Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-10 00:00:00

ASIITIC CUNNING AND TREACHERY.

It is only in Thuggee, as revealed before Indian judges
and magistrates, that we can find a counterpart of the
insiduousness and treachery lately exhibited by the
Sepoys. Colonel Sleeman, who had long been resident
in Onde, recounts the history of a Mogul officer, who; in
travelling from the Puojaub to Oude, by way of Meerut
and Bareilly, accompanied by his personal servant and
groom, was accosted one morning by six respectable
men, who saluted him most respectfully, wishing to
enter into conversation with him. The Mogul officer,
suspecting Thuggee, laid his hand on his swod," and
warned the fellows off The next day he met the same
number of men dressed as Mussulmans. They spoke of
the dangers of the road, and claimed the officer's pro-
tection. But the wily old man, brandishing 'his sabre,
bade them be off. The fellows disappeared like those of
the previous day. Towards evening of the same day,
the wayfarer's two servants met a third group of
travellers, six in number, and entered into conversation
with them. But the Mogul officer ordered the travellers
to fail to hiS rear, and desired his servants to hold no
intercourse with the strangers, On the third day
the officer, continuing his journey, arrived oh a desert
plain. His servants were some way behind, when all
at once he found himself in the presence of six poor
Musitrilmans, who were weeping, over 'the body of one
of their comerades, who had, they said, died on the
roadside. The men-described themS'erve-s as soldiers of
Lahore, returning after a long absence to. Lucknow to
visit "their wives and children. Their fellow-soldier,
they alleged, with seeming sorrow, had sunk tinder tha
fatigues of the journey, and they Were then about to de-
•Posit him in the nes'ly made grave freshly dug with
their hands. But alas! poor and unfetterred as they
were, there was not one among them capable of reading
the prayers of the Koran. Would the Mogul officer
eternally oblige them by so doing, and perform a benefi-
cent act, for which he would be rewarded in this world
and the world to come? He, distrustful hitherto, could
not resist the appeal made to his religious feelings, and
dismounted from his noble steed. The body meanwhile
had been already placed in the grave after the manner
prescribed in the Koran, with the head turned towards
Mecca. A carpet was immediately spread before the
Mog'ul officer. He disburdened himself of 'all his arms—
of his sword and of his pistols, which were placed aside.
Having washed his face and hands to purify himself, the
officer commenced, on bended knees, the prayers, which
were for a moment sobbingly followed by two of the
Mends of the supposed deceased. Meanwhile, the four
others, on a signal, attacked the officer, cutting him down
with a stroke. The two servants were soon overpowered,
tied to their master's dead body, and were buried alive in
the grave which had leisurely been prepared for the
purpose. It is needless to say that the six travellers of
the three days were identical—were one and the same
men. They all belonged to a band of Thugs of the king-
dom of Oude, and, finding it impossible to gain the confi
dente of the wary traveller by hotieyed speeches, they
appealed to his religious feelings, having prepared the
corpse for the nonce. By this stratagem they obta;ned
money, jswels, and valuable arms; and, under guise of
religion, accomplished their diabolical purpose with a
refinement of cunning, cruelty, and treachery, known only
in the East. Sech are the vile, degraded, hypocritical
races—false to the core—with whom Europeans have to
deal in the East.—Morning Post.