3-034-740 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Courthouse at Calcutta, 1871. 'From the Indian papers just received we learn that the assassination of Mr. Norman, Acting Chief Justice of Bengal, has created an immense sensation in every town in India. The event took place as Mr. Norman was entering the Calcutta High Court, when a native rushed upon him in the vestibule and inflicted a deep wound in the abdomen with a dagger. As there was no one at hand but a native solicitor and a Court servant, Mr. Norman ran back, but he was followed by the assassin, brandishing his dagger. He next stabbed the unfortunate gentleman in the back, close to the spine. After this Mr. Norman kept off his assailant for a few seconds by picking up stones and throwing them at him, till a punkawalla, connected with the Court, attracted by the cries, ran up to the man and knocked him down with a piece of wood. The infuriated assassin struggled violently, but was soon disarmed and prevented from doing further injury. A monument is to be erected to the memory of Mr. Norman in St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta; and a meeting of the attorneys of the Calcutta High Court has been held for the purpose of showing their respect to the deceased gentleman by some memorial'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.