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3>S TKE MABIB. [No. 395, Octoberl% r 185...
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THE MYSTERY OP THE MURDER. Even so far a...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mand, And An Adequate Siege Train, There...
a multitude of the rebels sufficient to exterminate his eohnxra . "Within his entrenchment * , bhere is little doubt that he could encounter bhe whole of the Oude , Puttehpore , and GwaKor troops . But he is not in that desperateposition . At the date of the last despatches from Calcutta , Q-eneral OuTtt . 01 was rapidly forcing hi * way up with reinforcements ; and so far- from the garrison of Imcknow being in such a eritical situation as to tempt HaveliOCK : to push , on as the leader of a forlorn
hope , at the risk of sacrificing himself and his men , they could hold out well until the 15 th , if not until the 30 th of September , and had beaten their besiegers upon two distinct occasions . The enemy's assault had iailed , and they had lost their only heavy guns . Meanwhile , the preparations for their relief were satisfactory . Of the twelve hundred and seventy men who had come up with Otttram to Allahabad , six
hundred and a 9-pounder battery were pushed on on the 4 th of September ; O tub am himself would follow on the next day with seven hundred and fifty ; by the 11 th or 12 th he would be at Cawnpore : there , it was anticipated , the passage of the river could be effected without delay ; and by the 15 th , if no disasters happened , the -Fusilier fife and drum and the Highland bagpipe would be heard by the ^ English women and children in the fort of Xuclmow . As a stimulus to the
energy of the garrison , a message had been sent bidding them not to despair , since succour was on the way . They are said to have responded by requesting the Brigadier-General not to undertake any desperate enterprise on their account . It is proba . hle that , should Oxttba-Tvi and Havelock march in company from Cawnpore on the 12 th , the rebels before laiclmow would relax their
pressure on that point and face about to defend themselves against the approaching columns . Tt was "while they were in this attitude , we imagine , that the additional supplies of grain and bullocks were taken into Lucknow . Under any circumstances , it is mere wantonness to describe Have : lock : ' s victories as barren , since they undoubtedly aided in protracting the defence of Lucknow , kept "the enemy in a state of alarm , and interrupted the construction of immense entrenchments along the line of highway from Cawnpore through . the territory of Oude .
Tne English , with their allies , were gradually regaining their position in Bengal and Bahar , although the enemy continue in possession of small forts sprinkled in various directions over the country . ^ It is important to notice that the Madras troops on the Grand Trunk road were doing useful service , and had marched with alacrity from Uaneegunge . The Ghoorkas Avere giving new proofs of their military
quanhcations and their fidelity . Throughout the Presidency of Madras itself , the state of affairs , considering the alarm that had been created , was eminently satisfactory . Nothing unpleasant had occurred in Bombay , although the temper of the army is evidently ecniivocnL The JSffohurrum had passed off quietly in all "parts of India , demonstrating the general loyalty of the people ; above all , the rebels seemed to have lost the confidence of their former
comrades . No fresh mutinies had taken place , except among the contingent forces , while no native chiefs had declared against us . That extensive and powerful body , with only two or three exceptions , remained friendly and faithful ; probably they , who are upon tho scene , comprehend the atatc of affaira "better than most persons at home , and they foresee nothing but ruiu to tho insurgent lands . The expected disturbances in Jfcajpootium had ? U ) t taken pldco ; ' no outbreak had happened
in Bundelcund ; in , the North-West and in Central India the protected princes remained staunch . The G-walior contingent is reported to have deposed their Maharajah and proclaimed a Mogul prince , but Sistdiah : was virtually in power , the Delhi pretender being no more than an effigy . The Bhopal contingent had rebelled . Bhopal i & a native state in Mlalwa , under the political superintendence of the Governor-General , and is contiguous to the possessions of Hol-KA . B and Sindiah . It has a Hindoo and
Patan population , and is governed by a Nawab , whose revenues do not exceed 223 , 000 Z ., and whose military force , including the British contingent ( 259 cavalry , 522 infantry , and 48 artillerymen ) , with the quotas of the Jagheerdars , numbers a " bout 4300 men of all arms . The revolted battalions are
capable of disturbing the district , but not of undertaking any serious movement . "We regard these details as encouraging . They appear to promise that the English will have improved their position in India before the arrival of any reinforcements . The reinforcements , however , were nearing their destination when the Alma left Calcutta . She
passed a strong detachment at Point de Galle , and heard that a considerable force had reached the Mauritius . One regiment from the Cape had disembarked at Bombay , another was daily expected ; two , diverted from China , were on their way to the Hooghly , the 23 * d Fusiliers had mustered at Calcutta . Sixteen thousand men will follow
them to that port . It is too late to regret that the insurrection was allowed by Lord Caiwin g to spread unchecked , until it became necessary to make these tremendous preparations . Perhaps , also , it . was too late in the . last days of September to prevent certain possible disasters , of which we must be prepared to hear untiL decisive successes have been announced from Iaicknow and
Delhi ; there may be new ravages , and massacres ; but we believe that wiser and clearer views , have been taken , from the outset , by those who have predicted the extirpation of the mutiny , than by others who have been absorbed by the gloom of the crisis , and have prophesied only an interminable succession of failures and calamities .
