Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-18
SUpERSTITIONS.
OFFER TESTS APPLIED BY HINooos
TO DISCOVER THIEVES.
tn. Plea Of n Murderer that His Victim
Had Slain Him In a Previous
State Of Existence.
Temple Bari

I
are essentially Oriental IN their nature;
others common to many nations ana
/ shored nv ourselves only few centuries
400. One day an English magistrate was
having visit TO Hindu gentleman VINO
was an old friend Of bis, IN the course Oh
which he happened to yawn: 10 nus as
constituent up jumped the Ralah as II gal
vapized and began furiously swapping his
fingers in startling proximity % his face;
| Observing his visitors look OF unfeigned
| SUNRISE he explained that this was done to
scare away the devils who might have other
wise seized the opportunity to Jump down
his throat How strange 1t seems 20 US.
tins practical belief in devils, and fear
of them, combined with so insult
inciy low an idea of their intelligence and
mower, | once heard. however. an odd IN
stance of the same fear and yet contempt
for unseen powers shown by an English
lady in the beginning Of this century,
bishops wife, too who was afraid OF
Ghosts. and If left alone in the house would
whistle as she walked through the passage
at night in order that the ghosts might
take her for man. The scriptural be;
lief in possession by o devil Is held
to this day by the natives of India,
and very recently q case came be-
fore an English magistrate. in Bengal
in which q Brahmin was charged with
having caused the death of q lad by his ct
had been made 10 lie on his back in the
presence of his parents and other sympa-
! thizing relatives, while the priest danced
on his chest, calling on the name OF his
god. 80. Baal. hear" But whether the
god was sleeping, or whether the deyll IN
/ departing took with him the boys own
| spirit. cannot be known. The boy died.
and the civil surgeon. knowing nothing. OF
| the nature of the exorcism, reported that
/ he had died from injuries caused by the
| Driest Like the Russians of the present
/ dav. the Hindus think it brings person
! i'll luck TO be openly admired OF. praised,
| and if you should praise or even look too
admlringly OF a child the mother VIII
/ hastily withdraw 1t from notice. and either
beat it or say something disparaging of 1t
IN order to counteract your ill-omened
/ admiration and avert the jealousy OF the
The belief in some form Of ordeal for
/ proving the guilt or innocence OF an ac-
/ cused person is another of the traditions or
/ the past which we Westerns have outgrown
and cast aside but which still forms part OF
! the practical belief of the people In India.
/ OF this remember an instance occurring
/ within my own experience, on the occasion
/ of a robbery having been committed IN my
/ house. when the police summoned the whole
/ OF my servants 10 the pOllce-statlon III order
/ that each one might separately andsolemnly
! the procession setting forth Oh this mission,
/ headed by the magnificent khansama and
/ the imperious bearer, ana TAXING on
( through minor dignitarles down to the IN
( dihercntly-clOthed coolies who brought up
/ the rear, The ordeal is conducted by
/ MahOmetan priest, who mutterS certain
/ mysterious invOcatiOps over the Koran,
/ which is hen pronounced 10 have the power
/ of po'nting out the guilty person by OPEN
/ inc !uiraculOu-lv at cOndemnatOry passage
! wher. touched by him. AfactOr in this ox-
/ pertinent doubtless much, even II uncon-
/ sclOusv, relied uDOn for bringing 1t to
successful issue, is the power OF supersti-
| tons fear over the conscience of the guilty
/ person. TO most natures the idea OF beng
| discovered in this supernatural and awful
/ manner is oterrlble that the culprlt rather
! then risk II will make voluntary confession
and so Gepreciaie the heavier anger OF the
/ GODS reserved for those who defy them. On
| this occasion the Koran unhestatlngly
pointed out one of the servants as the
/ thief. Whether he was innocent, as he
maintained or merely unimprcsslOnable
and hard OF heart, "a we had much reason
for believing. | cannot say-but confess he
would not. and living as We do III the nine
tcenth century, he could not be lmp-lsOn-
cd on the sole testimony, however conclu-
sive of the Koran, nor, owing to the
modern prejudice there exists against
torture. could he be made to confess. The
conditions which made trial by ordeal 50
generally successful in the ages of faith
are altogether wanting IN the present skep-
tical and scrupulous generation.
The reproach of skeptlcism cannot, how
ever, be applied to the Hindustanis. Their
powers of belief are child-likc. was once
taken TO see a miraculous spring that had
suddenly appeared IN dry and barren
spot, and was bringing in much wealth TO
L -. I,.l tod 70
guardian. lt WAS very smail-scarcely TO
| he discerned until pointed out-and OF
| little faith-even thought in secret that It
| could be produced by the holy mans pour
| ing in water every night. But small a. the
| hole he sucked thereOut no small adyan-
| tage. for the peoples faith is large, and
| crowds of pious persons made pilgrimages
! to the divinely favored spot.
Curious instances might be collected
| from he records of Indian law-courts IL
| Illustrative of the old-world beliefs Of the
| people, which are brought at times into
| such strange collision with the legal forms
| Of procedure established by our modern
lawyers. A man was once being tried for
! murder when he put forward plea such as
could only have occurred TO an Oriental
and to believer in the transmigratiOn of
souls. He did not deny having killed the
| man-on the contrary he described IN
detail the particulars Of the muir
| der-but he stated III justification that
his victim and he had been acquainted
| in a previous state OF existence. when
the now murdered man had murdered him,
in proof of which he showed a great seam
across his side which had been the sword
| cut that had ended his previous existence.
| He further said that when he heard he was
again to 10 sent INTO this world he en-
| treated his master to excuse him from
coming, as he had presentiment that he
| d. l. 4 . leoAI To-
| would come of IL. All this he stated in
! perfect earnestness and simplicity and
! with evident conviction Of its truth and
! force--a conviction shared by large num-
Der OF those IN court.
| Trial by jury IS attended with peculiar
| difficulties in India, an instance of which |
remember as having occurred. In that
| case also man was on his trial for the
murder of another. He had been caught
red-handed and there was no possible
room for doubt III the matter. The muir
| dered man had succumbed almost imme-
| diately to his wound, living only long
enough after being discovered TO ask tor
some water to drink. Some surprise was
| felt at the time taken by the jury in
| considering their verdict, but when at
| length they returned and recorded it the
| astOnshment of all IN court was unbound
! ed when ii proved to lie one of not guilty.
| SO extraordinary verdict could not pass
unchallenged, and the Judge inquired by
what process of reasoning they had arrived
at their decision, if the accused had not
murdered the man. who had? Your
Lordship. we are of opinion that the in
| juries were not the cause of the mans
death. 1t has been proved that he drank
water shortly before his death, and we
are of the opinion that it was drinking
the water that killed him. The expla-
nation OF this remarkable verdict
the more remarkable when IT is remem-
bered that the men who brought it in
never drank anything but water them
selves-was that on the jury was high
| caste Brahmin. TO whom the very idea of
being party TO taking away mans life
was so abhorrent that no earthly persua-
sion could have induced him TO agree to
verdict that would have hanged the pri-
soner-and the earnestness of his horror
| had exercised an influence over the rest of
the jury SO powerful as to make them re-
turn the verdict which SO staggered the
Court.