The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-08-26
The Murder OF Children I'm India,

There Is, perhaps, no form OF crime more
common in India than child murder. The
practice prevailed when first the province
Of Bengal passed into the hands of the
British, and it flourishes with scarce abated
vigor at the present day. Open at random
the "Decisions Of the NiZamut Adawlut"
the Supreme Court Of Criminal Judica-
ture-and at brief intervals will be found
such cases as these: In Cuttack woman
draws a child aside, takes the silver brace
lets from her arms and filings the little vic
the body is found floating few days after
nine years old for the sake of his silver
bracelets and gold earrings and throws
the corpse into sugar plantation At
Moorshedabad Chamoo robs child aged
five and drops her into deep and rapid
part of the river. At Benares fellow en-
tees boy twelve years old into his house
and there cuts his throat in order to get
possession of his silver bracelets, while
friend looks on and mildly expostulates,
but neither seriously interteres nor gives
information to the police Another takes
a neighbours son into the fields, under pre-
tense Of helping him to fly kite, and
there strangles him with his waistcloth
and strips him of the trashy trinkets with
which he was adorned. Yet another con-
ducts boy aged nine to witness relig-
ious procession, but passing near a ditch
suddenly throws him down, partially
strangles him, tears the silver ornaments
from his arms and feet and filings him
into the ditch, which is fortunately drv, and
where he is found before life is quite ex-
tinct. BY the promise of a melon Leela in.
veiglcs Debee Dee, seven years of age, from
his fathers house, brains him with hoe
and burics his turban and trinkets in a
field, leaving the body where it had fallen,
and where it was found by the anxious
father. This murderer, like the others, ON
being charged with the crime, at once con.
fessed his guilt, but pleaded as an ex-
tenuating circumstance that ne was
prompted by an evil spirit A woman
holds little girl under water until
she is drowned, the temptation being sill
yer collar of the weight of two rupees.
Two women one evening asked child
eight years old TO come to them on the
morrow for some fruit, and, when she
eagerly arrives, the one holds her while
the other passes rope round her neck and
pulls it till the breath has fled. The body
was speedily found in the midst Of some
tall grass near the house, and the spoils
consisted of silver collar weighing four
rupees. A woman of Tipperah was en-
gagged in cooking her food when, accord
ing to her own account, child not above
six years old came toddling up to her.
Suddenly thick darkness enveloped her,
and voice sounded in her ears bidding
her strangle her little visitor Thereupon
she seized the child by the throat and the
darkness passed away. So she dug hole
in the floor of her house and laid the body
therein, after taking off the few valueless
ornaments. A girl aged nine, herself re-
Gently betrothed, browns her playfellow in
a shallow water-course, while boy four
teen years old leads in play youthful
companion to the edge of tank, smashes
his skull with flint, possesses himself of
the scanty ornaments and then lays the
crime at the door of a neighbor. Similar
cases might be quoted to any extent, and
they all resemble one another in simplici-
ty. No sooner is the child missed than it
is traced to the company of its murderer,
who straightway relates the whole transac-
ton and points out where the ornaments
have been buried. These usually consist
of very thin silver bracelets and anklets,
with possibly small gold rings on the
fingers and tiny pearls set as earrings, the
value ranging from two to ten rupees. The
trinkets and sometimes the body are
buried few inches beneath the surface,
either in the dry soil of neighboring
field, usually the murderer's own plot Of
ground, or in his hut, where its presence
must inevitably he discovered as soon as
decomposition sets in. Bodies exposed in
the open fields or carelessly thrown into
the nearest jungle are quickly rendered
unacceptable by wild beasts and birds
of prey, nor does the scanty clothing af.
ford trustworthy means of recognition
Pail Hall Gt,xette