A MILITARY TRAGEDY
In the Mess--A gloomy conversation--Murder in the army--A
gallant officer--Running amuck on a rifle-range--"Was
that a shot?"--The alarm--The native officer's
report--The "fall in"--A dying man--A search round the
fort--A narrow escape--The flight--Search parties--The
inquiry into the crime--A fifty miles cordon--An
unexpected visit--Havildar Ranjit Singh on the trail--A
night march through the forest--A fearsome ride--The
lost detachment--An early start--The ferry--The
prisoner--A well-planned capture--The prisoner's
story--The march to Hathipota--Return to the fort--A
well-guarded captive--A weary wait--A journey to
Calcutta--The escort--Excitement among the passengers
on the steamer--American globe-trotters--the court
martial--A callous criminal--Appeal to the
Viceroy--Sentence of death--The execution.
A January night in Buxa. The last bugle call, "lights out," had sounded
in the fort at a quarter-past ten o'clock, and the silence of the
mountains hung over the little Station. In the Mess, Balderston and I
drew our chairs closer to the cheery wood fire, for the weather was
bitterly cold. The glass doors leading on to the veranda were closed.
The servants had retired for the night and we were alone, for our Irish
doctor was absent on leave. I cannot remember what gave our conversation
so gloomy a turn, but the talk ran on cases of murder in the army.
Where men trained to the use of arms and with weapons within reach are
found, there is always the danger of this crime, due to sudden anger or
long-smouldering resentment; and no army in the world is free from it.
And when a man has committed one murder, too often he is liable to "see
red" and run amuck, killing until he is killed himself. Consequently his
apprehension is fraught with much danger. Though I have rarely known a
case occur in an Indian regiment in which a British officer has been the
first victim, yet many have fallen in leading attempts to seize an
assassin. At night the sound of a shot in barracks sends a thrill
through all who hear it; for it generally means that some grim tragedy
has been accomplished. And it may only usher in a series of crimes and a
desperate search for an armed assassin in the darkness where death is
lurking; not a soldier's glorious ending on the battlefield, but a
pitiful fate at the hand of a comrade.
I had just related to my companion a happening which I had witnessed
some years before when, at a large rifle meeting and in the presence of
hundreds of men, a sepoy ran amuck and shot down a native officer and a
havildar or sergeant. A young British subaltern standing close by rushed
at him unarmed. The murderer cried:
"Do not come on, Sahib, I do not want to harm you."
But the officer still advanced. The sepoy, to frighten him, sent a
bullet close to him, then, failing to stop him, fired again and shot him
through the heart. Then, as we around were closing in on him, the
assassin placed the muzzle of his rifle to his head and blew his own
brains out, rather than be taken alive.
Scarcely had I recounted this incident when I thought I heard the sound
of a shot coming from the direction of the fort. I sprang from my chair
and ran out on to the veranda. The night was perfectly still. I listened
for a few minutes.
"What is the matter, major?" cried Balderston from the mess-room.
"Did you not hear a shot?" I asked.
"No," he replied.
I looked at my watch. It was a quarter-past eleven o'clock. Just then
from the parade ground came the short, harsh bark of a _khakur_. It was
like the noise I had heard; for I had noticed that, instead of the
sharp, clear ring of a rifle-shot, the sound had been a long-drawn-out
one. So, laughing at what seemed my nervous fear, I went in again and
closed the door. But before I could sit down a bugle rang out loudly in
the fort. It was sounding the "Alarm"; and it was followed by loud
shouts.
"Good God, Balderston, there has been a murder," I cried. "That _was_ a
shot I heard. Get your revolver, turn out your orderly with his rifle,
and follow me to the fort."
I sprang down the steps into the garden and raced down the steep road.
Across it lay a broad stream of light from the window of my bungalow;
and as I ran through it I thought that if anyone was lying in wait for
me with murderous intent, here was the place for him. As I neared the
parade ground I vaguely made out in the darkness two figures approaching
me. I called out in Hindustani:
"Who is there?"
No answer came. I shouted again but got no reply. This was suspicious;
but as I was unarmed the only thing to do was to close with them. I ran
up to them and found them to be two sepoys with rifles. To my relief
they said:
"We are men of the guard sent by the subhedar-major to you, Sahib.
Someone has fired a shot inside the fort."
I ran past them across the parade ground and at the gate was met by my
senior native officer who stopped me and said in a low tone:
"Sahib, Colour-Havildar Shaikh Bakur has been shot in his bed. The
sentry on the magazine, a young Mussulman named Farid Khan, has
disappeared with his rifle."
The news stunned me. Shaikh Bakur was one of my best non-commissioned
officers. And the murderer was still at large. The sentry's absence from
his post pointed to his being the assassin. In that case he had still
nine rounds of ball ammunition, and, if he wished to run amuck, held as
many lives in his hand. I eagerly questioned the subhedar-major; but he
could tell me no more.
