to save himself through the intervention of a Russian envoy. Conolly reached Bokhára, only to fall into the clutches of a potentate who regarded him as a mere spy.
The Amír of Bokhára placed him under arrest and seized all his property. At that time Colonel Stoddart, after many months of cruel suffering patiently borne, had been transferred from a loathsome dungeon to the care of the Russian Envoy. But the rising at Kábul wrought a change for the worse in the Amír's temper. Stoddart and Conolly were placed together in rigorous confinement, and ere long the Russian envoy was glad to escape from Bokhára with his life. Early in 1842 the Amír set forth on his campaign against Khokán. Many efforts had meanwhile been made from many quarters, from Petersburg, London, and Constantinople, as well as Calcutta and Herat, to obtain the release of the hapless pair; but in vain. On the 1st of October, 1842, Lord Ellenborough wrote to the Amír on behalf of the two 'innocent travellers'; but he wrote too late. Soon after the Amír's return to Bokhára their fate was sealed. On the 17th of June Stoddart and Conolly were led out of prison and publicly beheaded. Such at least was the story told to Rawlinson at Kábul, in the middle of September, by one of Stoddart's servants, who spoke as eye-witness of his master's death[1].
- ↑ Kaye.
