CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
thrown in terror by those who should have performed the last rites; and in years of famine, when the famished villagers of the surrounding country-side sought the town in hope of succour, only to fall exhausted in the unfamiliar streets, the dead and dying lay where they fell, a common prey to ravening bird and beast. It was in the public street, too, that the criminal met his death upon the scaffold. Executions, for robbery as well as murder, were in some cases carried out on or near the scene of the crime. Otherwise they took place at the cross-roads where Chitpore Road and Bentinck Street meet Bow Bazar; and it was here that a European soldier, named Gale, was hung for murder, in December, 1797.
It was in the same year, 1797, that an extraordinary and exciting scene took place in Sudder Street, just off Chowringhee Road, in a house which is now included in the buildings of the Imperial Museum. This house was the property of Mr. Peter Speke, member of Council, who built it in 1790. The grounds extended to Kyd Street, and included the Kyd Street Tank, a sheet of water which may be readily found marked on the "Plan of Calcutta, 1742." The public had the right of access to this tank, which Mr. Speke desired to keep private, and
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