CONCLUSION. 345 



Hodsoii, "so little was left that his widow was 

 obliged to apply to the Compassionate Fund for 

 assistance, which was granted after due investiga- 

 tion by the Commissioners, of whom Sir Richard 

 Temple was one, much to the surprise of those who 

 had believed the stories that were circulated to his 

 prejudice." 



Shortly after his death Mrs Hodson asked the 

 Rev. C. Sloggett to help her in looking over some 

 of his private memoranda of accounts. " There was 

 one in particular," says that gentleman, " a sort of 

 debtor and creditor account against himself, drawn 

 up, or supplied with its last entry, on the very 

 morning of his being shot. After all that I had 

 heard against him, I was astonished at the small- 

 ness of his resources. There was no larger balance 

 than could be accounted for by his profit on the 

 house at Umbala and his good allowances as 

 commanding a cavalry regiment." ^ 



As honorary secretary to the Punjab Special 

 Fund, Mr Sloggett himself was able to assure the 

 committee of management, consisting of the judicial 

 and financial commissioners, Mr (now Sir Richard) 

 Temple, Commissioner of Lahore, the civil surgeon, 

 and Mr H. C. Perkins, C.S., that the case of Mrs 

 Hodson was " one which required their liberal con- 

 sideration." The committee could not but accept 

 the evidence thus supplied by an independent 

 witness. So far, therefore, from having amassed 

 a fortune by persistent plundering, it is absolutely 

 certain that Hodson died without leaving his widow 

 money enough to pay her passage home. 



Besides the moderate pension to which Mrs 



1 Eev. C. Sloggett's MS. letter. 



