BOOK IX. Chapter I. 1857. June. Some reach Results of the mutiny at Sítápúr. the residents of that place and fugitives from Shahjahanpúr to Mathurá, the estate of the Dhaorérá Rájá. Here they remained in safety till discovered by a party of rebel sepoys, who took them prisoners towards Lakhnao. But escaping on the road some fled into Nipál. The majority remained for some time in concealment, but were ultimately discovered by the rebels and taken into Lakhnao. A fifth party fonnd their way to the estate of the Mitholí Rájá as already related. But if many thus escaped, some of them only for the moment, many too succumbed. On that terrible day twenty-four English, men, women, and children, were murdered by the sepoys. This slaughter but whetted the appetite of the loyal 41st. How they proceeded from Sítápúr to Farakhábád, and how there they incited the 10th Regiment to mutiny and murder has been told in the preceding Book. One detachment of that loyal regiment, and a detachment of the 4th Oudh Irregulars, were, howMalaon. ever, stationed at Malaon, also in north-west Oudh, but considerably to the south of Sítápúr. Here the only civil officer was Mr. Capper the Deputy Commissioner. His position had been long full of peril, for Malaon was on the high road to Farakhábád, and the population of that district was the most disorderly in India. Long before the mutiny at Sítápúr Mr. Capper had felt the loneliness and the danger of his position. The na tives round about his station had intimated in the plainest manner possible, short of actual speech, that they knew that the sepoys were watching BOOK IX. Chapter I. 1857. June. reaches Lakhnao. their opportunity. But Mr. Capper did not flinch from his duty. He was at his post when the sepoys at Sítápúr mutinied. He remained there after they had mutinied. Nor did he entertain Mr. Capper the idea of leaving it until the detachment at Malaon had shown unmistakeably that they, too, were about to take the law into their own hands. He then mounted his horse and rode into Lakhnao. The third district in North-West Oudh is Mohamdí. Mohamdí. The Deputy Commissioner there was Mr. Thomason: his assistant Captain Patrick Orr.* In a previous paget I have recorded how some of the fugitives from Shahjahanpúr reached Mohamdí. I propose now to recount the condition of that station before, and the events which happened subsequently to, their arrival there. Neither Mr. Thomason nor Captain Orr had been blind or deaf to the signs of the times. The position of Mohamdí, almost on the frontier Its position. Captain Patrick Orr was giments of infantry. On the the second of three brothers, annexation he, too, was made all, prior to the annexation, an Assistant Commissioner. in the service of the King of He was a brave, zealous, and Oudh. able officer. The eldest brother, Alex- The youngest brother, ander, had then rendered ex- Adolphus, was, under the cellent service as Assistant King, adjutant of one of his to the Superintendent of infantry regiments. On anFrontier Police. After the nexation he was appointed to annexation he was made an command the 3rd Regiment Assistant Commissioner. He of Oudh Military Police, which, was as able as he was hard- on the outbreak of the mutiny, working. was stationed in the Motí Mahal, Lakhnao. The second brother, Patrick, commanded originally + Book VIII. Chapter V. one of the King's regular re- page 321. BOOK IX. Chapter I. 1857. May. Its garrison. Mr. Thomason hears of the mutiny at púr, 384 NEWS OF THE SHAHJAHANPU'R FUGITIVES. of Rohilkhand and but a short distance from Shahjahanpúr, rendered it peculiarly sensitive to the insurrectionary feeling of the population in our own provinces. The garrison consisted of a detachment of the 9th Oudh Irregulars, a regi ment formerly raised and commanded by Captain Patrick Orr, under the King of Oudh, before the annexation; two companies of military police, and about fifty troopers. Alive as were both Mr. Thomason and Captain Orr to the gravity of the crisis they were yet Shahjahan. hopeful that so long as Rohilkhand should remain quiet they would manage to weather the storm. Nor was it until a letter written by Mr. Jenkins from Shahjahanpúr, reaching Mr. Thomason on the evening of the 31st of May, revealed the catastrophe at that station, that the two Englishmen felt that every faculty they possessed was about to be tried to the utmost. receives a letter from thence. The letter from Mr. Jenkins informed Mr. the fugitives Thomason that the troops at Shahjahanpúr had mutinied, that he and a body of fugitives, amongst whom were ladies and children, had reached Powaen, that the Rájá of that place had refused them shelter, and it begged that all the available carriage might be sent out to bring in the fugitives to Mohamdí. He scents the coming storm. Mr. Thomason complied with Mr. Jenkins's request. At the same time, he and Captain Orr, feeling that the crisis was upon them, determined to take active measures for the safety of their own belongings and of the expected fugitives. Their first step was to despatch Mrs. Orr and BOOK IX. Chapter I. 1857. June. sent to Mithaolí, child to Mithaolí, a distance of twenty-six miles. The Rájá of that place was under considerable obligations to Captain Orr, and he was indebted to Mr. Thomason for many acts of kindness and courtesy. Thither, therefore, Mrs. Orr and her Mrs. Orr is child were sent under the guard of some sepoys of Captain Orr's old regiment, the native officer commanding which swore fidelity. He kept his word. Marching all night Mrs. Orr and the party reached Mithaolí at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 1st of June. The Rájá, however, was asleep and would not be disturbed. When, at the end of two hours, he did awake, he sent a message to Mrs. Orr that he could not receive her in his fort, but that she must proceed to a place called Katchiání in the jungles, where she would be safer-less likely to attract the notice of roving mutineers. Katchiání. To Katchiání accordingly Mrs. Orr proceeded. thence to After a weary journey of two hours she found herself and child in a mud fort, desolate and dreary, devoid of all furniture-the very picture of discomfort. There she had to remain. There too the Rájá visited her that evening, and swore to protect her. He did not disguise from her that troublous times were upon them, and that the sepoys all over Oudh were pledged to revolt. To return to Mohamdí. Having sent off Mrs. Orr and her child, Mr. Thomason and Captain Patrick Orr turned to provide for their own safety and for that of their expected guests. They first caused the treasure to be moved into the fort of Mohamdí. They then moved with their troops BOOK IX. 1857. June. reach Mo hamdí. 386 THE SHA'HJAHANPU'R FUGITIVES ARRIVE. into that fort. This occurred on the 1st of June. Chapter I. The day following the Shahjahanpúr fugitives arrived from Powáen. Weary, with naked feet, The fugitives all exhausted, some badly wounded, they had with difficulty reached the place, which was not to be a place of refuge. Mohamdí was too close to the borders of Rohilkhand to be secure. It was considered certain that the mutinous regiments of that province would soon be upon the fugitives. On the other hand up to that date no mutiny had, to their knowledge, broken out They resolved in Oudh. Sítápúr was regarded as safe. to retire on Sítápúr. An escort arrives. To Sítápúr then Mr. Thomason wrote for carriage for the party. His letter reached Mr. Christian before mutiny had broken out at that place. Mr. Christian sent the carriage-under charge of an escort of sepoys of the Oudh Irregulars. The terrible tragedy which ensued began with the arrival at Mohamdí of this carriage-and of this escort. The escort brought infection with them. Immediately on arrival they disseminated the report that their brethren had been cut up at Lakhnao for refusing to become Christians, and that they were resolved to be revenged. Captain Orr reasoned with the native officers. They knew him as an old servant of the King of Oudh, and his influence with them was not wholly extinct. After some conversation they announced their intention of marching back to Sítápúr, swearing that they would spare the lives of the Europeans, taking with them Mr. Thomason and Captain Orr, and allowing the others to go away unmolested. They took a solemn oath that they would do this. |