General Gatacre Part 18

[5] Recollections furnished by Mr. Louis G.o.dniho, Deputy Officer; see also _Advocate of India_, April 3, 1897.

[Sidenote: The Seedee king]

On another occasion the quarter known as Kazipura was selected for the morning's search work. Kazipura is inhabited by all cla.s.ses of Mahommedans, including the African Negroes or Seedees. On the arrival of the brake the party broke up and entered various dwellings. One party, consisting of two members of the Committee and Dr. Sorab Hormusjee (to whom I am indebted for this story, and who held the appointment of Lady a.s.sistant to the Health Officer), came across a Seedee boy aged eighteen years, whom they declared to be suffering from the plague. The mother denied this, saying her son was only tired, having been dancing all night, and, supported by some male relatives, angrily a.s.serted that she would not allow his removal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: House-to=house visitation.]

Within a few minutes the streets and alleys were swarming with Seedees armed with sticks, and a serious riot seemed inevitable. But fortunately the Chairman was on the spot; he instructed Mr. Vincent, the Police Commissioner, to send for the Seedee King Makanda. The arrival of the Great Man and his Queen Sophie had a magic effect; a few words of explanation {174} from the Chairman, a few words from the King to the sick man's mother, won the day for the cause of law and order.

The third story that I have selected is told by Miss Remy, a nursing sister of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. As her contribution describes the horrible dens that were daily visited I give her recollections in her own words:

"When plague broke out in Bombay I gave up my post for a time (as Matron of a Maternity Hospital attached to a College School) and was selected by the Plague Committee to organise and take charge of the Grant Road Hospital till such time as the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Order of Jesus and Mary were able to take up the work as they had promised. From this hospital--the Police Hospital, where I afterwards worked--I was taken out on several occasions by the Plague Committee in their house-to-house visitation. The people have strong prejudices against natives of another caste, and especially Europeans, approaching too near their places, so that in examining the houses it was necessary to respect the feelings of the owners in this regard. The rooms are usually 10 ft. by 10 ft.; the floor sometimes is of clay beaten down till it is firm and smooth and covered with a layer of liquid cow-dung, which quickly dries, forming a clean and neat surface; this is renewed at short intervals of a week or so. The internal arrangements are very simple; the cooking-place, usually surrounded by shining bra.s.s and copper pots, occupies a corner of the room, a low charpoy or cot in another, bundles of firewood, cow-dung cakes used as fuel, are stocked in odd recesses with a collection of dried fish and grain. General {175} Gatacre, always courteous and tactful, was most careful in observing their prejudices. He always asked me to go in first and report if any of the occupants were suffering from plague or other causes, and also as to the condition of their room. The General would follow closely, and as the door opened to admit me he would look into the room. If it was particularly clean and cared-for, he invariably rewarded the occupants with a rupee or so as encouragement. He was quick to see things, patient with details, and possessed of a tact and eloquence which smoothed over many difficulties that came in the way of our work. He was particularly fond of little children, and I have often seen him pat their heads and slip some coppers into their hands as we went along visiting the different tenements. One incident I remember very well. On leaving the neighbourhood of Ripon Road, after visiting a long row of _chawls_, we were followed by a crowd of children, about fifty or more. Suddenly on turning a corner we came upon a sweet shop. The General went up to the stall and, to the utter amazement and indignation of the owner, seized several trays of the sweets and scattered them on the pavement, when there was a general scramble and loud hurrahs. Before the man could remonstrate Sir William took a handful of loose silver from his pocket and placed it on the counter. This more than compensated the man for the sweets, and he smiled and salaamed."

During this systematic visitation hovels were discovered where white men had never before penetrated; scores of houses were boarded up and labelled "U.H.H.," which stood for "Unfit for human habitation."

{176}

In _The Times of India_ of March 31, 1897, we have a graphic but, alas!

lengthy account of the visit of the Committee to a Mahommedan quarter to sanction buildings selected for use as hospitals. We read: "When the General's brake was sighted they l.u.s.tily cheered him." On this occasion a feast and a vote of thanks was part of the programme.

"Tea and coffee were provided by the members of the party. When all were seated, Khan Bahadur Ca.s.sum Mitha rose and said in Hindustani:

"'General Gatacre,--We have been much honoured by your visit to this place to-day. Since you have a.s.sumed the command of affairs relating to this dire pestilence, we have learnt to a.s.sure ourselves of our safety. We are convinced that you honour our religious feelings, and we believe that what you do is for our own good. You have perhaps no idea of the esteem and respect you command among us. You have won over our hearts by your n.o.ble demeanour, and on the altar of your popularity we are ready to sacrifice everything.... In you, General, we find a saviour, and we thank Lord Sandhurst for sending you among us. You may count on our a.s.sistance at any and every moment. Our lives and our money will be always at your command.'"[6]

[6] See _Bombay Gazette_, March 31, 1897.

[Sidenote: Opposition]

As if in protest against the compliance of the great majority to the wishes of Government, one sect of Mahommedans, the Sunnis, showed themselves very refractory. After much elaborate {177} letter-writing the Headmen sent a Mr. Raikes to lay before the Plague Committee the objections to their proceedings. At the conference that was arranged the delegate was heckled into expressing himself clearly: "'It really comes to this,' he said; 'they ask you to minimise as far as you possibly can the great objections they have to the removal of the sick by not doing it at all.'"[7] To which the Chairman seems to have rapped out: "That is absolute nonsense!"--to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of his supporters. But though his words were pointed, his conduct was deliberate, and his patience faultless, for in a leading article we read:

[7] See _Advocate of India_, March 31, 1897.

