Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/260

232 The victory of Gheriá was followed up by another (5th September) on the U'dwá nullah; and on the 1st October by the capture of Manghír. In the first defeat Sombre and his brigade were sharers.

The fall of Manghír irritated Mír Kásim to such a degree that he determined to take the terrible revenge of slaughtering the English prisoners held by him at Patna. The story is thus told in his admirable history by the late Colonel Broome. "Mír Kásim now issued the fatal order for the massacre of his unfortunate prisoners, but so strong was the feeling on the subject, that none amongst his officers could be found to undertake the office, until Sombre offered his services to execute it.

"The majority of the prisoners were confined in a house belonging to one Hadjí Ahmad, on the site of the present English cemetery in that city. Hither Sombre repaired on the 5th October, with two companies of his sipáhis, having on the previous day, under pretence of giving the party an entertainment procured all their knives and forks, so that they were deprived of every means of resistance. Having surrounded the house, he sent for Messrs. Ellis, Hay, and Lushington, who went out with six other gentlemen, and were immediately cut to pieces in the most barbarous manner and their remains thrown into a well. The sipáhis now mounted the roof of