On a reception night lots of people come to watch the decorations of Government House.  Now-a-days Government House is illuminated with electricity; but I am told by my elders that in those days when tallow candles and tiny glass lamps were the only means of illumination the thing looked more beautiful and gorgeous.

The people who come to see the illumination pass along the road and are not allowed to stop.  The law is that they must walk on and if a young child stops for more than half a minute his guardian, friend, nurse or companion is at once reminded by the policeman on duty that he or she must walk on; and these policemen of Calcutta, unlike the policemen of London, are not at all courteous in their manner or speech.

So it happened on a certain reception night that Hasan Khan the black artist went to see the decorations and while lingering on the road was rudely told by the policeman on duty to get away.

Ordinarily Hasan Khan was a man of placid disposition and polite manners.  He told the policeman that he should not have been rude to a rate-payer who had only come to enjoy the glorious sight and meant no harm.  He also dropped a hint that if the head of the police department knew that a subordinate of his was insulting Hasan Khan it would go hard with that subordinate.

This infuriated the policeman who blew his whistle which had the effect of bringing half a dozen other constables on the spot.  They then gave poor Hasan Khan a thrashing and reported him to the Inspector on duty.  As chance would have it this Inspector had not heard of Hasan Khan before.  So he ordered that he should be detained in custody and charged next morning with having assaulted a public officer in the discharge of his duty.

The Inspector also received a warning but he did not listen to it.  Then Hasan Khan took out a piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket and wrote down the number of each of the six or seven policemen who had taken part in beating him; and he assured everybody (a large number of persons had gathered now) present that the constables and the Inspector would be dismissed from Government service within the next one hour.

Most of the people had not seen him before and not knowing who he was, laughed.  The Inspector and the constables laughed too.  After the mirth had subsided Hasan Khan was ordered to be handcuffed and removed.  When the handcuffs had been clapped on he smiled serenely and said “I order that all the lights within half a mile of where we are standing be put out at once.”  Within a couple of seconds the whole place was in darkness.

The entire Government House Compound which was a mass of fire only a minute before was in total darkness and the street lamps had gone out too.  The only light that remained was on the street lamp-post under which our friends were.

The commotion at the reception could be more easily imagined than described.