Page:The Earl of Mayo.djvu/206

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
198
THE EARL OF MAYO

frigate lay silent and alone. At half-past nine that night, the partially embalmed body was placed in its temporary coffin on the quarter-deck, and covered with the Union Jack.

The assassin received the usual trial and the usual punishment for his crime. Shortly after he had been brought on board, in the launch which carried his victim, the Foreign Secretary asked him why he had done this thing. He only replied, 'By the order of God[1].' To the question whether he had any associates in his act, he answered, 'Among men I have no accomplice; God is my partner[2].' Next morning, at the usual preliminary inquiry before the local magistrate, when called to plead, he said, 'Yes, I did it[3].' The evidence of the eye-witnesses was recorded, and the prisoner committed for murder to the Sessions-Court. The Superintendent, sitting as chief judge in the Settlement, conducted the trial in the afternoon. The accused simply pleaded 'Not guilty.' Each fact was established by those present when the deed was done; the prisoner had been dragged off the back of the bleeding Viceroy with the reddened knife in his hand. The sentence was to suffer death by hanging. The proceedings were forwarded in the regular way to the High Court at Calcutta for review. On the 20th February this tribunal confirmed the sentence; and on the 11th March the assassin was

  1. Khudá ne húkm diyá.
  2. Merá sharík koí ádmí nahín; merá sharík khudá haí.
  3. Hán main ne kiyá.