The East Huron Gazette, 1892-06-09, Page 2one
t '�•<_i
-THE LOST
LGIOl.
9
( HE STORY OF A RAID IN INDIA°
in five minutes. It was surrounded by high
hill&, reckoned inaccessible to all save born
inotintaineers, and here the Gulls Kutta
Mullah lived in great state, the head of a
colony of mud and stone huts, and in each
mud hut hung some portion of a red uniform
and the plunder of dead mean. The Gov -
BY nUDYAuD K PLING. ernmentparticularly wished for hiss apture,
When the Indian mutiny broke out and a and once invited him formally to come out
little time before the siege of Delhi, a regi- and - be hanged on account of seventeen
ment of native irregular horse was stationed murders in which he had taken a direct
at Peshawar, on the frontier of India. That part. He replied : " I `am only twenty
regiment caught what John Lawrence call- miles, as the crow flies, from your border.
ed at the time " the prevalent mania," and Come and fetch me."
would have thrown in its lot with the muti- " Some day we will come," said the
neers had it been allowed to do so. The Government, "and hanged you will be."
chance never came, for as the regiment The Guilts Kutta Mullah let the matter
swept off down south it was headed off by a drop from his mind. He knew that the
remnant of an English corps into the hills of patience of the Government was as long as a
Afghanistan, and there the newly -conquer- summer day ; but he did not realize that its
ed tribesmen turned against it as wolves arm was as long as a winter night. Months
turn against buck. It was hunted for the afterward, when there was peace on the
sake of its arms and accoutrements from hill border and all India was quiet the Indian
to bili, from ravine to ravine, up and clown Government turned in its sleep and re -
:she dried beds of rivers, and round the membered the Gulla Kutta Mullah at Ber-
ahonlders of bluffs, till it disappeared as sund, with his thirteen outlaws. The move -
Rater sinks in the sand -this officerless ment against him ot one single regiment -
rebel regiment. The only trace left of its which the telegrams would have translated
existence to -day is a nominal roll drawn up as war -would have been highly impolitic.
in neat round hand and countersigned by This was a time for silence and speed, and,
an officer who called himself " Adjutant, above all, absence of bloodshed.
late ---Irregular Cavalry." The paper is You must know that all along the north -
yellow with gears and dirt, but on the back west frontier of India there is spread a force
of it you can still read a pencil note by John of some thirty thousand foot and horse,
Lawrence to this effect : " See that the two whose duty it is quietly and unostentatious -
native officers who remained loyal are not ly to shepherd the tribes in front of them.
deprived of their estates. J. L." Of 650 They move up and down and down and up,
sabres only two stood the strain, and John from one desolate little post to another ;
Lawren. e, in the midst of all the agony of they are ready to take the field at ten
the first months of the mutiny, found time minutes' notice; they are always half in and
to think about their merits. half out of a difficulty somewhere along the
monotonous line ;their lives are as hard as
That was more than thirty-six years ago,
and the tribesmen across the Afghan border their own muscles, and the papers never say
who helped to annihilate the regiment are anything about them. It was from this
now old men. Sometimes a graybeard force that the Government picked its men.
speaks of his share in the massacre. " They One night, at a station where the mounted.
came," he will say, ""across the border very night patrol fire as hey challenge, and the
proud, calling upon us to rise and kill the wheat rolls in great blue-green waves under
English and go down to the sack of Delhi. our cold northern moon, the officers were
But we, who had just been conquered by playing billiards in the mud -walled club
the same English, knew that they were house, when orders came to them that they
riwient could were to go on parade at once for a night
overbold, and that the Gove
account easily for those down -country dogs. drill They grumbled, went to turn out
This Hindustani regiment, therefore, we their men -a hundred English troops, let ns
treated with fair words, and kept standing say, two hundred Goorknas, and about a
in one place till thigredcoats came after hundred of. the finest native cavalry in the
them very hot and angry. Then this regi. world.
ment ran forward a little more into our hills When they were on the parada ground it
to avoid the wrath of the English, and we was explained to them in whispers that they
lay upon their flanks watching from the must set off at once across the hills to Bar -
sides of the hills till we were well assured sund. The English troops were to post
that their path was lost behind them. Then themselves round the hills at the side of thee
we came down, for we desired their clothes, valley; the Goorkha$ would command ih
,and their bridles, and their rifles, and their gorge and the death trap, and the cavalry
boots -more especially their hoots. That would fetch a long march round and"get to
was a great killing -done slowly." Here the the back of the circle of - hills, whence, if
old man will rub his nose and shake his there was any difficulty, they couldchfyrge
long snaky locks, and lick /his bearded lips, down on the Mullah's men. But orders
and grin till the yellow tooth stumps. show. were very strict that there should be no
" Yea, we killed them because we needed fighting and no noise. They were to return°
their gear, and we knew that their lives had in the morning with every round ot am -
been forfeited to God on a^.count of their munition intact, and the Mullah and his
sin -the sin of treachery to the salt which thirteen outlaws bound among them. If
they had eaten. They rode up and down they were successful no one would know or
the valleys, stumbling and rocking in their care anything about their work; but failure
saddles and howling for mercy. We drove meant probably a small border war, in which
them slowly like cattle till they were . all the Gulls Kutta Mullah would pose as a
assembled in one place, the flat, wide valley popular leader against a big, bullying pow -
of Sheor Kot. Many had died from want er, instead of a common border murderer.
