LOW-CASTE INHABITANTS OF CAWNPORE.
A couple of hours will suffice for seeing the points of interest, and it happened that the train for the north gave the Doctor and his young companions all the time they needed for the excursion. They engaged a carriage and started at once, and as they rode along the Doctor told in brief the story of Cawnpore.
Nena Sahib was a native prince of enormous wealth; a few years before the Mutiny he had a lawsuit with the East India Company, which was decided against him, and from that time he had the most bitter hatred for the English, though he associated freely with them, and professed the warmest friendship. He entertained them often at his palace, which was filled with European furniture and pictures, and when the rebellion broke out no one supposed he had favored it or would take any part in the hostilities.
General Wheeler, who commanded Cawnpore at that time, was so impressed with the Nena's loyalty that he asked him for a guard of cavalry to protect the treasury, and it was promptly given. The revolt began on the 4th of June: the native cavalry burnt their barracks and buildings near them. The other troops joined them, and then all united with the Nena's soldiers in plundering the treasury. The English gathered in an intrenchment, and on the 6th of June they were attacked by Nena Sahib's troops, the Nena himself taking command, and directing the assault. For three weeks it was kept up, and the sufferings of the English were terrible. Men, women, and children were crowded together in a small intrenchment, with no shelter from the terrible heat of the summer sun, and many of them died of exposure.
On the 27th of June the attack was suspended for a moment, and a letter came from the Nena offering safe-conduct to Allahabad for the garrison, if it would surrender. The terms were accepted, and the garrison went to some boats that were waiting at the river's bank a mile away. As soon as they were on board it was found that the boats were fast in the sand, and before they could be moved the rebels began firing upon them, and at the same time threw torches on the thatched roofs, which instantly blazed up. Out of two hundred persons in all, only four escaped.
From this time to the middle of July Nena Sahib was master of Cawnpore. He amused himself by butchering all the Englishmen that fell into his hands, and devised the most cruel forms of torture for this bloody work. The women and children were kept prisoners in a building that had formerly been an assembly-room, and on the night of the 16th of July, when it was found that Havelock's troops were advancing, and the rebel array was being defeated, the order was given for their slaughter. The bodies of the victims were thrown into a well near the building; not only the dead but the living were thrown there, and when the English entered the place they were told by some of the natives how the butchery had been conducted, and that for hours afterward any one passing the well could hear the sound of groaning.
THE MEMORIAL WELL AT CAWNPORE.