But the men were terrified and obstinate, and eighty-five stood out and refused to take the cartridges.  The offenders were at once arrested, and tried by a court-martial of native officers; they were found guilty, and sentenced to various periods of imprisonment, but recommended for mercy.  General Hewitt saw no grounds for mercy, excepting in the case of eleven young troopers; and on Saturday, May 9th, the sentences were carried out.  The men were brought on parade, stripped of their uniforms, and loaded with irons.  They implored the General for mercy, and, finding it hopeless, began to reproach their comrades; but no one dared to strike a blow in the presence of loaded cannon and rifles.  At last the prisoners were carried off and placed in a jail, not under European soldiers, but a native guard.

The military authorities at Meerut seem to have been under a spell.  The next day was Sunday, May 10th, and the hot sun rose with its usual glare in the Indian sky.  The European barracks were at a considerable distance from the native lines, and the intervening space was covered with shops and houses surrounded by trees and gardens.  Consequently the Europeans in the barracks knew nothing of what was going on in the native quarter.  Meanwhile there were commotions in the sepoy lines and neighboring bazaars.  The sepoys were taunted by the loose women of the place with permitting their comrades to be imprisoned and fettered.  At the same time they were smitten with a mad fear that the European soldiers were to be let loose upon them.  The Europeans at Meerut saw and heard nothing.

Nothing was noted on that Sunday morning except the absence of native servants from many of the houses, and that was supposed to be accidental.  Morning service was followed by the midday heats, and at five o’clock in the afternoon the Europeans were again preparing for church.  Suddenly there was an alarm of fire, followed by a volley of musketry, discordant yells, the clattering of cavalry, and the bugle sounding an alarm.  The sepoys had worked themselves up to a frenzy of excitement; the prisoners were released with a host of jailbirds; the native infantry joined the native cavalry, and the colonel of one of the regiments was shot by the sepoys of the other.  Inspired by a wild fear and fury, the sepoys ran about murdering or wounding every European they met, and setting houses on fire, amid deafening shouts and uproar.

Meanwhile there were fatal delays in turning out the Europeans.  The Rifles were paraded for church, and time was lost in getting arms and serving out ball cartridges.  The Carabineers were absurdly put through a roll-call, and then lost their way among the shops and gardens.  Meanwhile European officers were being butchered by the infuriated sepoys.  Men and women were fired at or sabred while hurrying back in a panic from church.  Flaming houses and crashing timbers were filling all hearts with terror, and the shades of evening were falling upon the general havoc and turmoil, when the Europeans reached the native lines and found that the sepoys had gone, no one knew whither.