THE SUPPOSED NANA SAHIB.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 186, 13 January 1875, Page 3

THE SUPPOSED NANA SAHIB.

According to. the latest telegrams the Nana Sahib recently arresteo, has been declared an imposter, but the following graphic account of the capture of the supposed arch-rebel, supplied by the Delhi Gazette, .will nevertheless be read withinterest : " Great excitement prevails in the city of G'walibr. At 9 p.m. on the 21st October, shortly after his return from the Dnsserah review, the "Maharajah Scindia was iuformod bj a Goosian thut Nana Sahib and Bala Sahib, the notorious rebels, with a large number of followers, had entered the city. Nana and Bala were disguised as Bairagees. There were various rumours of their intentions. Some said they had come to assassinate the Maharajah. others, that to create a disturbance was their object. These tales spread far and wide. The true story is, however, that a letter was addressed to Scindia by the Nana, craving his . protection (shanm). The enmmunica-. tion said :—' Since the eveuts of 1867 I have been a miserable wanderer. My strength is now exhausted. I come to you a suppliant for protection. You can kill me or save me.' Scindia at once mounted his horse and rode over to call his Dewan, and give him the information and the necepsary instructions thereupon. He then put himself at the head of a regiment of cavalry, one of infantry, and a battery of artillery, aud went to the place where the descendants of the old masters of his ancestors were. He paid his respects to them, and then placed them in palkees. The preconcerted signal of success—three guns in rapid succession—was given, and immediately the captives' followers dispersed. The captives were brought to the Maharajah's palace. In the meanwhile, the. Dewan and Ebs<m Ali, Vakeel, waited ori the resident, Colonel Osborne, and about 11 p.m. brought him to the palace and confronted him with the Nana. The excitement in the city continu6d all night, but ample measures to present a tumult and to reassure the people had been taken. The main roads and chief streets were occupied by the military, and large bodies of all arms stood to attention all night. The Maharajah himself visited' the posts frequently during the night. On the morning of the 22nd, the prisoners were formally made over to the Morar authorities, and were immediately placed in irons under a strong European guard. Bala Sahib, or Bala Rao, referred to in the foregoing telegram, is the brother of Nana Sahib. He took part under the latter in the military operations to resist the march of General Havelock upon (Jawnpore after the first' outbreak. On the 15th July, 1857, at the river Pundoonudee, while Bala Rao'was trying to blow up the bridge—- , the destruction of which would have disastrously retarded Haveloek's progress—that general made a forced march from the village of Aoug, ami, suddenly attacking the rebels, defeated them. Bala Rao was wounded in the shoulder, and himself carried the news to his brother of the failure in the attempt to blow up the bridge, and of Havelock's advance. After the decisive battle the next day, in which the Nairn's troops under his own command were utterly routed, the two brothers fled together. 'ihe Morar correspondent of the limes of India gives the following description of the prisoner":—" He is a man of apparently forty years of age. He wears a long black beard and long hair, in neither of-which is there a tin?o of grey. It has been stated that his hair and beard are dyed, but this has not yet been proved. He is about sft 9in in height, and of spare figure ; his face is marked with smnll-pox, and is that of a villain. According to Kaye, the Nana should now be about fifty years old, but the prisoner does.not look more than forty in the opinion of most people who have seen him. Hence doubts are. expressed as to his bnugthe Nana,. even in the face of the strong evidence against him. In the opinion of Dr Tressider, civil surgeon at Oawnpore at the time of the mutiny, the prisoner is too short for the Nana. Dr Tressidder thinks him to be too young and spare to be the right man. He also lacks certain surgical marks by which he could be identified. The scar, from a carbuncle and a peculiarity of the nail growing into, the flesh are absent. The voice is not the same, and the figure.is. different. On the other hand, the prisoner was positively identified as' Nana of Bithoor by Baba Saheb'Aptcy, whose son married Bajee llao's daughter; Mo has also been recognised by Unna, the Nona's own nephew, son of Baba Bhnt, the Nana'.s brother. Colonel Moubray-Thompson saw the pri? Boner. He could not identify him positively, but traced a strong resemblance in the prisoner to Nana. The prisouer was then shaved and dressed as a Mahratta, when all the witnesses confirmed their previously expressed opinions." After the removal of the prisouer to Cawnpore he was strongly fettered, and no one was allowed to see him. One of the latest Indian papers', 'the Madras Atlienccvm, of November 11th says:—"The belief that the captured individual is really Nana Sahib is gaining ground, and'the latest information :to hand regarding him favors this conclusion."