The sepoys were falling in in front of the quarter guard and the company
orderlies were calling over the rolls by the light of lanterns to see if
any of the men were missing. I ordered them to extinguish the lamps,
which only served to give a target to the invisible assassin, and bade
the section commanders check their sections by memory. The sound of my
voice stilled the confusion; and only the low muttering of the havildars
and equally low responses of the sepoys were heard. Suddenly from a
barrack-room close by rang out shrieks and wailing groans.
"What is that noise, subhedar-major?" I asked.
"It is Shaikh Bakur, Sahib. He is not dead and is crying out in his
pain."
As at that moment Balderston arrived I ordered him to examine the rifles
of all in the detachment and see if a shot had been fired from any of
them. Then I went to the room from which the cries proceeded. The
high-roofed, stone-paved chamber was lighted only by a small lantern
that cast weird shadows on the ceiling and showed a group of men
standing around a bed at the far end. On it the wounded man was writhing
in agony, trying with frenzied strength to hurl himself on to the floor;
and it required the united efforts of two men to hold him on the cot. He
was a dreadful sight. From a bullet hole in his chest the blood welled
out at every motion of the body. His face was wet with sweat, the lips
drawn back showing the white teeth clenched in pain. His staring eyes
saw nothing; and he was delirious. Again and again his awful shrieks
rang out through the lofty room and then subsided into meaningless
mutterings. In the group by the bed stood an old native hospital
assistant, the very inefficient substitute for our absent doctor. He was
weeping copiously and seemed utterly helpless. I questioned him about
the wound.
"Sir, he has been shot through the body; and the bullet has come out
through the chest," he sobbed.
"Have you--can you do anything for him?" I said.
"Sir, it is hopeless. The man will die," he cried through his tears.
I shook him by the shoulders.
"Collect yourself, _babu-ji_," I said sternly. "Try to do something.
Can you not give him an opiate to relieve the pain?"
He wrung his hands in the abandonment of helpless despair.
"Sir, the case is hopeless. The man will die," he repeated mechanically.
I could scarcely hear him through the heart-rending shrieks of the dying
man, whose handsome bearded face was distorted, and his strong frame
convulsed in agony. I turned again to the weeping Brahmin hospital
assistant, useless, like so many of his race, in an emergency.
"Oh, for God's sake, drug him into insensibility and let him die in
peace," I cried.
But he only sobbed helplessly. As I turned to leave the death-bed, I
trod on an empty cartridge-case. I picked it up. It was the one from
which the fatal bullet had been fired. It showed that the murderer had
reloaded his rifle on the spot and intended that the killing should not
end there. I went out into the darkness again. The sepoys were standing
silently in the ranks; and the native officers were gathered in a group
around Balderston. As the rifle of every man in the detachment, except
the missing sentry, had been examined and found clean, it was evident
that Farid Khan was the murderer. He had been reprimanded that day, so I
learned, by Shaikh Bakur for having his accoutrements dirty on parade.
It was a small cause to take a man's life for. But now the first thing
to do was to try and find the assassin. This was no easy task on so dark
a night, for there was cover for him everywhere in the fort. No one
could tell in what corner he might be lurking, ready to shoot down the
search-party. Then the means of egress from the fort were easy. The
loopholed walls connecting the various barrack-rooms were low; and a man
could scale them at any point. As I hurriedly thought over the best
means of beginning the hunt, the piteous shrieks of the dying man rang
through the silent night and chilled our blood.
I took a couple of armed men with me and commenced to search the empty
buildings of the fort. One of the native officers came running to me and
called out:
"Sahib, the outer door of my room, which I left open, is now closed and
bolted from the inside. Farid Khan must be within."
I went to the room, which was in the same single-storied building as the
barrack-room in which the crime had been committed. I tried the door. It
was fastened at the bottom. Bidding the sepoys with me load their
rifles, I endeavoured to push the door in, sincerely hoping that if I
succeeded I would not be received by a bullet. The door resisted, then
gave way so suddenly that I fell inside head foremost. I sprang up
hurriedly with the uncomfortable feeling that at any moment I might have
the murderer's bayonet in me. I groped round the room in the darkness,
then lit a match and found the place empty. The door must have swung to
in the wind and the bolt fallen down and been caught in the socket.
Annoyed at having the scare for nothing I turned to walk out and found
myself confronted by the muzzles of my men's rifles, for they could not
see who was emerging from the dark interior. Having no desire to be shot
by mistake, I quickly let them know who I was. As I came out into the
open air, a voice cried:
"Sahib, Sahib! He has escaped. He has left the fort"; and a native
follower rushed up breathlessly to say that he had just been passed by a
flying figure which had climbed over the back gate.
