Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1879 — The Cabul Revolt and Massacre. [ARTICLE]

The Cabul Revolt and Massacre.

Advices from India give particulars of the attack upon and slaughter of the entire British embassy at Cabal, the capital of Afghanistan. The New York Herald correspondent at London telegraphs under date of Sept 8: The worst fears regarding the fate of the British Envoy at Cabul have been realized. Positive information has been received that Maj. Cavagnari and bis suite have been massacred. For this act on the part of the troops of Yakoob Khan, however unable he may have been to control them, England will exact a terrible reckoning. In the intense interest felt last night at all the clubs the supreme anxiety of the patriot was mingled with the curiosity of the politician. As the details come in from the Indian Government to the Foreign Office, the prospect grows hourly more serious. The latest authoritative announcement is to the effect that the attack on the res.dence of the British agent at Cabul was opened by three regiments of the Afghan army, which were joined later by nine others. Yakoob Khan writes that their regular troops began by Btoning a small party of British officers on the streets. It seemed only an ordinary attack by a mob at first, but the report that all the British at Cabul were to be killed spread through the barracks and the city with great rapidity, and before all the members of Maj. Cavagnari’s suite and his body-guard could be collected from the various partß of the city an immense crowd had assembled around the Embassy building, and the troops, leaving the camps and the barracks, appeared in large bodies upon the scene. Meanwhile the building had been stoned, and several shots had been fired from the crowd, but without perceptible effect A heavy volley of musketry was then fired into the crowd from the Embassy building, followed by several successive volleys. The destruction of the British residency and the lives of its inmates were demanded on all sides. “ Death to the British,” was heard in every mouth. Meanwhile fully 8,000 troops, regulars and irregulars, had thoroughly surrounded the building and cut off all possible means of retreat. The force defending the Embassy numbered seventy nine. They fought with the greatest bravery. It is said that the Ameer’s son was fatally injured. A large number of the mutineers were killed. After the buildings of the Embassy were fired, the survivors sallied out and defended themselves desperately, but all were killed, including Maj. Cavagnari. Intense excitement prevails throughout India. Judge Wiltze, of Eau Claire, Minn, (the local papers do not indicate his judicial position with exactitude), spoke of Mrs. Bonell in a way that incensed her husband. Bonell enticed the Judge into a room, locked the door, drew a rawhide, and declared his intention to administer a whipping; but the attempt was not a success, for the Judge took the whip away from his antagonist, and a long fight ensued in which each party was badly handled.