DRAMA OF INDIA

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 29

DRAMA OF INDIA

MISS ELLIS’S ABDUCTION. STORY OF ITER RELEASE. MRS STARR BRAVES DEATH. Graphic details from Kohat of the abduction and rescue of Miss Ellis are new available. The crime was enacted early in the morning cf April 14, by the abductors, who were assisted by a combination of lucky circumstances, chiefly a violent storm and wind, which caused the doors to bang and the branches cf the trees to crash and creak, drowning Miss Ellis's efforts to raise an alarm. Having seized Miss Ellis, the miscreants made off to the east in the direction of Khush Algarh, and reached the lulls east of Kohat and Kotal and south of the Peshawur-Xohat road. The captive girl was half-carried and half-driven up the steep rocky path till dawn. The whole day the unhappy Miss Ellis was surrounded by vile brutes, fearing murder at the bidding" of a sudden whim. At nightfall food, including hot mills, was given to the girl, and the journey resumed through the night. The next four days and nights were a, nightmare of alternative travelling and hiding, with ever-growing exhaustion and agony from bleeding feet, added to the hopeless feeling of being taken further into fits unknown, with no gleam of hope yet visible. Despite all these circumstances, the spirit of the girl was undaunted. On the sixth day her captors brought her to their home at Tirah. All this time scarce a soul was seen. A party of Afridi and Orakzai Jirglias set out to rescue the girl, entirely ignorant of her whereabouts. On the 20th, Kuli Khan. Political Assistant at Khnrram, accompanied by a Tirgah, reached Kanki Bazaar, the home of the famous influential Mullah, Mahmud Akkundzake. It is to Kuli Kuan’s credit that by the time of the arrival of Mis Starr he had succeeded in securing the reluctant admission that the girl was in a mountain fortress eight miles away. As a result of tribal pressure Kuli Khan succeeded in sending a parcel of comforts and a letter of encouragement to the girl, who had meanwhile been reasonably treated by her captors’ womenfolk. Mrs Starr, es.. orted by Mughul Baz Khan, the gallant riaaldar of the Chief Commissioner, assisted by friendly tribesmen, had reached the heart of the Orakjai country, where they found clear signs that, their intrusion was unwelcome. Moghul Baz, however, heeded not the Mullah's message enjoining him to turn back, and reached Klianzi Bazaar. Consequent on the pressure put upon him, the Mullah reluctantly acquiesced, and Ajab, the leader of the gang, agreed to transfer the captive to (he Mullah's house lest she should die of exhaustion or b? forcibly taken by other tribesmen. Kuli Khan proceeded to the fortress, and had Miss Ellis carried on a man's shoulder to the Mullah's house. Mrs Starr was allowed on the morning of April 22 to see the captive girl, but"" the danger and anxiety were by no means over, for, while both women conversed, the abductors stood round, fierce and unrelenting, making it clear that (he girl was still their captive. At this stage the miscreants learnt that an Afridi rescue party was actually attacking their homes. Incensed, Shahazanda, the murderer of Mrs Ellis, laid hand on Mrs Starr and hustled her from the room, and uttered threats menacing the safety of both women. The Mullah, enraged at (he insult to the sanctity of his roof, publicly cursed Shebanza and his companions. In this dramatic fashion was the balance finally tilted over and the surrender of Miss Ellis swiftly ar. ranged. The demands for xanswn and the concession of pardon were abandoned, and early on April 23 Kuli Khan and Moghul Baz Khan, accompanied by Miss Ellis, hurried to Shinwara, a 27-mile journey, at the end of which they were welcomed by the Chief Commissioner, Sir John Maffcy, and the Kohat distiict officers.

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