Calling to my two sepoys to follow me, I ran to this gate and struggled
with the stiff bolts. With difficulty we dragged open the heavy iron
leaves which grated noisily on their hinges. Outside lay a strip of
grass dotted with trees and a few wooden sheds. It ran the length of the
back wall but was only forty yards wide, ending on the edge of the
precipice which fell sheer for three hundred feet. Down the steep face a
zigzag path was cut leading to the hill on which the segregation
hospital, burned in the forest fires, had stood. I searched around and
inside the sheds and moved cautiously over the grassy shelf, keeping
carefully away from the brink of the cliff. I was not carrying a weapon
myself; for the night was so dark that the murderer, if he stood
motionless, would see us first and could get in the first shot. If he
missed I preferred trying to close with him at once, and not engaging in
a duel with rifles with him. Should I succeed in grappling with him, the
bayonets of my two men would soon end the struggle.
Where the back wall terminated the side walls joined it at right angles;
and here our task became doubly dangerous, for they were built almost on
the edge of the precipice; and we had to move along in single file,
keeping one hand on the wall, for a false step meant a fall on to the
rocks far below. I groped cautiously along in the utter darkness,
feeling much more afraid of tumbling over the cliffs than I was of the
chance of meeting with the murderer. But, though I did not know it at
the time, we had already passed him; for he was standing motionless
behind one of the trees near the back wall, watching us as we went by,
ready to fire at us if we saw and tried to catch him.
Then, when we had gone by, he stole silently down the zigzag path and
climbed the opposite hill, intending to descend on the other side and
gain the mountain road leading down to Santrabari.
But when I had completely circled the outer walls I entered the fort by
the front gate and at once sent off a party of men under my old Rajput
Subhedar, Sohanpal Singh, to go down to Santrabari and hide in the
elephant stables. I gave them orders that, if the fugitive came by, they
were to cover him with their rifles, call on him to surrender and shoot
him down if he attempted to resist. The murderer, crouching on the hill
above, heard them passing on the road below him, and turned off in
another direction.
Having sent off another party along the mountain-track to Chunabatti, I
fell out the detachment and entered the orderly-room to hold an inquiry
into the case. The story of the crime was soon told. In the barrack-room
there were thirty-three beds, all occupied except the one exactly
opposite Shaikh Bakur's. This belonged to the missing sentry, Farid
Khan, who was on guard for the night. The men had been awakened by the
deafening report of a rifle fired in the room. Although, when they had
gone to sleep, the big wall-lanterns had been extinguished and the room
was in darkness, there was now a small lamp burning beside Farid Khan's
bed. By its light some of the sepoys saw a figure rush out through the
open door and heard the clatter of heavy nailed boots on the stone-paved
veranda outside. The colour-havildar had shrieked out: "I am shot! I am
shot!"
Suddenly the small lamp was extinguished; and the darkness increased the
confusion of the room. The men nearest Shaikh Bakur rushed to his
bedside, others called out to him to ask what was the matter; some cried
out for the lamps to be lit; and others, not realising what had
happened, shouted inquiries. At last a lantern was lighted and revealed
the unfortunate man writhing in agony on his bed. Meanwhile the sentry
on the quarter guard not fifty yards away, hearing the shot and the
consequent uproar, awoke the havildar in charge of the guard. He ordered
the bugler to sound the "alarm." The guard having fallen in, the _naik_
(or corporal) went to the magazine close by and found that the sentry
over it, whom he had visited fifteen minutes before, was missing from
his post. On the "alarm" being sounded, the sepoys rushed out of their
barrack-rooms with their rifles and accoutrements and fell in on parade.
Still the magazine sentry did not appear, and his absence aroused
suspicion. It was remembered that he was a young Mussulman called Farid
Khan whom I had checked on parade that morning for carelessness in drill
and who had been previously reprimanded by Shaikh Bakur for not having
his accoutrements clean.
I discovered that the small lamp, which had been burning when the shot
was fired and the murderer ran out of the room, had been put out by a
young sepoy who slept in the next cot to Farid Khan's, apparently to
help the assassin to escape in the darkness. This sepoy came from the
same district as the missing sentry and was his intimate friend. I made
him a prisoner.
There was nothing more to be done now until daylight, except to dispatch
telegrams to the police and to regimental and brigade headquarters. I
sent everyone off to bed and sat alone in the orderly-room by the light
of a solitary lamp, planning out measures to capture the murderer. The
cries from the barrack-room had ceased; for the poor havildar was dead,
and his body had been removed to the hospital. After the recent
confusion and bustle the stillness and silence seemed intense. I was
haunted by the vision of the murdered man's face and filled with a
bitter resentment against his slayer. The odds were greatly in favour of
the assassin's escape. In the wild country around us, the broken,
jungle-covered hills, the dense forest, a fugitive could hide himself
indefinitely, provided only that he could procure food. If he succeeded
in making his way to the main railway line the only chance of capturing
him lay in his returning to his own country, hundreds of miles away; and
I had telegraphed to the police of his village. The knowledge I had
acquired of the country about us in shooting and on the march stood me
now in good stead. The little railway from Buxa Road would be too
dangerous for him; but he might try to make his way on foot to the
junction of the main line at Gitaldaha; or a route through the forest
led to villages and tea gardens at Kalchini, whence he might eventually
reach another railway. But what I feared most was that he might commit
suicide somewhere in the mountains or in the jungle and his body be
never found, or cross the border to Bhutan, where he would probably be
murdered for his rifle. In either case we would always remain ignorant
of his fate. Then it would be believed that he had succeeded in
effecting his escape. Four or five years before, another murder had been
committed in the regiment and the assassin had never been captured. It
would be a fatal thing if this murderer also succeeded in avoiding
arrest; as it might encourage a repetition of the crime. The hours were
interminable. It seemed as if the daylight to help us in our search
would never come. My thoughts wandered to the fugitive. I pictured him
lying out in the jungle, trembling at every rustle in the undergrowth
that might herald the stealthy approach of a savage beast, realising now
that his life was forfeit and that henceforth every man's hand was
against him. I wondered if in the hours of silent watching in the
darkness he had begun to appreciate his deed and its consequences.
