THE MASSACRE AT MANDALAY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1287, 8 January 1885, Page 3

THE MASSACRE AT MANDALAY.

Referring to the shocking massacre in a prison at Mandalay, Burma)), wdu'ch was briefly reported in our cable messages, the Rangoon correspondent of ibo Times of India says ; - “ It seems that Thcebaw had determined to put to death certain desperadoes in custody. The latter, getting information, resolved to struggle for life. They att i.eked and overpowed the guards, seized their arms, and fled. They were speedily overtaken and slain to a m in. The rest of the prisoners were quiet. The troops next surrounded the gaol, which contained, besides the civil and criminal prisoners, a large number of women and children bringing food for their husbands, parents, and other relatives, as (he custom is in Mandaffiy, and opened indiscriminate fire, shooting dow n unresisting individuals. At the suggestion of one of Tiieebaw’s Ministers the prison building, composed of highly inflammable materials was set on fire. The most heartrending scene occurred. As the unhappy wretches sought to escape they were thrust back into the flames or hacked to pieces, their bodies being tossed into the blazing building. Close on 200 persons are said to have perished* The heads of sundry charred copses were cut off and paraded thought the sheets of the city. A. Burmese reign of terror has been established. Latest intelligence announces that 400 persons were massacred at Mandalay, the King and Queen viewing the spectacle. The wives and children bringing food, as is customary at Mandalay, were shot down and hacked to pieces or burnt to death. Fifteen more men were executed the night after the gaol butcheries. An eye-witness slates that ho saw the victims writhing in agony. The next day the bodies were mostly devoured by pigs and dogs. The wildest indignation prevails here.” The sequel to the massacre, according to the Rangoon Gazette, “ was as horrible a* that ghastly incident itself. Some of the heads of the victims were stuck up on bamboos in the cemetery, and others were carried through the streets on poles. The scene at the cemetery was appalling. The King gave orders that the dead were not to be buried for two or three days, so that all the people might see what a terrible thing it was to incur his displeasure ; and there were the mutilated bodies laying in ghastly and festering heaps, some of them not only riddled with shot but hacked to pieces ; whilst a number of fiends in human shape were actually chopping off arms and legs to save the manacles and shackles. Not only that, but the dead and dying had been carted off together, and in some cases the quivering of a limb told that the death agony was not yet oyer. The carcases were being huddled, four or five together, into shallow graves, with not more than a foot of earth to cover them. Meanwhile the King and court had been hold* ing high festivals over the event, to divert the people from thoughts of the true significance of the massacre, and make them regard it as the triumph of the nation over the nation’s foes.”