The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-09-25

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thieyes take notice of them in way far
from pleasant. There is, in fact, no plan
| to protect horses which has not occa-
sionally proved failure. The gallant
General commanding the Peshawur
Division at the time to which / am al
luding, had very valuable mule-an
animal greatly priced in billy coun-
try-which he placed for security in
front of a guard of native soldiers and
within few yards of the sentry's beat.
It attracted the notice of some of the
hillsmen, and a. little cautious daring
made it their prize. Selecting dark
night for their enterprise, they crawled
along the ground until they reached the
animal. With one slash of their knives
the head and heel ropes were cut, and
before the sentry could do anything,
one of the thieves was on the back OF
| the mule, and both were lost in dark
ness.
The most popular plan of horse steal
ing is, however, somewhat dlterent. 1t
requires at least three men to carry it
out comfortably and successfully. One
of them quietly steals his way into the
stable and lays hold of cord which
has been pushed through one of the
air-holes in the wall by one of his friends
outside. The two use the string as the
saw, while the third man pours upon it
plentiful supply of water. The cord
silently and speedily cuts its way down
the mud wall. In wonderfully short
time the three craftsmen manage to saw
round portion of the wall, which
when pushed outwards, leaves space
sufficient to allow horse to pass out.
This done, the remaining work presents
no difficulty. The ropes which bind
the horse are cut, and in short time
he is cantering to the hills with gener-
ally two and sometimes his three new
masters on his back.
A somewhat bold and impudent ex-
plot in the horse stealing line was the
amusement and the talk of the station
for some DAYS. The cantonment is
literally a camp. At shutdown chain
of sentinels communicating with each
other is posted right round it. This de-
mands q great number of men, and all
regiments, cavalry and infantry, Euro
pean and native, nightly give their pro-
portions. A native trooper on the Oc-
casion to which 1 refer, fastened his
horse to the peg fixed about the middle
of his {" beat;" and to keep up his cour.
age and himself warm-the night was
very dark and bitterly cold-walked
pretty smartly backwards and forwards
on his " beat" The extent of his walk
was not more than thirty yards, and
thus at no time could he have been more
than fifteen yards from his charger. He
was armed in the usual way with q
short rifle and tulwar or sword. While
thus doing duty hillman was watch
ing him with an eye to business. He
managed to crawl quite close to hin
without exciting notice, and waiting
quietly until the sentry was near the
end of his walk, and of course with hi.
back to the horse, the robber cut the
chargers rope, mounted him and in Z
moment was galloping from the station
The sentry fired his rifle in the direc
ton in which his steed had gone; guards
turned out and a lot of noise was raised
but the outwitted soldier never saw hi.
horse again. To him the loss was Sc
rious one, as the horses of the nativ,
cavalry regiments do not belong to thu
Government but to the troopers them
selves.
The Peshawur robbers are not only
daring fellows by nature and training
conscience being a commodity of which
they have really no word in their Ian
guage-but their courage in their en-
terprises is kept up by the careful prep
arations which they make before be
ginning any serious undertaking in thei
line. They strip themselves of ever,
article of clothing and then smear them
selves over with oil or ghee, which i
butter prepared in a particular way TO
keeping. Thus they can literally Civ
the slip to any one attempting to la,
hold of them. In addition to this pre-
caution they carry a knife about tn
length of the arm, somewhat heavy an,
of the keenest edge.
Farther "down country" there pre-
vailed strange custom among the pro
J fessional thieves, which have not seel
noticed in any books. They fasten irol
hooks-very similar in shape to our OF
, binary fish-hooks-to their fingers
Should they be distuI bed in their opera
| tons and attacked, they claw the face
of those trying to capture them and thu
inflict four terrible wounds.
One of the most common prepars
: tions to insure safety made by the hill
: men when they intend to rob house i
, the environments is a very simple one
J The provide themselves with ten or
, dozen stones half the size of the fist
which they lay on the ground al inter
walls on their approach to the house o.
which they contemplate operations
! Should they be disturbed or pursued
, they retreat on the line of the stones
and picking them up as they retire
throw them at their pursuers, and wit
such precision and force that we hav
never heard of a capture under thes
circumstances.
Seldom do the thieves, unless com
pellcd, use violence, though they, lik
all their countrymen, hold life cheap
They prefer To carry off their boot