of water, but there still were many left, Then there was -silence, broken only by
and they could not make any stand. We the clicking of the compass needles and
went among them, pulling them down with snapping of watch cases, as the beads of
our hands two at a time, and our boys kill. columns compared bearings and made ap-
ed them who were new to the sword. My pointments for the rendezvous. Five min-
• share of the plunder was such and such-eo utes later the parade ground was empty;
many guns and so many saddles. The guns the green coats of the Goorkhas and the
wers good in those days. Now we steal the overcoats of the English troops had faded
Government rifles and despise smooth bar- into the darkness, and the cavalry were
- rels. Yes, beyond doubt we wiped that cantering away in the face of a blinding
regiment from off the face of the earth, and drizzle.
er-en the memory of the deed is now dying. What the Goorkhas -and the English
But men say--" did will be seen later on. The heavy work
At this point the tale would stop abrupt- lay
clwith
k hhe horses,
eir wa for
rlthey
ohad
habitatioro ar
1y and iwas impossible find out pwhat anMany of the troopers were natives, of that
men said ross the border.a Then Afghans part of the world, ready and anxious to fight
were always a secretive race, and vastly against their kin, and some of the officers
anythingd doing soThey wouldwbeed to quietsaand had made private and unofficial excursions
well-behaved
at all. They be and into those hills before. They crossed the
ithutwon orfri months, tel wouldne night, rush border, found a dried river beds, cantered
without word warning, they up that, walked through a" stony gorge,
aor pollee post, throughcut the athvoatgs , a rcrysawaytable risked crossing a low hill under cover of the
three twor dashouwomen, d wit, carry in the darkness, skirted another hill, leaving their
red four burning
and withdraw g the hoof marks deep in some ploughed ground,
caglare of burning t atch, todownthe felt their way along another water -course,
desolateale and gusts before them Government their ran over the neck of a spur praying that no
become. The Indian one would hear their horses grunting, and
would almost tearful on these oc-
casions. First it would say, " Please be so worked on in the rain and the darkness -
good and we'll forgive you." The tribe till they had left Bersund and its crater of
concerned in the latest depredations would hills a little behind them and to the left,
collective') put its thumb to its nose and and it was time to swing round. The as,
answer rudely. Then the Government cent commanding the back of Bersund was
would say : " Hadn't you better pay up a steep, anbed
.the height, draw
t breath
atho. insy,
bole money for those few corpses you lefte valleythe men•reined up, but the horses, blown as
behind you the other nightnd- Here the theywere, refused to halt. There was un-
and
tride me of
temporize,heyounger and lie and bully, chritian language, the worse for being de -
show
some em t men, merely n -to livered in a whisper, and you heard the
otherha police p i of andfireauthoriint would frontier saddles squeaking in the darkness as ,the
police post fire into some frontier -horses plunged.
mud fort, and, if lucky, kill a real English
officer. Then the Government would say: The subaltern -at the rear of one troop
" Observe, if you really persist in this line turned in his saddle and said, very softly:
of conduct you will be hurt?" If the tribe "Carter, what the blessed heavens are
- knew exactly what was going on in India it you doing at the rear? Bring your men up,
would apologize or be rude, according as it Man. -
learned whether the Government was busy There was no answer, till a trooper
with other things or able to devote its full replied:
attention to their performances. Some of "Carter Sahib is forward -not there.
the tribes knew to one corpse how far to go. There is nothing behind us."
