Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/110

90 very often leads them to unnecessarily offend the susceptibilities of the people." But this advice was unheeded.

It is unnecessary to dwell here upon what was rightly or wrongly described as the "reign of terror" at Poona and its echoes in England, so sadly associated with the name of Prof. (aftewards Hon. Mr.) Gokhale whose statements regarding the outrages made by British soldiers exasperated the Government and who immediately on his return to India was induced to tender an "abject" apology and withdraw not only those charges which for want of evidence he could not substantiate, but all his criticism regarding the plague measures. For a time the Plague subsided but the discontent its administration had aroused, emboldened one fanatic to seek redress in the murder of Mr. Rand. The name of this fanatic was Damodar Chapekar, who after a number of unsuccessful attempts to track Mr. Rand at last got hold of him, on the night of June 22, 1897, when Mr. Rand was returning from the Government House where he had gone to attend the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. In the darkness of night, Chapekar shot Mr. Rand dead. His accomplice heard an exclamation from the carriage which Lieutenant Ayerst was riding and "thinking possibly that they were discovered" killed Lieutenant Ayerst also! These shocking murders created an atmosphere of panic and consternation which was cleverly exploited by Mr. Tilak's enemies to induce the Government to embark on a campaign of repression.