Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/578

 5it

HISTOIiy OF INJ>1A.

[Book III.

AP

Horril)le KulferingB.

Heartless- iiess of the nabob.

place till they found themselves crammed within it and had th& door shut behind them. Their whole number wm 1 1-6.

It was about eight o'clock when they entered, and in a very few minutes the dreadful consequences began to appear. Attempts were first ma/le to force the door, but it opened inwards and could not bt- made to yield Mr. Hoi well, who had secured a place at one of the windows, seeing an old officer " who seemed to carry some compassion in his countenjince," offered him 1000 rupees to get them separated into two apartments. He went off, but soon returned saying it was impossible. The offer was increased to 2000 rupees, but the answer was the same. Tlie nabob, without whose orders it could not be done, was asleep, and no man diu-st awake him. Mernwhile suffocation was doing its woik. First, profuse perspiration, then ragii g thirst, and lastly, in not a few instances, raving madness followed, before death relieved the sufferer. The general cry was — Water ! water ! and several .'■kins of it were furnished by the natives outside, some apparently from compassion, but others from brutal merriment, holding up torches to the windows to enjoy the desperate struggles which l^ok place among the unhappy prisoners as each supply was handed in. From nine to eleven this dreadful scene continued. After this the number who had already fallen victims was so great that the sui-vivors began to breath more freely. At six in the morning an order arrived to open the prison. It was not easily executed, for so many dead bodies were lying behind the door that twenty minutes elapsed before it could be forced back so as to leave a passage. Of the 146 who had been thrust into the dungeon only twenty-three came out, and these more dead than alive. Strange to say, one of these was a woman, a native of India though of English parentage, and of such personal attractions that Meer Jaffier carried her off as a trophy to his harem.

Surajah Dowlah must have been well aware of the barbarity perpetrated, at least in his name, if not by his authority, and yet was so far fi'om showing any signs of humanity and contrition, that when Mr. Holwell, stiU unable to stand, was carried before him, he rudely interrogated him as to concealed treasures, threatened new injuries if he refused to disclose them, and ordered him to be kept a prisoner ; he was accordingly put in fetters, along with two others of the survivors who were supposed to know something of the imaginary treasures; the rest were set at liberty. Most of them, unwilling to remain within the nabob's reach, proceeded to Govindpore, bit found guards stationed to prevent any communication between the shore and the Company's vessels still lying there. Two or three, however, managed to get on board, and brought tidings which must have wrung the hearts of those who had been instrumental in bringing such a catastrophe on their comrades by a double cowardice — first, by deserting them, and then leaving them to perish unsuccovu-ed. "Never, perhaps," as Mr. Orme justly remarks,^ " was such an opportunitj" of performing

' History of MilUanj Transactions in Hindoostan, vol. ii. page 78.