DELHI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 529, 28 November 1857, Page 4

DELHI.

A Native's Account of The Rising* —The following- account was furnished by the Moonshee and English writer of a Mend who has kindly placed it at our disposal :■ —On the morning- of the 11th inst., we were proceeding- in a bhylee from Delhi to Mussoorie, and after we had crossed the bridge of boats, and had proceeded 200 yards, we were met by eighteen troopers, with drawn swords; they asked us who we were ? We replied " pilgrims proceeding- to Hardwar." They desired us to turn back to Delhi or they would murder us; we accordingly returned. On arriving at the bridge-of-boats, the troopers plundered the toll-chest, and a regiment of sepoys crossed the bridge and entered the city, after having killed a European whom they met on the bridge. ' The regiment had crossed, but the troopers were on the other side of the river, when the boatmen broke the bridge; the troopers crossed the river on horseback, and entered the city by the Delhi gate, and cantered up to the Ungooree Baugh (under the palace,) to murder the " Burrah Sahib." The Kotwal, on hearing of this, sent word to Mr. Simon Fraser, the Commissioner, who immediately ordered the records of his office to be removed into the city, and getting into a buggy, with a doubie-bar-rell gun loaded, with two orderly horsemen, proceeded towards the mutineers; the troopers-advanced upon his, Mr, Fraser

fired, and shot one dead through the head, and with the second barrel, killed a trooper's horse, he then got out of the buggy and entered the palace at the "Summun Booija," closing the gate, and proceeded to tue Lahoree gate of. the palace, and there called out to the Soobadar on duty to close the gate (i.e., the Palace Guard gate), wlr.ch he immediately did. A trooper then rode up, and called out to the soobadar to open the gate; he asked, " who are you ?" and on his replying "we are troopers from Meerut," the soobadar observed " where. are the other troopers?" The man replied " in the Ungoree Baugh, to bring them all, that he would open the gate," and on their arrival did so, when all the troopers entered the palace. Mr. Simon Fraser, and Captain Douglas, the commandant of tbe palace guards, called out to the soobadar, "what treachery is this? desire your men to load." An entire company, if not more, was on duty at the Palace Guard gate. The soobadar abused the commissioner, desiring him to go away; on hearing* which, both Mr. Fraser and Captain Douglas left the quarters and ran towards the interior of the palace, and were pursued by the troopers, one of whom fired a pistol at Mr. Fraser, on which he staggered and leant against a wall, when another trooper went up and with a sword severed his head from his body at a single blow, and also in a similar manner killed Captain Douglas, the commandant of the palace, and then proceeded to the King's Hall of audience, where they killed two more Europeans, and then proceeded to Durreeougunge, and set fire to all the houses there. Another regiment of sepoys arrived into the city and desired all the budmashes (bad characters) to plunder the houses, since they (the mutineers) considered it "huram," and would not condescend to touch the booty themselves. The troopers then murdered five gentlemen and three ladies in Durreeougunge, and the remainder took shelter in the Kishungur Rajah's house. They then came to the Delhi Bank, set fire to it, and killed five gentlemen; they then went up to the Kotwallee, desiring the budmashes to commence plundering; on hearing which the Kotwal absconded, and took no steps to protect the people, and even allowed the Kotwallee to be plundered. The mutineers then came to the late Colonel Skinner's -house, which they did not touch, but set fire to all the houses in the vicinity of the church, killing all the gentlemen, ladies, and children therein. After this, five froopers galloped to the cantonments, and on their approach all the sepoys set fire to their officers' houses, murdering- all the gentlemen, ladies, and children they could find in the cantonments; the remainder of the troopers proceeded to the magazine in the city. On their approach, four officers were standing before the magazine gate, which they closed, and from inside fired two shots at the troopers, and then set fire to the magazine. All the four officers and upwards of a thousand men of the city were blown up with the magazine. Two regiments from the Delhi cantonmentsjoined the mutineers at the Delhi Kotwallee, and commenced plundering the city. The two Delhi regiments then went and encamped near the Eilenborough tank, before the palace. A guard was sent to the Kishungur Rajah's house on suspicion of his having given refuge to Europeans. Upwards of thirty-four Europeans (men, women, and children) were concealed in the house; the mutineers set fire to the house, and it kept burning all day and night, but the Europeans were safe in the "Tykhana." The next morning the troopers brought two guns from the magazine, and kept firing at the house all day, but without effect. They then took to plundering the city in every direction. The late Colonel Skinner's house, which the mutineers did not touch was regularly plundered by the scamps of Delhi. On the 13th, the mutineers again attacked the Europeans that had taken shelter in the Kishungur Rajah's house. The Europeans commenced to fire, and shot thirty of the mutineers, but, on their ammunition and supplies being out, thirty Europeans came out, and four remained in the « Tykhana." The Heir Apparent now rode up to the house, and begged the mutineers would deliver them into his custody and that he would take care of them; however, paying no attention to what he said, they put all the Europeans to death. Mr George Skinner, his wife, and children had taken shelter in the Palace j spies gave information ; they were seized, taken to the Kotwallee, and there most cruelly put to death. Dr. Chimmun Lall, the siblassist^t*ur^eiin^jy^4ilao,Jdlifid,at i&e JJis-

pensary, and the English Doctor was kill a at the gaol. For three days the dil bodies^were not removed, and on thefoSS day the mutineers caused them all t«i thrown into the river. The mutineer, vL * asked the King either to give th em I^ months' pay or 8 their daily^atbt c King summoned all the Shroffs and M» hajuns, telling them if they did not m ee 7 the demands of the mutineers, the* would all be murdered^ m wh / ch n fc g Shroffs agreed to give them Doll Rote! for twenty days, adding, they could not afford more. The mutineers replied, w e have determined to die, how can we M f Doll Rotee for the few days we have ,I live in this world. Whereupon the Kin° ordeied four annas a day. The mutineer! have placed two guns on each gate in tta city; and have brought a thousand maunds of gunpowder from the cantonment mae-a. zme, and have taken possession of all the shot and shell in the city magazine. S UD plies have been stopped, and everything his become exceedingly dear, viz., attah 13 seers, wheat 16 seers, ghee J seers, & c . All the neighbouring villages are up and plundering; the King has according-lv burnt five Goojur villages. The late Colonel Skinner s house at Balaspore has also been plundered. After plundering Delhi, 200 troopers proceeded to Goorgaon, and set fire to the houses, murdered the collector n, d 1 p l lu« dl ered the treasury, bringing away 7 lakhs 84 thousand rupees; and, with the Delhi treasury, the mutineers have in their possession 21 lakhs 84 thousand rupees which is kept in the palace, guarded by them and the King's troops. The troopers have also advanced towards Allygurh and Agra, with the intention of persuading the troops there to join them, and set fire to houses and murder all the Europeans there. At Delhi there are three regiments one^ from Meerut and two of the Delhi regiments, and 200 troopers, the rest have all proceeded towards Allygurh and Agra. The banker, Lutchmee Chund Seit, from feeding the mutineers daily, has saved his firm from sharing the fate of the others, and is the only Shroff who has not been plundered. Hansi Dawk, just arrived, states the prisoners in the Rohtuck gaol rose, and, after murdering their guards, broke their irons and made their escape. Theslarge town of Mahim, between Hansi and Rohtuck, has been plundered, and not the slightest* assistance on any occasion has been given by the police.— Lahore Chronicle,