Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/72

 small door which opened inwards, and on the fourth two small iron-barred windows. One hundred and forty-six men and women with some children, some sick, others wounded and dying, all worn out with the exertions and anxieties of the week's siege, thrust into this confined space on a sultry night in June, with the blaze of burning buildings within and around the Fort to add to the heat and dense closeness of the atmosphere were soon a prey to every horror. A fierce fever seized them, delirium set in in many cases, and the weaker members were crushed down and trodden to death in a wild struggle to reach the windows for air.

An old jemadar of the guard, seeing the desperate condition of the prisoners, and moved by Mr. Holwell's entreaties and offers of liberal reward, went twice to try and get permission to remove them to another building, but returned saying that it could not be done without an order from the nawab, who was sleeping, and no one dared to wake him. The same man, who alone showed any humanity, ordered water to be supplied to the prisoners through the windows. The unfortunate people received it eagerly in their hats thrust through the bars, but such was the struggle for a draught, that more than half was spilt and wasted before it reached their parched