At last the wished-for dawn came. I sent out armed patrols in all
directions to follow up every track and to occupy every village and
hamlet in which the fugitive might try to obtain food. Other parties
went by train to Gitaldaha, one to remain there, the rest to go east and
west to the junctions of other railways. When these dispositions were
complete we had a net, fifty miles wide, around the district. These
patrols had orders to take the fugitive dead or alive. I instructed them
to shoot him down if he attempted to resist; for I did not want to lose
another of my men by his hand.
The day passed wearily. No news came in; and I chafed at the inaction.
At noon a sepoy rushed up to my bungalow to tell me that the men of the
quarter guard had heard two shots on a wooded hill about half a mile
from the fort. I doubled out with an armed party at once and searched
the jungle around, without result. To this day I have never found an
explanation of these shots, which had been distinctly heard by all the
sepoys left in the fort. Night fell without any intelligence reaching me
from any of the parties out. The native officers urged us to have a
guard placed over the Mess and my bungalow, lest the murderer should be
tempted to come back in the dark and shoot me; but I refused, as I
wished the men to get all the rest they could in view of the exertions
they might be called on to make. I slept little that night; for the
memory of the tragedy weighed heavily on me.
Next morning some of the patrols straggled in, exhausted and weary,
having found no trace of the fugitive. But in the afternoon Tyson of
Hathipota and an officer of the Royal Engineers named Marriott, who had
been staying with him in his bungalow, rode into Buxa; and from them I
got the first news of the murderer. For on their way from Hathipota they
had met one of our search-parties under a havildar, called Ranjit Singh,
who told them of the crime and said that he had been informed by
villagers at Jainti that a man carrying a rifle had been seen coming out
of the jungle early that morning and going east. Shortly afterwards one
of Ranjit Singh's patrol arrived and confirmed this. The havildar had
sent him back to report to me and tell me that the rest of the party
were continuing in pursuit. The news was electrifying. Although the
fugitive was going in the opposite direction to where his home lay, yet
he was heading towards a river down which he could get by boat to a main
railway line. It was imperative to bar his way. I gave orders for a
party to start by the first train to Gitaldaha, change to this main
line, and proceed to the point where it crossed the river. There they
were to detrain and search every boat coming down from the north. A
native officer was dispatched on Balderston's pony at once to overtake
Ranjit Singh and urge him on the trail. Then I ordered sixty Rajputs,
who being Hindus would not be in sympathy with the Mohammedan fugitive,
to prepare to start in half an hour and march through the forest to
Hathipota, where they were to halt for the night. I determined to take
command of this party myself. It was to be spread out into a cordon
miles long between the hills and the main railway line. As I had to send
telegrams warning the police in the direction in which the murderer was
moving and make other arrangements, I sent the party on ahead under a
native officer.
Our guests and Balderston volunteered for the pursuit. The latter
borrowed a small pony about twelve hands high from a _bunniah_, as he
had lent his own to the native officer. Mounting our horses we set off
down the steep mountain-road to Santrabari. When we reached the more
level ground we galloped the three miles to Buxa Road Station. I
expected to overtake my party before we reached this point, but to my
surprise found no signs of them. It turned out that they had taken a
short cut through the forest.
From the station a narrow track led through the jungle to Jainti. We
rode down it in single file. Night had now fallen, and under the trees
the darkness was intense. Marriott was leading and I was immediately
behind him; but I could not see even his horse. Our animals stumbled
over the fallen trees. Overhanging boughs, invisible to us, nearly swept
us from our saddles. A crash and an exclamation from the leader told us
that his horse had come to grief. Bruised by the fall, Marriott picked
himself up and remounted. And on we blundered in the utter darkness. But
there was a greater danger. We were passing through a part of the forest
much frequented at night by wild elephants. None of us were armed; and
the prospect of meeting with a rogue was not pleasant. Even if it did
not attack us it would certainly stampede our horses. And to be bolted
with in the thick forest in the dark would be a dangerous experience.