Others became excited, lost their heads, "There is," said the subaltern. The
and told the Government to come on. With squadron's walkin:eonits own tail."
sorrow and tears, and one eye on the Brit- Then the Major in command moved down
ish taxpayer at , home, who insisted on to the rear, swearing softly, and asking for
regarding these exercises as brutual wars of the blood of Lieut. Halley, the subaltern
annexation, the Government would prepare who had just spoken. -
an expensive Iittle field brigade and some ""° Look after your . rearguard," said
guns, and send all up into the hills to chase the Major. "Some of your infernal thieves
the wicked tribe out of the valleys, where have got lost. They're at the head of the
the corn grew, into the hilltops, where there squadron, e and' you're a several kinds of
was nothing to eat. The tribe would turn idiot."
out in full strength and enjoy the campaign, " Shall I tell off my men, sir ?"said the
for they knew that their women would never subaltern, sulkily, for he was feeling wet
be touched that their wounded would be and cold.
nursed, not mutilated, and that as soon as ' Tell 'em off !" said the Major. " Whip
eatili man's bag of corn was spent they could 'em off, by gad ! You're squandering them
surrender and palaver with the English all over the placib. There's a troop behind
General as though they had been a real en- you now ?" -
einy. Afterward, years afterward, they • " So I was thinking." said the subaltern,
would pay the blood money, driblet by drib- calmly. . " I have all my men here, sir.
let, to the Government, and tell -their chit- Better speak to Carter." '
dreg how they had slain the redcoats by " "Carter Sahib seads salaam and wants -to
thousands. The only drawbaek to this kind know why the regiment isstopping, said
of picnic war was the weakness of the red- a trooper to -Lieut. Halley.
coats; for solemnly -blowing up with powder " Where under heaven is Carter ?" said
their, fortified towers and . keeps. This the the Major. „ was 'the an -
Chiefconsidered mean. "Forward with his trocp,"
grief. among .;the leaders of the smaller : swer.
tribes -the -little clans,• who knewtoa`penny "Are we walking in a ring, then,or are
e exense"of moving swhite troops against zwe the centre of a brigade ?" said the Major.
mr was witriest-1 dit-chief, whom we ,! .By this time there was silence all along
the Gulla Kutta Mullah',His ern = the column. The horses were still, but
hn ias»fei - Harder murder as an=art was :through-thefine rain;.; men. could hear the
Imost d4411, c'! He :would -cut down._ a -feet of `marry horses moving over stony
iref i r*om pure wantonness, or beth--- " d
iu fof•with rifefieewhenheknew
msnen i ceded to 1eep, " :In Lia ensure
he ` d goKisi .eircuit;among
` o ie 'tribes to
kind of It"otel fdr-
m hiss :sown villagest which
Webeing`stalkedd," said Lieut. Hal-
ey . ,
i4They'veno- horseshere� ~.Besides they d
lave= fired •befare- this," said the `Major.
"It's -it's vilagers' ponies."
"Then eur horses.-Ivould have neighed
its •sptp a vas ey muse have
c l_ ieraun . Any d ii c th hack. h t
ibrer - os . `that section pf the been near us for ]half <an hour," said the
ie tolie,up at �Bersund; for it snbaltern
n ediagf sacs... lace The ""Queer that we can't smell the . horses,.
through a.narrow, gorge, said: the;Major,, dan pin g ..... tiger and rub
luta ria death trap Tiding oi� hisnose as--# sniffer ; the wind.
" Well, it's a bad start," said the subal-
tern, shaking the wet from his •overcoat,
" What shall we do, sirs"
"Get on," said the Major; "we shall
catch it to -night."
The column moved forward very gingerly
for a few paces. Then there was an oath, a
shower of blue sparks, as shod horses crash-
ed on small stones, and a man rolled over
with a jangle of accoutrements that would
have waked the dead.
" Now we ve gone and done it said Lieut.
Halley. " All the hillside awake, and all
the hillside to climb in the iace of a musket-
ry fire. This comes of trying to do night-
hawk work."
The trembling trooper picked himself up
and tried to explain that his horse had fallen
over one of the little cairns that are built of
loose -stones on the spot where a mane had
been murdered. There was no need to ex-
plain. The Major's big Australian charger
blundered next, and the column came to a
halt in what seemed to be a very graveyard
of little cairns, all about two feet, high.
The manoeuvres of the squadron are not re-
ported. Men said that it felt like mounted
quadrilles without training and without the
music ; but at last the horses, breaking rank
and choosing their own way, waled clear
of the cairns,till every man of the squadron
reformed and drew rein a few yards up the
slope of the hill. Then, according to Lieut.
Halley, there was another scenevery like
the one which has been described. The'.
Major and Carter insisted that all the men
had not joined rank, and that there were
more of them in the rear clicking and blun-
dering among the dead men's cairns, Lieut.
Halley told off his own troopers again and
resigned himself to wait. Later on he told
me:
" I didn't much know and I didn't much
care what was going on. The• row of that
trooper falling ought to have scared half the
country, and I would take my oath that we
were being etalkelby-a -full regiment and
they were making row enough to rouse all
Afghanistan. I sat/slight, but nothing•hap-
pened."
