Assassination in India

In an article issued on May 30, 1868, The Illustrated Police News recanted the assassination of a Colonel who was located in the Peshawar district of India. According to the article, after the Great Mutiny of 1857, General Cotton made decisions that did not settle with natives in the area. It became known that the the Indians in the area would be quick to revolt, and would not settle well with the news. With that in mind, Colonel Mackeson took up the post in the area and began to get to know those who lived there. Despite being greatly respected, he was hated by the fanatics in the country, and it was known that assassins were available at the cost of only a few rupees. European officials were despised, and fanatics would jump at any opportunity to get rid of them. One night, the Colonel was sitting in his bungalow when a villager approached him, asking the general to view a petition. The Colonel initially asked the villager to come back tomorrow, but instead of the his private residence, to arrive at the official Government building. The native insisted, and fell down to the feet of the Colonel and began to beg. He told the Colonel that the survival of his family depended on it, so in good nature the Colonel began to read it. It is when the Colonel was distracted reading the article that the native stabbed him in his breast. The murder was then hung as punishment, but was glorified in his task. The Colonel was later buried in Peshawar with a measure of high security because the officials came to know that there was a bounty with a high price for the head of the Colonel.

In suit to typical IPN format, a majority of the article was dedicated to the victim who lost his life. However, in comparison to other articles posted on murder, the language to speak of the murderer was used to generalize the entire Indian population, as if this was the normal nature in which natives dealt with conflict. Similar to modern day, the language used to speak about minorities is fashioned in a manner the represents the entire population and is something  that should be expected from them. Along with that, even despite the action of killing the man, any action that westerners would deem to be less than and inferior is identified to be a way that the entirety if that minority population would act. The best example of this would be when the Indian men started begging at the feet of the Colonel, and the words used to describe it was as “in typical Native fashion”. Along with that, the article does not elaborate on the deed the British committed that left the natives so angry and upset, and the effects that it had on the lives of the Natives.