The mobs sought out Europeans in the city. On April 9 1919, Miss Marcella Sherwood, who worked at the Mission Day School for Girls was bicycling round the city to close her schools. She was attacked by the mob in a narrow street and was beaten and left wounded. She was rescued by local Indians who hid her from the mob and moved her to the fort. This attack on a lady angered Dyer, who was in command of troops in Jullundur.