MURDER OF A NOTED TRAVEL. LER.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 48, 31 August 1878, Page 2

MURDER OF A NOTED TRAVEL. LER.

Tho murder of Sir. T. T. Cooper, at Bhamo, is reported by the Madras Times, 7th May. The victim was at one time agent for the Chamber of Commerce at Calcutta, and in ISGB he resolved to trovel through China to India by a route comparatively unknown and full of dangers. Starting from Hankow he travelled along tho Yang-tsc-kiang and went down to Eastern Thibet anil Yunnan, meeting with many adventures on the way. lie started on this long journey of several thousand miles with only £2OO in his pocket, ond as he might have been robbed at any point of tho routo he toog, his position was a decidedly precarious one. He was imprisoned at least once, and on another occasion, in Thibet, had a more agreeablo surprise by being married unawares. One day he found himself in a grove, surrounded by a group of girls, and, according to him, "the whole seeno was so arcadian, and the romantio effect so irresistible, that though struck by tho remarkable absenco of tho male sex, he gave himsolf up to the influence of tho situation, and waited with languid curiosity for the denouement of this pleasant littlo adventure." Ho smoked with tho girls and shared their meals, and aftorwards they dragged in a young girl of sixteen, attired in a silk dress, seated her by his side, and then commenced dancing round tho pair. He could not make it out until his servant explained that, according to one of the customs of Thibet, he had, without kuowing it, allowed himself to be married. He at first wished to resist, pleading English Custom*, hut the tribe among whoui he was would accept no explanations, and he WU compelled to take the girl with him. He intended to take her to Calcutta and hand her over there to tho Catholic Sist> i , hut fortunately for him Lo-tiung, his bride, had an undo in some distant part of the country who took her off hi hand* •

100, about a hundred mi tea to the north of Vuunan, ho was imprisoned, but after submitting to a good deal of black mail he managed to make his escape, chiefly by giving his guard a' much opium as they could smoke. From this place he hud" to lieat a retreat to Hankow again. In ls7o, however, with a spirit of adventure still strong within him, he left Calcutta for Thibet, travelling through AsNini ami by the line of the Bruhmapo"tra. He did not get further than the : village pf Prop, where he was compelled |to retire. Mr. Cooper published the ro[cord of his travels, and attracted the notice of the Government of India, which attached him to its political service. As an attache to the Foreign Offico, he bl ought out from England the banners and other valuable articles connected with the Imperial Assemblage, and after fulfilling this duty he was sent to Bhamo as the representative of the Government of India. No detail* have yet transpired ns to the reason of his murder, which is said to have been committed by ono of his own guards ; but it is natural to suspect that the Burmese Government may have been concerned intne crime. Ever since, the suspicions roused by the murder of Mr.'Margary, and the somewhat acrimonious correspondence that then took place between the Burmese Government and the Government of India, the feeling between the bigoted and darrogant ruler in Mandalay and the British Government has not been remarkable foi cordiality, and it is possible that the guard who committed the murder was bribed by somobody belonging to the Burmese Government to do it. If this has been the case, wo trust that the King of Burmah will once for all receive a sharp lesson to show him that the lives of Englishmen in his territory must be considered sacred.