The mysterious part of the night's work
was the silence on the hillside.,Everybody
knew that the Gulls Kutta Mllah had his
outpost hots on the reverse 'side of the hill,
and everybody expected by the time that
the major had sworn himself into a state
of quiet that the watchmen there would
open fire. When nothing ocurred, they
said that the :_vets of the rain haddeadened
the sound of the horses and thanked Prov-
idence. At last the major satisfied him-
self that he had left no one behind among
the cairns, and that he was not being taken
in the rear by a powerful body of cavalry.
The men's tempers were thoroughly spoiled,
the horses were lathered and unquiet, and
one and all prayed for the daylight.
They set themselves to climb up the hill,
each man leading his mount carefully. Be-
fore they had covered the lower slopes or
the breast plates had _begun to tighten a
thunder -storm carne up behind, rolling
across the low hills and drowning any noise
less than that of a cannon. The first flash
of the. lightning showed the bare ribs of the
ascent, the hill crest standing steely blue
against the black sky, the little falling lines
of the rainy and, a few yards to their left
flank, an Afghan watch tower, two -storied,
built of stone, and entered by a ladder from
the upper story. The ladder was up, and a
man with a rifle was leaning from the win-
dow. The darkness and the thunder rolled
down in an instant, and, when the lull fol-
lowed, a voice from the watch tower cried :
" Who goes there ?"' "
Thaacavalry were very quiet, but each
man gripped his carbine and stood beside
his horse. Again the voice called : " Who
goes there ?" and in a louder key, " O,
°brothers, give the alarm !" Now, every
man inthe cavalry:yould have died in his
long boots sooner than have asked for quar-
ter ; but it is a fact that the answer to the
second call was a long wail of " Marf karo !
Marf karo ! " which means, " Have mercy !
Have mercy !" It came from the climbing
regiment.
The cavalry stood dumfounded, till the
big troopers had able to whisper one to an-
other : " Mir Khan, was that thy voice ?
Abdullah, didst thou call ?" Lieut. Halley
stood beside his charger and waited. So
long as no firing was going on he was con-
tent. Another flash of lightning showed
the horses with heaving flanks and nodding
heads. The men, white eyeballed, glaring
beside them, and the stone watch tower to
the left. This time there was no bead at
the window, and the rude iron -clamped
shutter that could turn a rifle bullet was
closed.
" Go on men," said the Major. " Get up
to the top at any rate." The squadron
toiled forward, the horses wagging their
tails and the men pulling at the bridles,
the stones rolling down the hillside and the
sparks flying: Lieut. Halley declares that
he never heard a squadron make so much
noise in his life. They scrambled up, he
said, as though each horse had eight legs
anda spare horse to follow him. Even
then there was no sound from the watch
tower, and the men stopped on the ridge
that overlooked the pit of darkness in
which the village of Bersund lay. Girths
were 'nosed, curbchains shifted, and sad-
dles adjusted, and the men dropped down
among the stones. Whatever might hap-
pen now they hi the upper ground of any
attack.
The thunder ceased and with it the rain,
and the soft, thick darkness of a winter
night before the dawn covered them all.
Except for the sound of falling water among
the ravines below, everything was still.
They heard the shutter of the watch tower
below them thrown back with a clang and
the voice of the watcher calling : "Oh Hafiz
Ullah 1"
The echoes took up the call, " Lala, -la !"
And an answer came - from a watch tower
hidden around the curve of the hill:
What is it, Shahbaz Khan?"
Shahbaz Khan replied in the high pitch-
ed voice of the mountaineer : " Hast thou
seen ?"
The answer came back : " Yes, God de-
liver us from all evil spirits !"
There was a pause, and then : " Hafiz
Ullah, I am alone ! Come to me !"
" Shahbaz Kahn, I am alone also ; lout I
dare not Ieave my post !"
" That is a lie ; thou art afraid."
A longer pause followed, and then " I
am afraid. Be_Isilent:! They - are below us
stilt Pray to God and sleep !"
The troopers listened and wondered, for
they could not understand what save earth
and stone=could lie below the -watchtower -S.
Shahbaz Khan began to call again :
" They are below us. I can see -them. Tor
the pity of -God come over to me. Hafiz
Ullah` ! My father slew ten of hem. Come
over 1'
Hafiz Ullah answered in a very loud voice
" Mine was guiltless. Hear, ye Men of the
Night, neither my father nor my blood bad
any part in that sin. Bear thou thy own
punishment, Shahbaz Khan." -
" Oh, some one ought -to stop those two
chaps crowing away like cocks there," said
Lieut. Halley, shivering under his rock.
Ile hiayd•irardlytnrned round too manse "a
neem deco the ram before a bearded; long-
locked, evil -smelling Afghan rushed up the
bill and tumbled into his arine. Halley sat
upon him and thrust as rguch of a sword -
hilt as could be spared down the man's gul-
let. If you cry out. I kill y e said,
cheerfully.
