259
suffering from diarrhœa, and is also given to them
to procure sleep and to keep them quiet at night.
Oral evidence.
Question 1.—I have been Deputy Commis-
sioner of Police, Madras, since 1883. I have been
Inspector since 1865, and in Madras almost con--
tinuously since 1867.
Question 53.—I have three cases in my mind;
they are instances of violent crime. One was a
native officer in Bangalore about 1886. He shot
his subadar-major at 8 P.M., locked himself up in
his house all night, and next day at 2 P.m. shot
his wife, opened the door, allowed his mother-in-
law and his children to escape, and then sat down
in his chair and shot himself. It was a case of
jealousy in respect to the officer shot. It was
associated by me with ganja, because it was said
that he was a ganja smoker. Clearly he had the
motive before ; and I think this cannot be re--
garded as unpremeditated crime. It is the ten--
dency where a man is a smoker to attribute such
a case to the drug. On the contrary, I have
known cases of men who have threatened murder
or suicide, and. then had a smoke and passed
away from their anger altogether. In this parti-
- c u l a r c a s e I c a n n o t t e l l w h e t h e r a n y e v i d e n c e w a s
produced of ganja having been used at the time.
The second case was about 1883 or 1884. A
barber in Madras City was twice married, and on
the day he had to receive his second wife he cut
the throat of the first wife and soon after cut his
own throat. I enquired into the case. He was
removed by me to hospital. He recovered. As
soon as he was able to speak, lie said he was under
the influence of ganja, and could not tell what he
was doing. He was tried at the High Court here.
He was transported for life. He was a drinker.
He preferred his first wife and hated the second.
He had been married to the latter as a child, and
then she had gone to Burma. He had to take
her, though lie had meanwhile married the wife I
have called "the first wife." He murdered her and
attempted his own life, because he loved her and
hated the other. He may have done this from
drink or from the smoking. His object was that
they might both die and she might not (as he
said to the Judge) be with " the second devil,"
but with the angels. Such murders occur apart
from any intoxicant. I cannot say that I can
make up my mind as to whether ganja had any-
- t h i n g t o d o w i t h t h i s c a s e o r n o t .
In a mantavam (canopy) in the city there lived
some street waifs ("somberis"). One of them
happened to be a ganja smoker. He took a big
stone one night, and, knowing that a woman was
sleeping at the other side of the parda, he dropped
it on her head and killed her. Apparently re--
covering soon after from what was supposed to be
ganja intoxication he cut his own throat. He
was taken to hospital. When he recovered he said
he had not the slightest recollection of having
killed the woman, but bad attempted to make
away with himself on being told what he had
done when he recovered from the ganja. There
was no motive w hatever. I do not profess to
understand how this occurred. It seems to have
been a pure case of mischief. He was a young-
ster, and the woman an old beggar woman. He
was convicted and got (I think) two years for a
rash act. He had thrown the stone over the
parda, and it had killed the woman. It was about
twenty pounds weight. He said he had had his
usual whiff, and had no notion of throwing the
stone. There was no passion. The people who
were present gave information saying that the lad
had thrown the stone in play at about 8 P.M. He
ran off, and was found that night with his throat
cut.
I have cases that I could give you of even worse
character in connection with alcohol. But I have
confined myself to the cases I knew connected
with hemp drugs. The above are the only three
cases I know thus connected by report with these
drugs. But, as I have already said, when it is
known that a criminal is a ganja smoker, the ten-
dency is at once to connect his crime with ganja
without inquiring whether he had a whiff that
day or not. The reason of this is partly because
the drug is in disrepute, and this is due to the
fact that it is cheap and used mainly by the poor.
Question 45.—I cannot say that a large number
of consumers have passed through my hands as
criminal. But I have come in contact with many
in other ways, specially street waifs, travellers,
and bairagis. I have observed in excessive con-
- s u m e r s t h a t t h e y e v e n t u a l l y b e c o m e e m a c i a t e d
and weak-minded, though harmless creatures, who
can just pass to and from the ganja shop. There
is, perhaps, one in ten thousand or fifteen thousand
in the city who is an excessive consumer, or
about one in five hundred of those who go to the
shop ; and his state may be due to some loath-
-some disease or some misfortune. The same is
the case with excessive opium smokers. The
moderate ganja smokers are hale and hearty.
There are no physical effects on them. I think
you can distinguish an excessive consumer of
alcohol from the excessive consumer of opium or
ganja; but you cannot distinguish between the
two last, except perhaps that the chest may be
more hollow in the case of the excessive consumer
of ganja. I should say that even an expert could
not tell the ganja smoker (in excess) from the opium
smoker without evidence as to habit. There is
nothing peculiar in the eye. There is heaviness
of the eye in the case of excessive consumers of
ganja and opium. No redness except in ease of
exposure to the sun. The opium eater's eye is
heavier than the ganja man—heavier eye-lids.
The general appearance of the ganja smoker would
be no guide; but the mark or corn on his hands
from rubbing ganja would be a guide. These
corns are not formed with tobacco. The moderate
use of ganja makes no impression whatever on
the appearance. I can produce men who have
smoked for years and are in perfect health.
We would not enlist ganja smokers in the
police, because we enlist boys. We enlist lads of
eighteen. If such a lad took liquor, I would not
take him; nor would 1 take such a lad if lie took
ganja. But there are men in the force who have
long taken ganja or bhang without being absent
from duty or incurring censure. The moderate
use does not lead to breach of discipline, and it
is not regarded as au offence at all.
vol. vi.
2 N 2