unna, the Nana's own nephew, son of Baba Bhut, the Naua's brother. Colonel Moubray-Thomson saw the prisoner. He could not identify him positively, but traced a strong resemblance in the prisoner to Nana. The prisoner was then shaved and dressed as a Mahratta, when all the witnesses confirmed their previously-expressed opinions." After the removal of the prisoner to Cawnpore he was strongly fettered, andno one was allowed to see him. One of the latest Indian papers, the Madras Athenaeum, of November • 11, says : "The belief that the captured individual is really Nana Sahib is gaining ground, and the latest information to hand regarding him favours this conclusion."