The man was beyond any expression of
terror. He lay and quaked, gasping.
When
Halley took the sword -hilt from between
his teeth, he was still inarticulate bat clung
to Halley's arm, feeling it from elbow to
wrist.
" The Rissala ! the dead Rissala !" he
gasped at last. "It is down there 1"
" No ; the Rissala, the very much alive
Rissala. It is up here," said Halley un -
shipping his -water bridle and fastening the
man's hands. "Why were you in the towers
so foolishas to let us pass ?
" The valley is full of the dead," said the
Afghan. " It is better to fall into the hands
of the English than the hands of the dead.
They march to and fro below there. I saw
them in the lightning."
He recovered his composure atter a little,
and whispering, because Halley's pistol was
at his stomach, said : " What is this? There
is no war between us now, and Mullah will
kill me for not seeing you pass !"
" Rest easy," said Halley, " we are com-
ing to kill the Mullah, if God please. His
teeth have grown too long. No harm will
came to thee unless the daylight shows thee
as a face which is desired by the gallows for
crime done. But what of the Dead Regi-
ment ?"
"I only kill within my own border," said
the man, immensely relieved. "The Dead
Regiment is below. The men must have
passed through it on their journey -400
dead on horses, stumbling among their own
graves, among the little heaps -dead men
all, whom we slew."
"Whew !" said Halley. " That accounts
for my cursing Carter and the Major cursing
me. Four hundred sabres, eh ? No wonder
we thought there were a few extra men in
the troop. - Kurruk Shah," he whispered`
to_a grizzled native officer that lay within -a
few feet of him,." hast thou heard anything
of a dead Rissala in these hills?"
" Assuredly," said Kurruk Shah, with a
grim chuckle. " Otherwise, why did I, who
have served the Queen for seven and twenty
years and killed many hill dogs, shout aloud
for quarter when the lighting revealed us
to the watch towers ? When I was a young
man I saw the killing in the valley of Sheor-
Kot there at our feet, and I know the tale
that grew up therefrom. But how can the
ghosts of unbelievers prevail against us who
are of the faith ? Strap that dog's hands a
little tighter, sahib. An Afghan is like an
eel." -
" But a deal Rissala," said Halley, jerk-
ing his captive's wrist. " That is foolish
talk, Kurruk Shah. The dead are dead.
Hold still, Sag." The Afghan sniggled.
" The dead are dead and for that reason
they walk at night. What need to talk ? We
be men, we have our eyes and ears. Thou
canst both see and hear them, down the
hillside," said Kurruk Shah, composedly.
Halley stared and listened long and in-
tently. The valley was full of stifled noises,
as every valley must be at night ; but
whether he saw or - heard more than was
natural Halley alone knows, and he does
not choose to speak on the subject.
At last, and just before the dawn, a green
rocket shot up from the far side of the Val-
ley of Bersund, at the head of the gorge, to
show that the Goorkas were in -position. A
red light from the infantry at left and right
answered it, and the cavalry burned a white
flare. Afghans in winter are late sleepers
and it was not till full day that Gulls Kutta
Mullah's men began to straggle from their
huts, rubbing their eyes. They saw men in
green and red and brown uniforms leaning
upon their arms, neatly arranged all round
the crater of the, village of. Bersund in a
cordon that not even a wolf could have
broken. They rubbed their eyes the more
when a pink -faced young man, who was not
even in the army, but represented the po-
litical department, tripped down the hill-
side with two orderlies, rapped at the door
of the Gulia Kutta Mullah's house, and told
him quietly to step out and be tied up for
safe transport. That same young man pass-
ed on through the huts, tapping here one
cateran and there another lightly with his
cane ; and as each was pointed out, so he
was -tied up, staring hopelessly at the
crowned heights around where the English
soldiers looked down with incurious eyes.
Only the Mullah tried to carry it off with
curses and high words, till a soldier who
was tying his hands said :
" None o' your lip ! Whydidn't you
come out when you was ordered, instead of
keepin' us awake all night ? You're no
better than my own barrack sweeper, you
white-'eaded old polyanthus ! Kim up 1"
Half an hour later the troops had gone
away with the Mullah and his thirteen
friends. The dazed villagers were looking
ruefully at a pile of broken muskets and
snapped swords, and wondering how in the
world they had come so to miscalculate the
forbearance of the Indian Government.
It was a very neat little affair, neatly
carried out, and the men concerned were
unofficially thanked for their services.
Yet it seems to me that much credit is also
due to another regiment whose name did not
appear in the brigade orders, and whose
very existence is in danger of being forgot
ten.
