Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1888-12-29
THE BOMBAY FIEND."
Oiabolica1 Work OF a Native Of
India IN 1858.
An Assassin Who Manifested Liking
for the Right Ears of Enelish,nen-
The Many Wild Theories Ad-
vanCed-Caught at Last.

The series OF crimes committed by
the so-called s'Whitechapel Fiend'' in
district Of London, is plagiarism on
go. the work of the Bombay Fiend.h The
only difference is that one killed only
men, and Englishmen at that, and the
other kills only women, and women Of
doubtful regulations. 1t was in 1858
that the Bombay tiend pursued his
bloody work, and during his career [
was a resident of that city and saw
most Of his victims after death. AS
al we're English, and all of them army
or civil officers, and as the last mutter-
ings of the mutiny had not yet been
stamped out, the British Government
took care to suppress the particul airs
Of this fiend's work as much as posi-
BILE. While thousand men were
quietly searching for him the press
was forbidden to give him any notorie-
fy, it was believed the criminal was
a native, and to particularize would be
to make hero OF him and induce
others to follow in his bloody footsteps.
The first murder occurred in March,
1858, and the victim was an English
Captain of infantry. He was leaving
Il club house at ten o'clock at night,
and to reach the street he had to pass
between two stores by an alleyWay
seven Or eight feet wide and twenty
feet long. This way was lighted by d
single lamp.
~ People were coming and going every
a. two or three minutes, and it was a
public thoroughfare in which q woman
would have felt perfectly safe from vio-
lence. Five minutes after the Captain
left the club house an alarm was raised
that he had been murdered. A score
of us rushed out to find him dead in
+ the alleyway. He had been stabbed to
the heart, and his right ear had been
cut Off The body had not been de-
spoiled, and the general verdict was
tnat it was q case of revenge. There
was q great stir over this, the first of
the series, and many natives were az
rested suspicion The British were
carrying things with high hand then,
and some of the parties arrested were
tortured to extort confession. 1t was
given out that one had confessed and
been executed, but this statement was
only to affect the native population.
i Not one of the suspects had word to
say to help clear up the mystery.
On the eleventh night after the Cap
tain's murder q Lieutenant of dragons
was found dead at the front door of the
bungalow of friend on whom he was
about to call. 1t was only twenty feet
from the gate to the steps, and the
path leading up was of sand. 1t was
only just after dark, with many people
moving about, and yet no one had been
alarmed. The officer had not been
dead five minutes when found AS in
the other case, he had been stabbed to
the heart and the right ear cut off and
carried away. This satisfied every
body that an assassin was abroad, and
= the excitement was intense. It was
the policy of the Government to sup
press the facts as far as possible but
they soon became known to every
European in the city, and every man
on his guard from that time on.
Those who had been in India longest
: reasoned that these murders were the
work of a fanatic-a religious fanatic.
At that date, and even for ten years
later, religious fanatics were to be
found in every community. They made
vows to do this or that for the glory
Of their God, and it was a rare thing
for one of then. 70 abandon his
work. | have met natives who had
vowed never to walk in a straight line.
others who had vowed to sleep stand
ing; others who kept one eye shut, one
arm raised, or had vowed not to speak.
If the assassin had vowed to take the
lives of certain number of English
! men he was more to be dreaded than q
band Of robbers. Nothing but his capt
ure would prevent him from fulfilling
that vow, and the fact of his commit
ting two murders in prominent places
and leaving no clew to his identity
proved that he was a crafty fellow
There was the usual cry against the
police force, but one who stopped to
consider for a moment realized how
ISlplSSS Vic OlllC6ES were. n uOL6n
arrests were made ana threats, prom
ises and torture used to secure a point
or, but the poor fellows knew nothing
and. therefore, had nothing to give up.
On the evening of the fifteenth day
after the second murder third oc-
CURED. An artillery Captain, who had
been through all the mutiny, and who
had only that day boosted that he could
take care of himself under all circum-
stances, had called at the bungalow of
his brother, who was in the civil serv-
ice. Not finding him at home the Cap
tain had taken turn in the garden
with his cigar The three native
household servants had noticed him
walking up and down, but after a
few minutes one of them saw him
lying on the ground. The three ran
out, and it was to find him dead The
garden was about quarter of an acre
h, extent. and was surrounded by a
psffk wall nine feet high, Tho assass