Imagination peopled the black jungle with lurking tigers ready to spring
out on us; and every sound seemed to herald the approach of a wild
elephant. A deer crashing through the undergrowth would have been
sufficient to scare our horses. To make matters worse Balderston's tiny
pony could not keep up with us. Every time it lagged behind and its
rider failed to answer our shouts, we were obliged to halt and wait for
them. I shall not readily forget the terrors of that night ride. We were
confronted by the constant risk of a fall over a prostrate tree-trunk or
of being knocked out of the saddle by a low branch, and by the likely
chance of encountering some dangerous wild beast. To keep up our spirits
and in the hope of scaring off the elephants, tigers and bears by the
far from melodious sounds, we sang choruses loudly in rather shaky
voices. The miles through the forest seemed interminable; and I felt
that I would sooner face a dozen armed murderers than ride them again.
At last we emerged on the bank of the river at Jainti, on the other side
of which was the road to Hathipota along which we had come on our return
from the ten days' march with the detachment. Our relief at being clear
of the forest was great. We splashed through the shallows and set off at
a gallop along the road. Suddenly my horse stumbled and fell in a hole,
throwing me over its head. I was badly shaken, but I climbed into the
saddle as the others, hearing the sound of the fall, pulled up and came
back to me. The hole had evidently been dug in the roadway by a wild
boar that night; as it had not been there when Tyson and Marriott came
by in the morning. We rode on again. When I expressed to Tyson,
cantering alongside, my relief at being out of the forest and safe from
the chance of a meeting with wild elephants, I was appalled at hearing
that the stretch of road we were then on was a regular thoroughfare for
these animals on their way from the hills to the jungle.
We reached Tyson's bungalow about ten o'clock and found that my men had
not arrived; and they did not march in until midnight. The native
officer in command had tried a short cut through the forest, following a
woodcutter's path which led the party into deep _nullahs_, up
precipitous banks, and through the densest jungle. The sepoys were
utterly exhausted by their toilsome march. The three elephants had
started out with them, carrying the men's blankets and rations, but had
fallen far behind. But when Tyson showed the party quarters for the
night in one of his sheds, no one waited for food or bedding but flung
himself on the floor and fell asleep at once.
Ranjit Singh's patrol had reached the village of Hathipota near the tea
garden on the previous night. The havildar had learned at Jainti that a
man in white dress and carrying a rifle had been seen coming from the
forest and crossing the river early on the morning after the murder.
Farid Khan, having been on guard, was clad in khaki uniform when he left
the fort. But the villagers told Ranjit Singh that this man had a bundle
rolled up in a military greatcoat. The havildar guessed that the
murderer had been wearing white undress under his uniform and had taken
off the latter during the night. So he crossed the river and found in
the dust of the road to Hathipota the footprints of a man wearing
ammunition boots. He followed them for some miles until they turned off
into the jungle, where he lost the trail. Thinking that Hathipota
Village was the nearest place where the fugitive could procure food, he
pushed on with his two men and hid close to it all night. As by morning
their quarry had not appeared, the patrol went on to the ferry over the
Raidak River near the planters' club, where the detachment had
bivouacked and held sports on the march. Ranjit Singh had brought with
him an armed policeman whom he had met at Jainti and who had been sent
out to search for the murderer. But this worthy had no desire to meet
him and declined to accompany our havildar any farther, alleging that he
was fatigued by the previous day's exertions and must stay to rest and
refresh himself in Hathipota. But scarcely had our patrol left the
village when the policeman, standing with a group of peasants, was
horrified by the sudden apparition of a man dressed in white and
carrying a rifle. It was Farid Khan. The guardian of the law, though he
had a rifle himself, was far too frightened to use it. Farid Khan walked
boldly up to him and asked him if any sepoys had visited the village.
The terrified policeman, anxious to get rid of him at all costs, told
him that a havildar with a party who were looking for him, had just
left. He even told him truthfully the direction they had taken. Farid
Khan at once disappeared into the jungle.
Meanwhile Ranjit Singh, having reached the river and learned from the
ferryman that the fugitive had not arrived there, warned the former not
to help the murderer across the stream if he came. Then the patrol
turned back to Hathipota. There they were informed of Farid Khan's
appearance in the village. They at once retraced their steps to the
ferry and found that the fugitive had come to it soon after they had
left. He had reached it by a jungle path. When the ferryman refused to
take him over the river Farid Khan raised his rifle and threatened to
shoot him; and the man was forced to take him across. Ranjit Singh and
his men at once followed.
No news of this had reached us. Next morning, as soon as there was light
enough to show the way, I marched my party off in a south-easterly
direction to reach a point from which we could spread out and form the
cordon. Marriott accompanied us, and Balderston was now mounted on a
good pony lent him by Tyson, who was obliged to remain behind. As the
little column swung along in the light of the rising sun, the
excitement of the chase was visible in the sepoys. Struck by their
silence, unusual when "marching at ease," I turned in the saddle to look
at them. Every man's face was set in a grim, stern look; and as they
strode on their eyes swept the country around with quick, keen glances
as if they expected to see the fugitive every moment. Absorbing as is
the chase of wild animals it is nothing to the excitement of a man-hunt.