A Romance of the Period-
" Mildred," passionately exclaimed the
young man, throwing himself upon his
knees, " hear me ! For months I have
carried your image in my heart. You have
never been absent from my thoughts one
moment. The contemplation of • a future
unshared with you would drive me to de-
spair -to suicide ! Listen ! For more than
a week, Mildred, the dread, the susper_ se,
the uncertainty, the horrible fear that I
may fail to win your affection has oppress-
ed me by day and banished sleep from my
eyes at night. For more than a week I have
not slept I With straining eyeballs I have
tossed on my restless couch and-"
" Harold," interposed the gentle girl
with tears of compassion in her eyes, " I
should consider myself the most heartless of
women if I could look unmoved upon your
suffering when a word from me can, banish
them. If you are troubled with insomnia
Harold, you will find instant and certain re-
lief by using Heavyside's celebrated Nerve
Squelcher, fifty cents . a bottle, for sale by
all druggists, satisfaction guaranteed or
money refunded, testimonialson application,
delays are dangerous, life is precious, for
what is life without sleep, send for sample;
if used according to directions will cure in
twenty-four hours, mention this paper."
THE BATTLE OF RIDGEWAY.
The Story of the Engagement
Fenian.
We print the following, not because of its
veracity, but because to the student of his-
tory, and to an intelligent reader, it is al-
ways interesting to know what the other
side has to say. The correspondent who
has furnished the tollowing is T. F. Row-
land, at present of Denver, Col.:
-In the spring of 1866 Fenianism was in
the ascendant and yet in its infancy. The
society had been organized by Stephens,
O'Mahoney, Doheny and other refugees of
the Young Ireland party. Stephens, as
head center, had worked and planned in
the United Kingdom with all the energy
and sagacity of . a revolutionist, and the
government of Great Britain quickly awoke
to the startling fact that it rested on a vol-
cano. Then did its mailed hand become
stronger. Vigilance, increasing vigilance,
it nursed. Its mercenaries mingled with
the people. Talbot, one of its most infam-
ous hirelings, was shot down in the streets
of Dublin. Under the ban of suspicion
thousands were incarcerated. Its press
thundered maledictions. But despite all
this, Fenianism did not stop. It only grew
more secretive -and withal bolder. Not a
week passed that did not chronicle its mid-
night raid for arms. Government arsenals
were depleted of their stores, and even the
landlords awoke and bewailed their miss-
ing guns.
As the national poet, T. V, Sullivan, then
sang:
" The queen's proud towers,
Can't balk their po wers, -
Off go the weapons by sea and shore,
To where the Cork men -
And bold New York men
Are daily piing their precious store."
Pikes were forged and hidden, and this
parody crept into the press
"We buried them darkly at dead of night,
The sod with our cleavers turning,
By our blackened dudeen's flickering light,
And the mold in our wide wakes burning,
No useless coffins inclosed our 'pets,' -
Not in sheet nor in shroud we bound 'em,
But we laid them gently in scores and sets,
With some nice, clave straw around 'em."
SoactedthemeninIreland-butwhat were
their brothers in America doing ? We shall
see. The close of our civil war infused such
a spirit into the Irish cause as to lift it to
the highest pinnaole of prominence. The
great heart of the Irish soldier, flushed
with the renown of southern battle fields,
instinctively turned to his far away isle.
His lips became stern, pride of his nativity
and hatred of wrong strengthened the hand
that yet held the sword -and if at this
critical period a heaven sent leader had
arisen the story of Ireland might have been
the brightest page of history. But petty
jealousies sundered and wrecked a grand
cause, and forth from the chaos sprung two
parties -one, the party who looked to Ire-
land as the battlefield, the other with the
dream of Canadian conquest firing its
brain.
That both had the welfare of Ireland at
heart is undeniable. But the conquest of
Canada was utopian, and savored of piracy.
With recognition it might have been feas-
ible. But from whence would this come ?
In their enthusiasm they fully expected
their adopted country would be their ally.
What height of folly! What imagining! A
committee of both parties met to amalgam-
ate the whole. Their counselling only
widened the gap, and the men in Ireland
receiving no encouragement fell back in
sullen silence drinking eagerly all American
news.
The Canadian party went to work in
grim earnest. Organizers were sent over
the. country, forming " Fenian circles,"
Every circle was a military company. It
drilled three times a week. Each member
bought his own rifle and uniform and was
under oath to go, when ordered, as one of
the invading army. The winter of .1866
saw 60,000 men enrolled. William R.
