N. Francis Xavier
Part XLIII, (Continued from last week)
After the fire-power demonstration to the hapless Jarawas at the firing range Cadell and Birch rode back to Aberdeen. Cadell wanted to inspect the barracks at Atlanta Point and interview some convicts who may provide information about Hemraj.
Capt. Birch reported a suspicious looking letter to Cadell the day before. He was going through the letters received by the mail steamer, addressed to the convicts. All letters written and received by the convicts were opened and read as a matter of routine by the jail authorities. A set of translators were readily available to decipher those written in the many tongues spoken in Port Blair.
The letter was written in Pustho and addressed to one Shah Alum. What aroused suspicion was that Shah Alum was killed by a convict three years earlier. The letter, posted in a remote village of the North West Frontier Provinces took a long time to reach Port Blair. The writer seemed to be unaware of the death of Shah Alum. When the Pushto translator translated the letter there was a mention of Hemraj in it. The writer, a released convict wanted to know how Hemraj was, and when he was likely to be released.
Cadell wanted to visit the barracks where Shah Alum lived and find out if he could get any information about Hemraj.
“Sir, this is the barrack where Shah Alum was murdered,” Birch pointed out.
“Who killed him? And what was the motive?” Cadell asked.
“Sir, that was three years ago, in 77. A convict named Jagan escaped from this barracks. Shah Alum was the First Tyndal in charge of the barracks. Jagan returned three days later, in the early morning hours when the convicts were having their morning ‘congee’ and smashed the skull of Shah Alum with an axe he stole from the kitchen while escaping.
“But, what’s more interesting was that Jagan confessed to killing another man that same morning, while on his way to kill Shah Alum.
“That sounds interesting. Was he also a convict petty officer, like Shah Alum” Cadell asked.
“No, sir. He was just the watchman at the JungleeGhat brickfields. Jagan had no idea who the man was. When he tried to stop him as he was walking suspiciously in the brickfields Jagan stuck him a blow. Then he took his blanket, covered himself with it and entered the barracks unobserved. In fact he was not sure whether the man was dead or alive. He simply told MrTuson that he struck the owner of the blanket near JungleeGhat. When the police went there and checked they found the dead body of BishamberNath, the night watchman posted there. His skull was also smashed.
Cadell and Birch stopped their horses in front of Barack No. 7. A convict orderly came running to take the reins of the horses as they dismounted.
“This was the same place where Shah Alum was killed sir, in fact this is the very room,” Birch explained as he showed the Petty Officer’s room in the barracks.
“Jagan sneaked into the room, locked the room from inside and hit Shah Alum repeatedly on the head with the axe. His brains were scattered all over the floor here. But, the surprising thing was only one person, Turk Ali, a prison orderly, tried to come to Alum’s rescue. All others stood and watched.
“Well, that shows he had accomplices,” Cadell said.
“None of the people reported his escape also. It was discovered during the roll call in the evening. The theft of the axe was also not reported. In fact, Shah Alum seemed to expect the attack. He ordered a search for Jagan, and was very much agitated the day he escaped.
“Inspector Baghail Singh investigated the case and submitted a report. In that Jagan confessed to killing Shah Alum and gave the reason as harassment. He said, “On various occasions prior to the incident Shah Alum called me a badmash. He was frequently taking boys to court and getting them punished by framing false charges against them…”
“But, later, he gave a startling revelation. He said, “I came to know that Shah Alum was in the habit of committing unnatural offence on a Madrassee boy, but I didn’t see the act personally”.
However, Jagun’s statement, just before his execution was different:
“When I escaped I thought that in case I am recaptured Shah Alum will punish me, and he will force me to do hard labour, and therefore better to kill him, and petty officers will take this as a warning and will not exact hard labour from the boys, and to die is preferable than to lead a miserable existence…”.
“Capt. Protheroe was the Deputy Superintendent at that time. He ordered that the barracks should be well-lit up in the night and the ‘boys’ gang’ should be separated from the regular convicts.
“I don’t want such incidents happening during my tenure Bill. Please ensure that proper watch is kept in the barracks during the nights. Let’s speak to Turk Ali, who was the only one who came to the rescue of Shah Alum, and find out something about the author of this letter.
“Yes sir, I already sent for him. He’s now promoted to Second Tyndal. You can see that tall Pathan coming this way, that’s him.
Cadell and Birch sat on cane chairs in front of the barracks to interview Turk Ali. ( To be continued…)
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