I forgot that we were tracking a human being to his doom, and remembered
only that I had the blood of one of my best soldiers to avenge and that
I was pursuing a cowardly murderer. I had given orders to all that Farid
Khan, if overtaken and seen to be armed, was to be fired at on the spot;
for I was determined to give him as little chance as possible to kill
anyone else. Had I come upon him myself I would have shot him down
without compunction, and regretted only that my bullet saved him from
the gallows.
Some miles ahead of us lay a village which contained a police station. I
sent Balderston and Marriott galloping on ahead to give warning to the
havildar and constables in it, as they might not yet have heard of the
crime. The column tramped on in gloomy silence through fairly open
country, until we reached the new Raidak River and found our way barred
by the swift-flowing stream. However, at this point there was a ferry
consisting of a small dug-out canoe. I halted the detachment and was
superintending the embarkation of the first batch of men, when higher up
on the opposite bank two horsemen appeared. They were Marriott and
Balderston. They called out across the water something that I did not
hear. But the sepoys farther along on our side of the river did; and a
wild burst of cheering from them startled me. They seemed to have gone
mad. They threw their _puggris_ in the air and waved their rifles above
their heads yelling excitedly. Then a wild rush was made towards me.
"They've caught him, Sahib. Ranjit Singh has caught him," they cried, as
they crowded round me. Never in my service had I seen the usually stolid
sepoys so moved. Only then did I realise fully their bitter feeling of
personal hatred of the treacherous assassin who had slain a comrade, and
how keenly they had desired his capture.
Fording the stream the two officers approached me. Balderston waved his
helmet, his face aglow with excitement.
"They've got him, major! They've got the brute, thank God!" he cried.
A load seemed lifted off my heart; but a sudden fear gripped me.
"Are the others safe?" I asked. "Anyone shot?"
"No, no. They sprang on him before he could use his rifle," he replied,
as his pony scrambled up the bank. Swinging himself out of the saddle he
continued: "We met Ranjit Singh on the road bringing him along. They are
not far off. They tracked him to a village and overpowered him before he
could resist. He had his loaded rifle beside him."
That was the first happy moment I had experienced since the fatal night.
The murderer was in our hands; and my poor havildar's death would be
avenged.
We stood in silence beside the river, watching the opposite bank
intently. At last on it appeared a little group of figures, three in
khaki, a fourth in white. Again the cheering burst out from the sepoys
and continued as the canoe was sent across the stream to bring over the
prisoner and his captors. Farid Khan was in front, his hands bound
behind his back by a rope, the end of which was held by Havildar Ranjit
Singh, who carried a rifle. As they came down the sloping path to the
water's edge, it occurred to me that the prisoner, when in the cranky
boat, might endeavour to capsize it and drown himself. So I ordered two
or three of my best swimmers to strip and be ready to plunge into the
river. But Farid Khan stepped carefully into the canoe and seated
himself in the bottom of it and never moved until it reached our side.
He laughed amusedly when one of his escort, trying to spring ashore,
fell into the shallow water. As the canoe grounded the sepoys crowded
round it with menacing looks; and we officers had to drive them back.
Had we not been there they would have lynched him. Some cursed and
reviled him, while others applauded his captors. But coolly and
unconcernedly he stepped ashore with a cynical smile on his face. When
the havildar had marched him up in front of me he stood quietly at
attention. He was a young man twenty-one years old, with good features
and a slight, well-knit frame. He returned my gaze steadily and seemed
as little perturbed as though the offence he would have to answer for
were of the slightest nature. The havildar handed me a rifle.
"This was in the prisoner's possession when I arrested him," he said.
I examined the weapon. The barrel was fouled; and in the magazine were
eight cartridges.
I warned Farid Khan that anything he said might be used in evidence
against him, and then asked:
"Why did you run away from the fort?"
"Because, when I had shot the colour-havildar, it was the only thing to
do," he replied unconcernedly.
"You confess that you did shoot Shaikh Bakur?" I said.
"Yes, I did shoot him."
"Why?"
"Because he punished me and abused me that day. I knew that I would be
on guard that evening and would have cartridges for my rifle. So I
resolved to shoot him. At first I did not intend to do it in the night;
as it would cause a lot of trouble to the other sepoys of the
detachment, since they would be obliged to turn out and try to capture
me. But while I was on sentry I thought the matter over and reflected
that I might not have as good a chance to kill him in the morning as
when he was sleeping. So I determined to make sure of him and do it at
once."
He spoke calmly and without the least sign of remorse or apprehension.
"How did you do it?" I asked.
"As soon as the _naik_ (corporal) of the guard had visited my post at
eleven o'clock that night, I walked across to the barrack-room. I groped
my way to my cot, beside which was a small lamp. This I lighted. Then I
got my pipe, sat down on my bed and had a smoke. When I had finished it
I stood up and took my rifle, which I loaded. Shaikh Bakur was lying
asleep opposite me. I shot him and ran out of the room."
I tried to picture the scene with the callous youngster calmly smoking
as he watched his unconscious victim. I wondered if the sight of his
enemy's face had aroused his anger as he looked at it.
