Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-12-10

luttl tue tHillt bptlN WIS III lull ItlIcut.
George Il. WllidmS, IN Bullet and
She'll"
Commenting upon the increase Of
crime in India during the last four
years, the London Times speaks Of the
organized bands of robbers as follows.
Dacoity and thuGgce represent two diff
fcrcnt branches of the great profession
of robbery in England Dacoits of old
were bands under their regular chiefs,
resembling the madi1val barons OF the
Rhine or the Apcnnines. They con-
Quoted their rObbcries as openly rs
kings made war. When circumstances
favored they rose 10 lie rajahs and ma
hobs themselves. Under IN efficient
police they subsidized into petty mobiles
and landowners. British adminstra-
tors of the vigorous type stormcd their
castles and broke up their camps. Pres
en- dacoits are of humber sort OF
their ancient nature they have kept the
habit of association in gangs, and the
popular legend of n right to rob COM
mcnsurate with the Incompetence of
public authority to coerce and chaStsc.
An Indian village is rs cOnfessedly help
less before an organized raid Of dacDits
as a company OF Hindco women at y
we'll before n man-eating tiger. Thug
gee, though originally il was no less Of
system than dacoity, Is very unlike in
IFS characteristics. OF all the mon
strositcs generated by the reiigio 5,
political and social peculiarities of In
India thuggce stands in the front line. IN
- L.. 10 g.,
the commencement of British aSccn-
dency. 1t had always laborcd in dark
ness Under British dominion Ii bur-
soved still lower. If Englishmcn had
ever heard of its existence, they fiat
tered themselves they had frightened
it into extinction. The late Colonel
Meadows TAYLOR was one Of the first to
suspect that it had merely gone under
ground. In 1899, while he was admin
isterinc district n'Hyderabad, his po-
lie found rs he has recorded in
the STORY of My Life dead bodies,
evidently strangicG, by the roadside.
In other spots iackaS had laid bare dis
figured buried corpses. All he was
able for the moment to learn
was that recently two compa
mics. apparently respectable merchants,
had passed southwark through the
country Later it was disclosed that
many residents, chic'y Musscmans,
we're accustomed period, ally TO travel,
il was said, TO My,orc. and return laden
with clothes. copper and brass vessels.
aud similar wares. 4 year a tcrward
to,oDei Slccmal succeeded i'm layirg
bare THIS horrible mystery. One of he
strangcst features Of the dreadful tale
was tho ease with which full detail.
were extracted from the most llagitious
principals. Colonel Meadows Taylor
has not the least cNag Grated. IN his
marye Gus "Conlcs-iuns O Thug,
the cold. bloodcd miuu'cnc,, and can
dor exhibited by these wholesale muir
dcrcrs in chronicling their mi>dccds.
Revelation, ~ thug approvcrs IN Cen
trail India cave the clew TO atrocities a,
hidcou, in the Dee an Colonel Mead
ows TAYLOR wa, employed there 10 col
4 Icct evidence. lie and hi, mon searched
/ for bodies wherever the appr0YcrS badt
! them look. They invariably founu
/ them, sometimes single, some
times large parties At length The
gha,tlv hunt become SO uuendura Ne
tina; il bad 20 be discontinued. Tho
.lcco,ous merchants - whose move
mcnts notice had been directed with
/ out avail in SO, wcry inconirovtUibly
demonstrated, Is they arccly cared IA
/ deny, TO have been engaged for years
! in the habtual dpcOying OF travellers "a
accept their waysidc hospitality. Tc
sit down beside them was to be druggcd,
straneled AMI Inferred in shallow
grave. with cash through the body "a
! prevent il from swelling and blistcrng
1 the surface of the Garth Thuggee in
that systematic form was. j. may be
hoped finally suppressed fiit years ago.
Z Thuggcn, a, understood in Indian crm-
ipal reports now, is a modest copy Oi
thuygec rs il was. Modern thugEeC
works by the same machinery Of drug
gng Its incentive is The same motive
o. thieving and fraud. There is nc
reason to suppose that the criminals
constitute n combined profession, OF
that the opportunities of assassination
add an actual zcst 10 the pursuit of vul
gar gain.
Bot the germs of any Oriental practice
die hard. Modern Indian thugsee may
/ be comparatively innocent. Its total o
crimes is not conspicuously large. II il
should be led to imagine that it enjoy,
any sort of impunity, it is impossible tc
say it might not cngraft itself on the
old stock. The division and subdivision
OF Indian society into multitude Of
sections leave fair field for public
pests to prey upon the whole. A higher
and vaster responsibility is cast upor
the State than elsewhere. In commu
mites enjoying a healthy aggregate o.
opinion a multitude of beginnings oi
evils are sullocated in the cradle. A
wholesome public life affords them NJ
space to mature. They are accounted
in India nobody's concern. not ever
that of their victims. In order tC
counteract the declared tendency o
crimes of violence, whether thuggee oil
dacoity, TO multiply, the public admin
istration OF British India must show tho
individual aggressive energy it mani
tested through the Malcolms, the Met
calfes. the Slecmans, and Meadows