Roberts of New York was president and
James Gibbons of Pennsylvania vice pres-
ident. Gen. Sweeny, lately deceased, was
the military leader. Finnerty, now of the
Chicago Citizen, Judge Dunne of Illinois
and Judge Fitzgerald of Nebrahka were
prominent. Gen. Sweeny, the one-armed
hero, had fought valiantly all through the
Mexican war as second lieutenant under
Scott, and when the civil war broke out he
went to the front as captain. Under Fre-
mont he was adjutant general, and later,
ander Grant, he had command cf the Fifty-
second Illinois volunteers at Fort Donald-
son. In 1863 he was a major of the
Sixteenth infantry of the regular army, and
had command in the Atlanta campaign of
the Sixteenth corps of the army of Tennes-
see. The citizens of New York presented
him with a medal, and the city of Brooklyn
a sword. For gallantry at Shiloh. Grant
and Sherman personally complimented him.
No wonder the Irish soldier's heart swelled
when knowing the mettle of the hero who
was to lead him. It has been stated that
Gen. Sweeny was at the fight at Ridgeway.
There is not a particle of truth in the state-
ment. He never left the American side.
The authorities at Washington did not in
terfere, but sold thousands of arms to the
leaders. It may have been that the lead-
ing of England towards the confederacy
made them indifferent, and this indiffer-
ence strengthened the invaders, and they
planned not in secret council but openly, as
if assured of belligerent rights, and perfect-
ed their organization to such a standard as
to cause a -feeling of alarm over the border.
Protests poured into Washington from
England. • They were ignored. Canada,
doubtful if all these preparations were not
the veriest vaporing of demagogues, for a
while looked tranquilly on, and at last be-
came alert. Her citizens were sworn into
service, add the excitement over the border
rivaled the frenzy on this side. Thousands
of her citizens crowded into the states.
It may be asked here, what was the
policy outlined in this threatened invasion ?
Had the leaders mapped this out? They
had ! At a certain point they would mass
their men -cross when favorable, and gain
a foothold, entrench themselves and await
reinforcements -not only from the states,
but even from Canada. Though the gov-
ernment . turned against them they were
confident that enough of their men would
get into Canadatomake defeat impossible.
Then once masters of somesea-port town
they would build and equip privateers-
pray on the commerce of England -land an
armed force in Ireland and trust to the God
of battle, ere this recognition they dreamed
was assured. No handwriting on the wall
came to their vision. No shadow.. fell be-
tween them and the bright ray of national
sunlight. Great gallant exiles of the old
land what castles ye built ! What songs ye
sang ! and oh, how proudly your eyes flash-
ed ! and how- cheerily ye spoke under the
kindling sunlight of those days !-and if ye
erred your patriotism is fullest atonement !
The spring . crept on, and wonderment
grew. Would all this enthusiasm end in
naught. Expectation was rife. The men
in Ireland listened with bated breath.
Even they doubted the boldness. But cin
the morning of June 2 the wires sped
the delirious news that_the consummation
had _-come. The Feniana had crossed the
Niagara river, under the leadership of Col.
Blood travels from the heart through the
arteries ordinarily at the rate of about 12
inches per second ; its speed through the
capillaries is at the rate of three one -hun-
dredths of an inch per second.
The Canadian Pacific is trying to make an
arrangement with connecting lines to run a
fast train between Boston and Halifax in
twenty-three hours, - -- -
Deep Spanish fringes in black silk cord,
havinga lattice -work pattern, are seen on
light silks, ever which black lace is used.
told by a
John O'Neill, and later rang exer the; land
the account of the fight at Lim- sone J
-or more properly Ridgeway.
The village of Ridge -qv hf
Buffalo. It is small and se-tterm& Vine-
yards abound. It is picturesque, lts by-
ways are shady. Its homestead's speak of
thrift. It was here O'Neill formed the 200
odd men that constituted his army. They
were armed with the old muzzle -loading
rifle, and out from Toronto marched the
Queen's Own(Canada's crack corps) to meas-
ure swords with those stern exiles.
O'Neill's loud voice is hoarse with joy
As halting he commands.
Again we quote the poet of that time
Such fury filled each loyal mind, •
No volunteer would stay behind ;
They flung their red flags to the wind-
"° Hurrah, my boys," said Booker.
col. Booker led them. The Enfield rifle
w as the arm of the Queen's Own, and arm.
ed e1 hus they should have beaten O'Neill -
They outnumbered him, too. The muzzle
loader is clumsy and antique. - One of the
raiders told the writer that after tearing off
the top of the cartridge they bad to pare
the ball, it being too large, and that many
of them held their knives between their
teeth in readiness for reloading. Crowds
rode forth at the heels of the Queens Own
to witness the capture or destructio ' of the
peerless few, and when their deferldfers
faced about in their maddened flight up
the dusty road, the sight was pandemonium.
The fight was fought partly in one of the
many orchards, and partly on the road and
can be called nothing else than a skirmish.
After a couple of volleys Booker formed his
men in a square. It proved his defeat.
O'Neill perceived his advantage and raked
them with a well directed volley. They
broke in confusion -scattered, and Ridge-
way belonged to the victors !