"How was Shaikh Bakur lying?" I questioned. "Was his face turned towards
you?"
"I don't know," he replied indifferently. "His head was covered up in
the bedclothes; and I could not see it."
The cold-blooded manner of the crime horrified me. The murderer had
coolly fired at a huddled mass of blankets. The listening sepoys around
us were awed into silence as he calmly related the details of his foul
deed.
"What did you do then?" I asked.
"I reloaded my rifle to shoot anyone who tried to stop me, thus putting
one cartridge in the chamber and leaving eight in the magazine. I ran
out of the room and stood outside near the building until the sepoys
began to come out. Then I went to the back gate. While I was climbing it
the bolt of the rifle dropped back and let the cartridge in the breach
fall out. So you will only find eight in the magazine. Soon I heard the
gate open and saw you come out with two men. I got behind a tree and
watched you pass within five yards of me."
"Why did not you shoot me?" I said.
"Oh, I had no desire to kill you, Sahib, as long as you did not discover
and try to capture me. If you had I would have shot you."
He spoke as coolly about killing me as if it were a most ordinary
matter. I was less indifferent, and felt thankful that I had not
blundered on him in the dark. I realised fully what a narrow escape I
had had.
"Why did you take your rifle with you when you went off?" I asked.
For the first time his indifferent manner vanished. A malevolent gleam
shone in his eyes.
"Because my greatest enemy still lived," he said. "The man I most wanted
to kill was the subhedar-major. I had gone to his room first that night
and tried to enter it. But, luckily for him, the door was bolted. So, as
I was determined to shoot someone, I went to the barrack-room and killed
Shaikh Bakur. But I took my rifle; for I resolved to escape, hide in the
jungle until the pursuit was over, then return at night and kill the
subhedar-major."
He announced his murderous intention with the utmost calmness. I thanked
God that we had been able to capture him; for if he had returned and
shot his native officer, he would then have run amuck and killed until
slain himself.
"How did you get away?" I said.
"After you had passed me, Sahib, I went down the zigzag path. I meant to
get on to the road to Santrabari, but heard the patrol passing down it
below me and knew that you had cut my retreat off that way. So I sat on
the hill until daylight and then made my way through the forest to
Jainti."
I asked him if he had any accomplices. He denied that he had; and, when
I refused to believe him, he said:
"Why should I tell a lie now? I know that my life is forfeit."
"Yes," I replied. "You'll hang for this."
"I don't care. My father has five other sons and can spare me. But my
one regret," he said, and again a baleful light shone in his eyes, "is
that my worst enemy still lives."
I turned away from him and interrogated Ranjit Singh about the capture.
When the havildar learned that the man he was pursuing had crossed the
river after he had been seen in Hathipota, he followed with the two men
of the patrol. On the other side they picked up his trail, which led to
another village. Near it they met some peasants and learned from them
that Farid Khan was in this village. Approaching cautiously they dodged
from hut to hut until they saw him sitting on the ground before a
_bunniah's_ shop, eating food which he had just bought. His rifle lay
beside him. They crept up behind him, for they were resolved to take him
alive, rushed on him suddenly and tumbled him over before he could seize
his weapon. As they held him down and bound him, he said:
"It was lucky for you, havildar, that I did not see you first. I had my
magazine full and would have shot you all."
After his capture he seemed resigned to his fate and scarcely spoke
again until he was brought before me. I praised Ranjit Singh and his
patrol warmly and then fell in my men. We marched back to Hathipota,
where we halted for the night. Next day we reached Buxa.
I was determined that our prisoner should not cheat the gallows by
escape or suicide. So night and day for the two months that elapsed
before he was brought to trial a guard was mounted over him in his
cell. All through those weary weeks of waiting his indifferent
demeanour never changed. I visited him every day. To my inquiries as to
whether he had any request to make, he always replied respectfully. But
he never acknowledged that he had had any accomplices in his crime; and
I was never able to bring his comrade Gulab Khan to trial.
At last the orders came to conduct Farid Khan to Calcutta to appear
before a general court martial. We marched out of the fort and down to
Buxa Road Railway Station with the prisoner in the centre of a guard of
six men with fixed bayonets. By one of his wrists he was handcuffed to a
burly Rajput over six feet high. These precautions were necessary, as
the journey would take a day and a night and necessitated many changes;
and I was determined to give Farid Khan no chance to escape. At
Gitaldaha we had to wait for some time for another train which brought
us in the early morning to the banks of the River Ganges. Across this we
were taken in a steamer, the passage occupying over an hour. Our
appearance excited much interest among the passengers on board, some of
whom were American tourists returning from a flying visit to Darjeeling.
My party, including the witnesses and the escort, was quite a large one;
and I heard one fair daughter of Uncle Sam remark:
"Wa'al, it takes a lot of soldiers to guard that one poor man."
One of her male companions, who addressed me as "Officer!" questioned me
as to the prisoner's crime, and seemed quite disappointed at learning
that it was only murder.
