MORE INCIDENTS OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

Colonist, Issue 15, 11 December 1857, Page 4

MORE INCIDENTS OF THE INDIAN MUTINY.

Maddening Outrages.—A letter from Chinsurah says : " The soldiers are furious, and whenever they get at the mutineers depend upon it the revenge will be commensurate with the outrages that caused it. Very little is said among the men and officers : the subject is too maddening; but there is a curious expression discerriable in every face when it is mentioned—a stern compression pf the lips and a fierce glance of the eye, which show that, when the time comes, no mercy will be shown to those who have shown none. I will only disgust yOu with two instances; but, alas! there are too many similar ones. An officer and his wife were tied to trees, their children were tortured to death before them, and portions of their flesh crammed down the parents' throats: the wife then -before her husband. He was mutilated in a manner too horrible to relate. Then both were burnt to death. Tvyo young ladies, named —— (verypretty), were seized at Delhi, stripped naked, tied on a cart, taken to the bazaar, and there -—. Luckily for them they soon died from the effects of the brutal treatment they received. Can you wonder that, with stories like the foregoing, and there are plenty such, we feel more like fiends than men ? Our fellows have crossed their bayonets and sworn to give no quarter." A Narrow Escape.—A lady, writing from Agra, gives an interesting account of her escape from Gwallor, after the death of her husband, but whom she did not see killed:- —"I will now try to describe all this as it happened. A, rising had long been expected at Gwallor; but, alas! nothing was done, and we had no English troops. On Sunday, the 14th of June, just as we were going to bed, about halfpast nine, our servants rushed in and said the Sepoys, had risen. We dressed as quickly as; we could, and then walked to an officer's bungalow to learn what we could do to escape. We found the family in a state of great alarm. As we were talking to Mrs. Stewart, her husband's horse, rushed by, and they said he had just ibeerV; shot. We then went and hid in the garden; under some trees, for about three hours^ The shot was flying all around us, and the

houses were burning. The servants then hid us—that is, George, Mrs. Blake, and myself—in one of their houses. Here we lay hid some time, expecting every moment to be discovered and dragged out. The sepoys came in once or twice, but did not see us: at last, about five o'clock in the morning, they found us. The were afraid to come in at the door, so they pulled the roof off and fired in upon us. We then came to the door and begged them not to kill us. When George came to the door they fired twice at him: there were about twenty of them horrid looking men, and quite drunk. lie was not wounded, and rushed on, they pursuing him and firing at him as he ran. il then rushed forward too, and at first they fired at me as well, but th'eri they dragged me away. I never saw George after this, but I have since heard he was killed two or three compounds further on. I got an officer here who escaped to make all tlie enquiries he could. It is not known if the bodies were buried or not, but it is believed they were air thrown into the river. I can scarcely write, or think so fearful is it all. After, I suppose, they had killed George, the! sepoys came back to us: they pushed all the ladies into a little hut that was near, and then they all crowded in and mocked at. us, and threatened us with death and worse than death. They then took us to the lines: after keeping us there some time they said they would not kill us as we were only women and they had killed bur husbands, and so they crammed about six ladies into a carriage and sent us away. I cannot tell you the misery of the five days it took us to reach Agra. Our lives were in danger the whole time, both from villagers and parties of sepoys we fell in with: they held loaded pistols and naked swords over us again and again. Our party altogether consisted of eight ladies, besides four sergeants' wives and a number of children. We had nothing but grain to eat and water to drink. One sergeant's wife died on the way from sunstroke. We had no covering to our heads, and some had no shoes. The sepoys had robbed us of every thing; they even took the ladies' wedding rings : I tied mine round my waist, and so have kept it. At last we reached here. lam staying with the Political Resident, as I have no friend here. My miseries are almost more than I can bear. On the first anniversary of our wedding day I heard for certain of George's death. Even here we feel far from safe; we sleep in our clothes at the barracks, and every night we expect an attack. There is only one English regiment here, and in the gaolthere are three thousand of the worst characters."

A Ride for Life.—Captain T. Carey, of the 17th Bengal Native Infantry, relates his narrow escape from his troops, on whose loyalty he had so far counted as to ride on the morning before, with another officer named Hayes, to Mynpore, offering to attack the Etah Rajah, who had declared his independence. On their return they met the men apparently going along the road, and quite orderly:—" They were on one road—we on another. I said, 4 Let us cross the plain and meet them." As. we approached they faced towards us and halted, and when we had cantered up to within about fifty yards of them one or two of the native officers rode up to meet us, and said in a low voice, 'Fly, Sahibs, fly.' Upon this poor Hayes said to me, as we wheeled round our horses, ' Well, we must fly for our lives,' and away we went with the two troops after us like demons, yelling and sending their bullets from their carbines flying all around us. Thank God, neither I nor my horse was hit. Hayes was riding on the side nearest the troopers, and before we had gone many yards I saw a native officer go up alongside of him and with one blow cut him from his saddle. It was the work of an instant, and took much less time than I have to relate it. On they all came shouting after me, and every now and then 4 ping' came a ball near me. Indeed, I thought my moments were numbered, but as I neared the road at the end of the maidan a ditch presented itself., It was but the work of a moment—digging my spurs hard in my mare flew over it, though she nearly fell on the other side: fortunately, I recovered her, and in another moment I was leaving all behind but two Sowars, who followed me, and poor Hayes's horse tearing on after me. On seeing this I put my pistol into my holster, having reserved my fire until a man was actually upon me, and took a pull at the mare, as I had still a long ride for it, and knew my riding must now stand me a good turn; so Praised the mare as much as I could, keeping these fiends about 100 yards in rear, and they, I suppose, seeing I was taking it easy, and not urging my horse, hx# merely turning round every now and then to watch them, pulled up, after chasing trie two good miles. Never did I know a happier moment, and most fervently did I thank God for saving my life. Hayes's Arab came dashing along, and passed me; I still continued to ride on at a strong pace, fearful of being taken and murdered by some who had taken a short cut unknown to me. Thus up to the sixth mile from hOme did I continue to fly, when, finding my mare completely done, and meeting one of our Sowars, I immediately stopped him, jumped up behind, and ordered him to haste back to Mynpore. After going about a mile on this beast we came up to poor Hayes's horse, which had been caught, so on him I sprang, and he bore me back safely to my cantonments. It was, indeed, a ride for life or death, and only when I alighted at the magistrate's kutcherry, in which all the Europeans were assembled, did I feel at all comfortable.

