ASIATIC FEROCITY.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 4994, 14 January 1885, Page 3

ASIATIC FEROCITY.

Inferring to the shocking massacre in a prison at Mandalay, Bunnah, which was briefly reported in our cable message?, the "Rangoon correspondent of the Times of India says:—"lt seems that Theebav. had determined to put to death certain desperadoes in custody. The latter getting information resolved to struggle for life. They attacked and overpowered the guards, seized their arms', and fled. They Were speedily overtaken and slain to a man. The rest of the prisoners are quiet. Thr troops next surrounded the gaol, which Contained, besides the civil and criminal prisoners, a large number of persons! bringing food for their husbands, and other relatives as the custom is in Mandalay, and opened indiscriminate fire, shooting down unresisting individuals. At the suggestion of one of Theebaw's Ministers the prision building, composed of highly inflammable material, was set fire to. The most heart rendering scene ensued. 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 two hundred persons are said to hare perished. The heads of sundry charred corpses were cut off and paraded through the streets of the city. A Burmese reign ot-Jerror has been established. Latest intelligence announced (hat four hundred persons were massacred at Mandalay, the Sang >and Queen viewing the spectacle. Fifteen more men were execuled the night after the gaol butcheries. An eye witness states that he saw the victims writhing in agony. The next dsy the bodies were mostly devoured by pigs and dogs. The wildest indignation prevails here." The sequel to the massacre, according to the Bangoon Gazette, "was as horrible as 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 lying in ghastly and festeriDg beaps, some of tbem not only riddled with shot but hacked to pieces } whilst a Dumber 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 were carted away together, and in some cases the.quivering of a limb told that the death agony was not yet over, the carcases were being huddled, four and five to« gether, into shallow graves, with no more than a foot of earth to cover them. Meantime the King and court bad been holding high festival over the event, to divert the people from the thoughts of the true significance of the massacre, acd make tbem regard it as the triumph of the nation over the nation's foes.