ence of the Residency_, Mr. L. E. R. Rees
states that the Mohurrum was celebrated with unusual splendour and
fanaticism, commencing that year on the 25th of August, and that on the
_kutal-ka-rath_, or night of slaughter, a certain Mr. Jones, with ten
other Christians, deserted to the enemy by undoing a barricaded door
when one of their own number was on sentry over it. But, instead of a
favourable reception as they anticipated, the deserters received the
fitting reward of their treachery from the insurgents; for they were all
immediately killed as a sacrifice, and their blood sprinkled on the
different _tazias_ throughout the city. To return to my own story; I was
told by a native jeweller, who was in Lucknow in 1857, that the crescent
and star alone of the new _tazia_ made for the young king, Brijis
Kuddur, cost five _lakhs_ of rupees. Be that as it may, it fell to a
company of the Ninety-Third to assault the Doorgah, where all this
consecrated paraphernalia was stored, and there they found this golden
_tazia_, with all the gold-embroidered standards, saddle, and
saddle-cloth, the gold quiver and arrows of Dhulldhull. There was at the
time I write, a certain lieutenant in the company whom I shall call
Jamie Blank. He was known to be very poor, and it was reported in the
regiment that he used to regularly remit half of his lieutenant's pay to
support a widowed mother and a sister, and this fact made the men of the
company consider Jamie Blank entitled to a share in the loot. So when
the _tazia_ was discovered, not being very sure whether the diamonds in
the crescent and star on the dome were real or imitation, they settled
to cut off the whole dome, and give it to Jamie; which they did. I don't
know where Jamie Blank disposed of this particular piece of loot, but I
was informed that it eventually found its way to London, and was sold
for L80,000. The best part of the story is, however, to come. There was
a certain newspaper correspondent in the camp (not Mr. Russell), who
depended on his native servant to translate Hindoostanee names into
English. When he heard that a company of the Ninety-Third had found a
gold _tazia_ of great value, and that they had presented the senior
lieutenant with the lid of it to enable him to deposit money to purchase
his captaincy, the correspondent asked his Madrassi servant the English
equivalent for _tazia_. Samuel, perhaps not knowing the English word
_tomb_, but knowing that the _tazia_ r