Sharp Sword-practice.—An officer in the Guides relates some sword-practice he had in the sortie from Delhi in which young Battye was killed:—"Up the slope the enemy came running, delivered their fire, and then back again to load. Our poor fellows were not able to deliver a shot, and were getting knocked over most cruelly. To siay five minutes in that position was certain death to us all, so Daly and I drew our swords and rushed up the rocks with a

hurrah; a yell from behind told us our men were' following us as quickly as they could; the brave fellows are not staying behind when their officers are in. front of them. A few seconds brought a score-of them on the field of action. In the meantime pur commanding officer (Daly) and myself were over, and rather astonished to find we were quite outnumbered; however, there was no help for it now, except to fight it out. on jumping over I had the satisfiaction of seeing three fellows coming with, a rush at me; the first a great tall fellow, evidently excited to delirium almost by bhang, opium, and churries, raised his sword and made a slashing back-htnded cut, which, had it taken full effect, must have rolled my head off. However, my usual good luck came to my help, and instead of cutting.at my friend I just had time to change the cut into a guard. My good cavalry sword stood well, though a deep cut was made in the steel; however, my guard having been hurriedly made, and my opponent a stronger man than myself, my sword was beaten down and my cheek laid open. After the blow I had my turn, and gave my friend one across the head, which did not cut- him down to the shoulder/as I had imagined (the skull being a very tough article); at this moment one of our men bayoneted this fellow, and Daly cut him down too. As I got my cheek cut, I felt a cut just below my hip. The man who did it was instantly bayoneted, and a moment afterwards a third fellow rushed at me—a rather short little scoundrel; he made a vicious cut.at my head too, but, being much taller, I easily guarded it, and, as I stepped.for ward after his blow, I had full time to raise myself, arm, and sword to their full stretch. My sword caught him at the back of the neck and down across the shoulder, a fearful gash, and he fell on his face to rise no more, for a dozen bayonets were stuck into him in a moment. At" this instant a number of Her Majesty's 60th Rifles came up, and after a little more fighting the enemy were all shot down of bayoneted. After this I fainted from the profuse bleeding of an artery which was cut in my face, and I rememberno more till I was picked up and carried to camp. I was at once patched up by the doctors, and was so well next day that I managed with a little difficulty to go out scrimmaging again; on both these days a good number of the enemy were killed, and our loss was somewhat severe too."

A Gallant Exploit.—Lieutenant de Kantzow gives the following narrative of an exploit at Meerut:—" I" was returning from reconnoitering when information was brought me. that five troopers of the 7th Light Cavalry were coming along the road. An immediate pursuit was of course ordered by me, and my thirty-nine troopers tore away,at full speed after me. I was just coming up to them, and had already let drive among the murdering villains, when, 101 l came upon two hundred of their comrades, all armed with swords and some with carbines. A smart fire was kept up at a distance of not more than twenty-five yards. What could thirty-nine do against 200 regular troopers, well horsed and armed, particularly when walked > into by the bullets pf 100 of the 'infantry ? I ordered a retreat, but my cavalry could not get away from troopers mounted upon good stud-bred" horses; so we were soon: overtaken, and then commenced the shindy in earnest: twelve troopers surrounded me; the first, a Mahometan priest, I shot through the breast just as he was cutting me down; this was my only pistol, so I was helpless as regards weapons, save ,my sword; this guarded off a swingeing cut given me by No. 2, also another by No. 3, but the fun could not last. I bitterly mourned riot having a couple of revolvers, for I could have shot every man. My sword was cut down, and I got a slash on the head that blinded me, another on the arm that glanced and only took a slice off. The third caught me on the side, but also glanced and hit me sideways. I know not how I escaped. God only knows, as twelve against one were fearful odds, especially as I was mounted on a pony's bare back. Escape, however, I did, and, after many warm escapes, too numerous to mention, I got back here. Fourteen of my brave fellows wore killed, wounded, six missing!—total, twenty-four, out of thirty-nine. Good odds, was it riot,?"/