The union Jack on one of the publi
buildings was torn down and trampled ii
the dust, and -men went wild with patriotic.
joy. Not since Enniscorthy or Onlast Hill
had Irish'eysi beheld the sight. Had they
Leen thousands instead of hundreds would
Toronto have fallen ? It is better that it
was not so, for in the end defeat was inevi-
table. President Johnson awoke to the
crisis. The border was strongly guarded.
Thousands of armed men came crowding
every train. • They were turned back. It
was stated then that 40,000 men, all armed,
were faced homeward.
The news came to O'Neill at Bertie station,
close to Ridgeway. He counseled with his
men and they sullenly retired, and recross-
ed to Buffalo as prisoners of the federal
government. But they were tenacious. In
1869 ;they gathered again on the border, but
the " raid " proved abortive.
In 1873 the Methodists of Ridgeway
erected a memorial church in memory of the
soldiers of the Queen's Own, who fell -or
later died of wounds received in defending
their country. It stands close to the pulpit.
For the imformation of any who think ne
one was killed at Ridgeway we give the in-
scription accurately:
Sacred to the Memory
Of the Ridgeway Martyrs
Who fell defending their country in the at-
tempted Fenian invasion of June, 1866.
Malcolm McEaclem,ensign Queen's Own kill-
ed Hugh Matheson, sergeant, Queen's Own,
died of wounds; William Smith, Queen's Own,
killed ; Christopher Anderson, Queens Own,
killed ; J. W. Newburn, Queen's Own, kill-
ed; Francis Lakey, corporal, Queen's Own, died
of wounds ; Mark Deiries, Queen's Own, kill-
ed ; William Fairbanks Tempest, Queen's Own,
killed ; Malcolm McKenfile, Queen's Own,.
killed.
" Go strew his ashes to the wind
Whose sword. or will, has served mankind.
And is be dead whose glorious will lifts time on
high &
To live in hearts we left behind is not to-
die."
odie."
Erected by the citizens of the vicnity of the
battle ground, September, 1873.
No man shall find fault with this ! Not,
even he whose courage have the wound.
How many of O'Neill's men were killed is
uncertain. One or two who straggled off
were captured and confined for a year or
BO.
'Col. Booker became so unpopular in Ontario
that in '67 he retired and settled in Mon-
treal, where he turned auctioneer, and this-
good
hisgood story is told at his expense. The lit-
tle Irish boys would jeer and laugh when he
would be saying, "Going, going one. and
shout in at the door, "Run, run, the Feniana
"
are coming 9 .
One summer morning, years after, in co-
pany with one who fired his muzzle -loader
into the opposing retake that day, we strol-
led over the ground. The air was. warm,
the sky was perfect; bird song shrilled
from the green robed tree and hidden nook ;
the orchard and the clover field where the
bullets had made such music lay calm and
blossoming. My companion pointed out
every spot of interest. There was the farm-
house whose former tenant had first told
the news of the invasion. There the
fence that formed a breast -work ; yonder
the dusty serpentine road down whose
windings had fled the Queen's Own, and we
came away, a pride in our heart for the
Spartan ,few who had so nobly attested
such love for the fatherland.
114 Gallant Ambassador,
Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British Minis-
ter at Washington, has quite covered him-
self with glory by the gallant manner in
which, regardless of personal peril, a few
days since, he went to the rescue ot Lieu-
tenant and Mrs. R. M. G. Brown's baby
daughter, who, seated in her carriage, roll-
ed down the flight of brownstone steps over
the terrace and on the pavement.
Fortunately no injury beyond a few
bruises and a general soreness was sustained
by the baby, but her peril was truly alarm-
ing to those who witnessed the incident,
which was caused by the nurse slipping on
the top step.
Sir Julian at the time was playing tennis
in the court backaof the legation, and wit-
nessing the accident, on the spur ot the
moment, vaulted over the high iron railing
with the agility of a boy and rushed to the
rescue in spite of the fact that rumor has
had him so crippled with the gout as to
necessitate a trip to Carlsbad this Summer.
--[Washington Post.
The Sabbath Chime.
O come in life's gray morning.
Ere in thy sunny way
The flowers of hope have withered,
And sorrow ends thy day.
Come, while fromjoy's brightfountain
The streams of pleasure flow;
Come. ereHave felt the blight of ant spirits
" Remember thy Creator"
Now in thy youthful days,
And He will guide thy footsteps
Through life's uncertain maze.
" Remember thy Creator,
He calls in tones of love,
InAnd offers brighter worldss s above.
And in the hour of sadness,
When earthly joys depart.
His love shall be your solace,
And cheer thy drooping heart;
.And when life's storms are over,
Athou from earth are
Thy G d will he thy port onfree,
Throughout eternity.
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