"The correspondence between General Gatacre and the representatives of the Sunni Mahommedans will satisfy every one that the community has been treated with extraordinary patience. The Chairman of the Committee has given two long interviews to the Sunni leaders, who have had professional a.s.sistance in placing their views before him. He has listened patiently and respectfully to every argument and objection that has been put before him; they have gone to the Governor with a letter which put their case at its strongest; and once again they have gone back to General Gatacre, who once more, in replying to their solicitors, treats them with a kindness and a consideration which sheer stubbornness seldom meets with in this world."[8]

[8] See _Times of India_, April 7, 1897.

The show of troops was slightly increased {178} when the recalcitrant quarter was visited, but this precaution had due effect, and no violence took place.

After about six weeks of unsparing toil and incredible devotion, it was becoming clear that the labours of all those concerned were not in vain: the returns were showing a steady and unmistakable decline. But this had not been accomplished without very great persistence on every side. The General writes:

"I hope I shall hold out all right, but the strain is pretty severe; some of my Committee are feeling it, but have not broken down yet. We are working from fourteen to eighteen hours in the day, which does not give me much time for writing."

That he won the loyal support of all his colleagues is clear from the following letter:

"... The General is keeping very well; the amount of work he gets through is tremendous. There is one thing about him that has struck me very much, and that is the extraordinary personal influence he quite unconsciously exerts over the men working under him. A Surgeon-Colonel H---- has been sent down from Chitral for plague duty here, and he dislikes the whole thing. He had congenial work up there, a lovely climate, snow and frost, a nice house with a lovely garden; and he has come down to work in the slums of Bombay at the hottest time of the year, with no friends in the place, and a most enervating climate. He says that if any one else but General Gatacre was at the head of affairs, he would resign to-morrow. {179} Major B---- is the same.

His staff appointment will be up in October; he has eight months' leave due to him, and would have taken it if there had been any other General here. But he knows how busy General Gatacre is with the plague, and feels that it would be hard on him to get a new A.A.G. just now. And Major B---- is a hard-headed man, with, one would think, little sentiment about him. But I could give you many instances. Captain C---- of the Bombay Infantry, who is working as a secretary in the office, is only staying because General Gatacre is the Chief.... The General had a great dinner last month for all the medical men in Bombay, and as they refrained from discussing the plague, or their methods of treating it, it went off very well. Last week we had another dinner of twenty-four, to which all the Russian, German, and Austrian scientists and all the foreign consuls were invited; it was a decidedly interesting evening."

On April 30 the General writes:

"... We are still struggling with the plague, and though it is milder in Bombay it is still dreadfully severe in the provinces all around.

We have now been put on to take up the provinces, and it is like paying the labourers of an enormous town when our pay-day comes on.... The work and worry here is unceasing, and I really don't know when we shall be out of the wood."

And again a fortnight later:

"The climate, though good for Bombay, is beastly, and there is still much sickness about. {180} We lost a nurse, Miss Horne, ten days ago, of plague. In Bombay the mortality has come down to nearly normal, but in Cutch-Mandvi it is still very bad; at the latter place, with a population of 10,000 actually present, they have lost 2,000 in the last fortnight! I am just beginning to write the Report; it will take about two months, I think. We trust the disease will not break out again during the rains, but people know so little about it that it is impossible to say."

Writing on May 21, 1897, he says:

"... Our work has not lightened much here yet, although the disease is under control. You see the same organisation must exist to prevent the plague breaking out again as up to date has existed for controlling it.

There is much plague in the districts, and people are trying to get back to Bombay. Many come in with the disease on them, but we catch them all at the stations and Bunders, and put them in hospital. Now we are stopping every one coming in and detaining them eight days, to make sure they have not got the disease."

In India that year the Queen's birthday was to be celebrated on June 22. Lord Sandhurst invited the General to his official dinner on the occasion, and urged him to come to Poona for a few days' change; but the latter declined the kind invitation, being fearful lest disturbances should occur in Bombay owing to the general holiday.

[Sidenote: A murderous a.s.sault]

That very night, at Poona, as the guests were returning after the dinner, a horrible outrage was {181} perpetrated. In the darkness armed men climbed on to the back of two open carriages and shot the officers riding in them. Mr. Ayerst, who with his wife was in the first carriage attacked, died on the spot, being shot through the head.

It was afterwards shown that there was no ill-feeling against this young officer, and that he was the victim of a mistake. In the carriage immediately following, Mr. Rand, a political officer who had been acting as Chairman of the Poona Plague Committee, was driving alone; he was shot through the lungs, and though at one time there seemed some hope of his recovery, he succ.u.mbed about ten days later.

It was well known that Gatacre had been receiving threatening letters[9]; violent language of this sort had even appeared in the papers. It was therefore natural that a very strong wave of sympathy and resentment at such an outrage should have been felt in Bombay, where the measures likely to provoke such personal retribution had necessarily been more drastic.

[9] See _Advocate of India_, April 13, 1897.

The General writes on June 25:

"... Our dinner was a success, but the affair at Poona has rather upset people; it appears that the people there have been determined to have the blood of the Plague Committee, and accordingly arranged to a.s.sa.s.sinate them. Rand I fear must die; Ayerst, who was shot by mistake, was killed at once; L----, who was on the Committee as segregation officer, was wanted, but the a.s.sa.s.sin mistook Ayerst for {182} him. I trust the man will be discovered; we know who the instigator is, but it will be difficult to prove it. I wish I was on the job. I went to Poona yesterday, and saw the place, and had a long talk with Brewin, head detective; he seems fairly confident he will trace the murderers and bring the crime home to the suspected instigators."