3>S Tke Mabib. [No. 395, Octoberl% R 185...
3 > S TKE MABIB . [ No . 395 , Octoberl % r 1857 .
The Mystery Op The Murder. Even So Far A...
THE MYSTERY OP THE MURDER . Even so far as we have unravelled it—and that is but a little way—how strange- the story of that carpet-bag ! We boast that life and property are peculiarly safe in the British Empire ; London is the centre of that empire , and we have before us , amongst the most ordinary occurrences of the day , murder in every variety of form . There is indeed some reason to suppose that the luggage which passes from , one part of the kingdom to another sometimes comprises cargoes as hideous as that of the carpet-bag ; and it is certain that in all these cases the malefactors are not
secured . A , contest is going on at this moment between civilization and barbarism , to settle this account of the carpet-bag , and as yet few of us -would bet on civilization . If an angeL were looking down upon earth ho would see spectacles more strange than could be exhibited by the most savage country in the world . Already we have traced the carpet-bag through much of its travels ; and through some of tho hands that have used it .
We know the -wholesale manufacturer that sold it , but there we lo-ae sight of ifc . Next we seo it in tho hands of that elderly woman , who brought it to tho toll-gate on Waterloobridge , and trembled aa tho toll-keeper lifted it over the turnstile . We iirui it next on . one of the buttresses of AVaterloo-bridge , filled , not with tho ordinary luggage of a
traveller ,, but with the traveller himself , mangled and compressed , his- clothes- cut to 7 > iece & We see it carried to the surgeon ^ and with him , examine its . contents . Civilization is now embodied in the sur . geon , who bends poring over the loathsome re * , mains of humanity , tracing out—through the hacking of the saw , the discoloration of the flesh , the puncturing of the clothes , and the substances which accidentally adhere to the relics— -some story of the crime , some trace of those who have committed it . By the make of the clothes , it is conjectured that the
murdered man was a foreigner , probably from Germany ; by the ma . rk of the laundress , he had probably come straight from Paris ; by the measurement of the bones , he was probabl y a man about five feet eight or ten inches in height—a tall man * by the colour and texture of the hair , still observed on some parfcs of the skin , he was an adult in the full vigour of life ; by the shrinking of the wounds , which are smaller in the flesh than in the clothes , lie was stabbed while yet alive ; by the collocation of the stabs , he must have changed
Ins position — probably struggled violently with his murderer between the first wound and the last fatal blows—the stabs beginning in the back wide apart and struck at random , ending in front in those seven closely planted blows that pierced to the heart .- By the bleeding , which soaked the clothes , we see that , immediately after death , before the blood coagulated , the murdered man lay stooping forward on his face ; by the cramped position of the joints , that bis limbs were bent as he lay crouched down , probably where he fell , and that he was so left before the murderers
attempted to hide away the bloody work . The tearing of the clothes and the hacking of the limbs tell that the guilty people found some difficulty in disposing of the body , which they mangled in reducing it for purposes of stowage ; soaked it in brine that it might ' keep' until they could carry it away ; and then they packed up body , clothes , and all , as well as they might , in the carpet-bag . But there are some other traces which
open another branch of the story . Amongst the mangled pieces of flesh and bone are found some few hairs which , by their length and fineness , fell from a woman ' s headfrom a woman ' s bead as she was stooping over the corpse . A woman then helped to mangle the body , as probably a woman had inveigled him to tbe place of the murder , and assisted in holdino him while tho murderer
began his work . For the strong and vigorous man had broken away from his murderers before their work was finished , had leaned his back against the wall , as we see by the stains on the coat , and had in that posturo received the last fatal stabs . The police are still baffled with manifold and inconsistent tales . The woman that brought the carpet-bag came from the J \ IiddLesex side of the river ; but on the other side , some few hours before she showed hersel ' f at the toll-gate of the bridge , were seen a inim and woman in the " Westminster-road
with a carpet-bag like the one that has been found . Tho woman waa placed will ) the luggngo in tho cab , and sent off ; the man departing in another direction . Inquiry haa been raised about those persons ; and ailonco , although it cannot be taken as positive evidence , implies at ] eaat that they do not euro to appear and show that they had no conwill
nexion with the crime . Government ; give iiOOl . —200 / ., eveu to accomplices if they are not tho actual numloi'ora , who will inform ; and 100 / . to any one who will identity the old woman . Elderly women about livo feet two or three inches m heig ht , with voices , capable of ' gruilue-HS , ' nuiafcj u & t at present , bo watched with enrioua covofr
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 17, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17101857/page/14/
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