N. Francis Xavier
Part XXIV, (Continued from last week)
Colonel Cadell sat at his desk writing slowly, with long pauses, draft of a letter addressed to the Governor General in Council.
The subject of his letter was “Indefensibility of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands”.
He had before him copy of a demi-official letter on the same subject by his predecessor Gen. Barwell. It was dated 30th May 1878.
From a soldier’s point of view he felt that the Islands could be taken in a matter of hours in case of an attack by an enemy power.
The little garrison on Ross Island held less than two hundred European troops. They only had an old gun meant mainly for ceremonial purposes. The guard ship had one more gun, a smooth-bored cannon with very limited range. The loyalty of the sepoys and convicts was doubtful.
Sitting alone in the huge Government House on Ross Island Cadell pondered about the ways the islands could be defended against enemy attack.
He visualized an attack, mainly by the Russians.
There were alarming reports of the Russians moving closer to the borders of India. They too wanted a piece of the cake that was India, along with the British, the French, the Dutch and the Portuguese. They were threatening the North West Frontier Areas, but they have a huge armada also. In case they want they can easily send a fleet from their Black Sea ports, take the Andamans, regroup and then attack Calcutta, the capital of British Indian Empire.
Finally Cadell took his official letter pad and started writing a fair copy. After writing “Confidential” at the top he wrote in his flowing hand, “ In view of the apparently not improbable eventuality of war with Russia I deem it my duty to bring the defenceless state of this settlement to the consideration of the Government of India. If no means are taken to protect the settlement, Port Blair might become a very convenient rendezvous for the enemy cruisers sent to prey on the commerce of the Bay of Bengal.
Cadell paused to check his notes and continued, “Under the circumstances I trust the Government of India will see fit, in the event of war, to order torpedoes to be sent to Port Blair with someone of experience to place them and make use of them in time of need.
A gentle knock on the door interrupted him. A look of irritation crossed his face but quickly vanished when he saw Birch glide in.
Birch came to attention and saluted.
“Hello, Bill. Is everything under control? All the convicts accounted for? I don’t want to hear of one more escape.
“No sir. I just got semagraph reports from all the divisions. All returned from work and accounted for. Two deaths in hospital; one still birth from the Andamanese Home.
“That’s jolly good. I was writing a letter to the Government about the defencelessness of our islands in the event of war. Are there any more letters to be sent to the Government?
“Here are two petitions sir, for release of Quadir Khan and Narayan Singh. You told me to remind you sir.
“Oh, yes. I want to help them. But we don’t know how the government would react to our proposal. It all depends on the reports from the collectors of their home district, whether their return would revive any old blood feuds, cause disorder and increase crime rate.
Cadell’s mind went back to the files he read of both the convicts.
Both men were lifers;both were convicted for murder; both used poison to kill; both were from Peshawar; both have completed their prison terms and living as ticket-of-leave men at Port Blair; both have applied for absolute release.
“How would these men be received in their home town, Peshawar, the ‘murder capital’ of the world at that time?”, he thought.
A majority of the convict population of Port Blair, for obvious reasons, hailed from Peshawar.
However, Cadell wanted to help the duo. In spite of the horrific crimes they had committed before transportation both have behaved well in the settlement and helped the administration. Quadirshowed gallantry during the anti-Jarawa operations. Narayan was mild mannered and helped in the convict school, having been a teacher before he was sent to the islands. He must prepare their case histories, give his recommendation and send them for acceptance by the government.
Quadir’s crime was horrific. He lived in Peshawar with his two wives, Khan Begum and Farida. Farida was the younger and more beautiful of the two. She wanted to do away with Khan Begum so that she could have Quadir all for herself. Consulting a professional poisoner she procured a potent poison which she mixed in the food of Khan Begum. But Khan Begum, suspecting foul play refused to eat the food. Desperate to kill her Farida made Quadir hold her while she forced the poisoned food down her throat. However, Khan Begum did not die immediately. She died only after making a full statement before a magistrate. When the DC enquired from the family members of Khan Begum their reply was typical of the Pashtun tribes. “She was his wife and chattel; he was entitled to do with her whatever he liked,” they said.
Both Quadir and Farida were convicted. But Farida died before being transported. During the early days of imprisonment Quadir was convicted for theft and sent to the chain gang for two year. But he changed afterwards and did excellent work in the operations against the Jarawas. Cadell wanted to reward him for his services.
Narayan’s case was different. He was a respectable teacher in Peshawar. In September 1851 he had a dispute with the mother of one of his students, an 11 year old boy. During the altercation Narayan shouted at the woman and told her that he would “eat her son’s head” to punish her. The same evening, when the child came for his tuition he poisoned him and killed him, to take revenge on the mother. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. When the penal colony came up in 1858 he was sent to the Andamans. He has already spent more than 25 years in the islands.
Cadell knew their release depended on their being “professional poisoners” or not.
It was believed that, after the suppression of ‘Thuggee’ in India the Thugs who escaped turned to ‘”Poisoners”. Like the Thugs they too would approach a victim and win his confidence. Then they would offer them food or drink laced with a variety of poisons which were readily available to them in the form of seeds, herbs or minerals. Once the victim became unconscious they would rob him. Unlike the Thugs, who killed their victims by strangling them with a silk scarf, the poisoners only made them unconscious. Their favourite poison was an extract from the seeds of ‘datura’ mixed with ‘bhang’. Gangs of poisoners ravaged the travelers on the Indian roads and railways those days.
Cadell knew that the two men were not professional poisoners. They only committed the crimes in a moment of passion. He started dictating his letter to Birch asking for clemency and absolute release for the two. Two more men would return from the ‘hell on earth’. (To be continued…. )
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