The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-10-28

The Mysterious Murders That Took Place
Near Hyderabad and EOw the Muir
derer Was at Last Discovered-He
Makes a Full Confession.
Copyright, 1892 by Charles B. Lewis.l
Three years after the Sepoy rebellion had
been put down in India, and with the coun-
try under such military and legal discipline
rs l. had never known before, l was at Hy-
icrabad, a large town 5O0miles east of Bonn
bay, in the province of Dekkan. 1t was there
that a band of professional thugs, number
ing thirty-two men, was captured and eX-
ccuted in 1860. The vigorous search after
and prompt punishment of criminals was
having due effect and not a case Of poison
ing or strangling had been known about
Hyderabad for several months. In fact
these two classes Of murderers were sup
posed to have become extinct in that prov
ince. One morning a ryot, or farmer, was
found dead on the public square, and it
was speedily discovered that he had been
choked to death. The imprints proved it
10 be the work Of stranger The thug
used a cord, while the stranger used his
fingers. His marks could not be mistaken
lie brought his thumbs together on the
Adams apple" while the ends of the fin
gers got their purchase just below the vic
TINS ears. Sometimes the fingers clutched
his ears or hair. The mark was always
plain to be seen on the neck. Now and
then victim was attacked from behind.
in such cases the strangers thumbs were
brought together on the back of the neck,
and his fingers were locked together over
the "apple."
Several suspects were arrested, but moth
ing came of it.. About twenty days after
the first case n woman was found dead with
in three blocks of the public square, and she
r, h.. NJ
only had she been chOked to death, but her
neck was broken. The police were again
aroused, and bodies Of cavalry secured the
country and brought in dozens Of suspi-
cious characters, but as in the other case
nothing could be proved and all had to be
released. At the investigation almost
every suspect made the same reply, as fol
lows:
NO sahib, am ashamed to admit that
] am not guilty of this crime. We are no
longer men, but slaves. l no longer have
courage, but am coward and dare not
lift my hand"
Ten days later the stranger counted his
third victim, and this time it was Euro
pean. Only at rare intervals before the
mutiny had a European fallen a victim to
the professionals of any class. 1t seemed
to be an understood thing with all not to
meddle'with them in any manner. The vic
tim in this case was a clerk in the civil sery-
ice department attached to the tax collect
ur's Office, l believe. He had been i'll for a
week or two, and was occupying Il room in
a bungalow in the heart OF the town. Ten
or dozen clerks kept bachelors hall'
together, and there were half a dozen
native servants to take care of the place.
This clerk, whose name was Adams, had
native man for a nurse, but was almost
convalescent One night at 10 o'clock he
sent his nurse with note to bungalow
half q mile distant The nurse was alb
sent about three-quarters Of an hour, and
upon his return he found Adams dead.
There was the mark on his throat, and
there was no question about his having
been the victim of q professional, and
probably of the same ffend who had stran-
Cled the other two.
The police and the military now quite
lost their heads. During the following
week there were about 700 arrests, some of
them being made 200 miles away. Moth
ing like detective work was attempted,
and as n consequence every suspect had to
be discharged for want of any evidence
against him. The authorities seemed to
20 on the idea that if a sufficient number
of people were arrested the guilty party
would somehow betray himself. Strong
efforts were made in three or four cases to
convict on shady testimony, but after
few weeks every person who had been ar
rested was set at liberty. Being new to
the country, and having taken great in
terest in the work of discriminating the
professionals" l asked for information on
every hand. One day, in COnversihg with
Major Burke on the subject, he explained
In my time have inspected the hands
of at least a score of strangers. Their
strength lies mostly in wrist and fingers
Before graduating as professionals they
practice on dummies and resort to certain
gymnastics 10 strengthen the parts have
named. This man now among us is GER
tainly a professional. If arrested you
will find his thumb flattened on the ball.
If l were n detective l should go about
looking at thumbs. In most instances the
victim leaves scratches or cuts on the
hands of the assassin, which would further
help to identify him in case of suspicion"
From that time on l instinctively
glanced at the hands OF every native with
whom / came in contact, but without the
slightest hope Of making any discovery Of
value. Five weeks after the murder of
the clerk the stranger was heard from
again. This time his victim was ser
geant Of infantry, and he met his death on
the highway between the town and the
camp. 1t was about o'clock in the even
ing when he started for camp, and it was
known that he was considerably under the
influence of liquor He was almost giant
in size and strength, and it WAS reasonable
to conclude that Ec had made something
of a struggle even though half drunk
and taken unIwarcs. Indeed, when the
surgeon came to look him over blood was
found in his finger nails to prove that he
had Iacerated the hands of his murderer
This was point to go on, but was not
even considered by the authorities. They
followed the course previously pursued and
made several hundred arrests.
On the third day after the sergeant's
death had bit of chain work to do on a
piece of land two miles east of the town,
and my helper was a native who had
served in the department for year. lie
was middle aged man, very slender, and
his weight was not above l2O pOuLL's He
had drifted into the town at the dose of
the war, and it was said Of him thSt he
came from the north and had been faith
full to the English during the struggle.
When not acting as helper in the field he
had the care of some horses belonging to
the department The only name that he
was known by was Peter When l sent
him word that ] wanted him he returned
a reply that he was i'll, but half an hour
later he put in an appearance and eX-
planned that he was feeling better. We
had reached the field and had fairly begun
work when my attention was attracted to
his hands The backs of both were
scratched ana IacefbJeui IhOuBu Ihe
wounds were half healed.
ut was the monkey at the stables who
did il, sahib," he explained as he held mp
lis hands for inspection; Il was teasing
him and lie got revenge. will sell him If
: can find ECJer"
KNEW he had a monkey at the stables,
and his exp anation was perfectly satisfac-
tory. The matter was forgotten in a mo-
ment, and ii would never have occurred to
me again but for what followed. 1t was
scorching hot day, and after an hours
work we sought the shade to rest. AS l
was lighting my pipe for a smoke Peter
observed that he was very thirsty and
would visit a spring he knew of about
quarter of a mile away. The field ON
which we were working had once been
cleared, but was now pretty well grown
over with bushes and small trees. He dis
appeared at my back, and l gave him nc
further thought for many minutes. had
out my book and was making some field
notes when all of sudden it struck me
that Peter had peculiar look as he eX-
planned how he had received the wounds
on his hands. l remembered that his face
hardened and that tbara yyos a cr,,a1 r,I;+tar