On the other side of the Ganges we entrained again and reached Calcutta
by noon. I handed over my prisoner to the care of a regiment quartered
in Fort William; and he was safely consigned to their guard-room cell.
On the bank of the broad River Hugli, which flows through the city of
Calcutta and up which the ships come from the sea, stands this large
fort, which dates back far into the days of the Honourable East India
Company. One face fronts the stream, the others look on the _maidan_, a
broad open space, tree-studded and seamed with roads, which lies between
the frowning, embrasured walls and the nearest houses. Within the wide
precincts of the fort, a city in a city, are found barracks, the
arsenal, houses for military and civil officers, a church, and the
official residence of the Commander-in-Chief, all separated by broad
squares and green lawns.
Here next day in the garrison library, a large recreation-room for
soldiers, Sepoy Farid Khan faced the court martial which was to try him
for his life. When I had given him his choice in Buxa of having either
British or Indian officers as his judges, he answered unhesitatingly:
"I want to be tried by Sahibs, of course."
And so, in accordance with his wish, nine British officers in white
full-dress summer uniform, swords at their sides and medals on their
breasts, sat in judgment on him at a long table. Behind them was a stage
on which military amateur actors strut their hour in the garrison
theatricals. The drop curtain was up, showing a pretty English country
scene. It seemed an incongruous setting for the grim drama of real life
which was now to be enacted.
Near the members of the court sat another officer, the deputy judge
advocate general, who was present to see that the trial was conducted in
accordance with the rules of military law, and to advise the court on
legal points. At a small table to one side Captain Balderston took his
place as prosecutor. Then the prisoner, his handcuffs removed, was
marched into the room by the guard of the regiment in whose cells he was
confined. He walked in with an erect and soldierly bearing and stood to
attention as the president of the court read out the charge to him and
called on him to plead. And to this charge of "Murder" he answered
composedly "I am guilty." But, since with this plea no evidence in his
defence or in extenuation of his crime could be given, the court, with
the extreme fairness of a military tribunal, advised him to withdraw it
and plead "Not Guilty." Then the native witnesses who testified to his
desertion of his post, his flight and capture, gave their evidence in
Hindustani. After them I repeated his confession of the crime to me. I
spoke in English, my evidence being translated to the prisoner by a
British officer who acted as interpreter. But I noticed that Farid Khan
did not seem to understand this officer, who spoke a purer and correcter
Urdu than did the prisoner himself.
I stated my belief to the court. The president, who spoke the
vernacular, asked Farid Khan if this were so.
"Yes, it is true. I cannot understand what that Sahib says," he replied;
"but I can understand my own major Sahib," pointing to me.
Then, with the court's permission, I repeated to him the evidence I had
given.
"Yes, that is all quite true," he said.
Then the president bade me ask the prisoner if he wished to question me
on my evidence. I did so.
"No, Sahib," he replied. "What you have said is correct. I only wish to
say that on that night I intended to kill the subhedar-major first. I
tried his door first but----"
I told him to be silent, as he was only committing himself deeper. Then
the court asked me what the prisoner had said and I answered that it was
something to his disadvantage; the president told me that in that case I
need not interpret his words.
The trial lasted two days and ended in a verdict of guilty. But in
accordance with military law it was not announced at the time, as the
whole of the proceedings of the court had to be first carefully
scrutinised at army headquarters; so that if any illegality had been
committed, or the verdict was not justified by the evidence, the case
could be quashed and a fresh trial ordered. But in due course the
decision of the court martial and the sentence of "Death by hanging"
were published. But long before this I had left Calcutta with my party
and returned to Buxa, Farid Khan remaining a prisoner in Fort William.
His father and a brother came across India from Rajputana to visit him;
and, probably acting on their advice, he appealed for mercy to the
Viceroy.
But his appeal was rejected. One night at eleven o'clock the adjutant of
the regiment which had him in charge was handed a telegram to that
effect and informing him that the prisoner was to be hanged next morning
at eight o'clock. The officer went at once to the condemned man's cell.
Farid Khan was asleep. The adjutant woke him up and said:
"You are to die to-morrow morning."
"Very well, Sahib," was the unconcerned reply; and the prisoner lay down
again and was asleep before the adjutant had quitted the cell.
I had feared that Farid Khan would be sent back to Buxa Duar, so that
the execution could be carried out in presence of his comrades. But the
last act of the tragedy took place in the courtyard of the civil jail in
Calcutta. Detachments of all the regiments, British and Indian, in that
city were formed up in front of the gallows.
When the condemned man was marched into the courtyard, the adjutant
asked if he had any last request to make.
"Yes, Sahib," he replied. "I want to know how many men you have told off
to bury me."
"Two," said the officer.
"That is not enough, Sahib; I should like eight."
"Very well, you will have them."
"Thank you, Sahib," replied the condemned man cheerfully. Then with a
firm step he mounted the scaffold. As the rope was adjusted round his
neck, he looked down at the adjutant and called out to him with a smile:
"Salaam, Sahib. Good-bye."
They were his last words.