The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-25
THUGS AND THEIR WAYS.
MURDER FORMERLY PRACTICED
AS A BUSINESS IN TIE ORIENT.

| OF Religious Am -FolSonerS
and Robbers - Murder Traps for
Travellers.
From the Washington Star.
Murder has ceased only recently 70 be
recognized profession In India" said an
Oriental traveller to a Star writer. "A
few years ago those who practiced the
business were divided into three classes,
most important Of which was that Of the
thugs. They originated about 200 years
ago, and were extremely numerous at the
time when the British first gained foot
hold In that country. Some notion may be
got OF the scale on which they worked from
the fact that one of them, captured few
years ago, confessed to having taken part
in 93l deliberate killings OF human
beings. They Travelled In gangs,
ana inasnuoh as the native
governments took no pains TO put them
down, their vocation prospered. Each
minor organization in their association,
containing often 100 men, abEtained from
the practice of its industry In It's own i'm
mediate neighborhood, which was none the
less exposed to occasional visits from other
hands, 80 that the slaughter went on oon-
! tinually every where. One official of the
| East India Company, who was for three
years in charge of district on the Nebrudda
river, testified In his reports that during
that period 100 persons were murdered
| within less than quarter Of q mile Of his
| own residence.
THEY KILLED FOR SPORT.
at would be incorrect to imagine that the
thugs were mere brutal criminals with an
| appetite for blood. On the contrary, many
of them belonged 10 the most intelligent and
respectable Glasses. They loved their pro-
fession, regarded the killing Of people as
Legitimate sport and even considered them
selves emissaries Of a divinity, 90 that they
were never troubled with pangs Of conscience
on account of their deeds They were organ
lied as a regular army. rising through
various grades according to merit The
| lowest rank was composed of scouts the
second Of Sections the third of men whose
duty 1t was TO hold the hands OF victims
while the latter were ohoked to death by the
strangers, who formed the fourth and
highest rank. They worshiped the pickaxe,
which was symbolical of their profession,
and an oath sworn on 10 was never broken,
In the district of Dude alone, which is 40
miles long by 100 broad there were 274
regular stations maintained for committing
murders
VARIOUS METHODS OF MURDER.
Fifty years ago the Ganges river between
| Benares and Calcutta was infested during
five months of every year by no less than
$50 boats, which made a presence of trans
porting religious pilgrims. When passengers
had been taken aboard, at given signal the
crew rushed upon them, straugled them or
broke their backs, and threw them into the
stream, where floating corpses are too
numerous at all times OF the year to
excite any remark, such being to
this day the ordinary method of
disposing Of the dead adopted by poor
people who cannot afford TO bury them
Other plans practiced were to inveigle
| travellers to the murder stations, or to capt.
ure them in darkness on the roads, the night
time being commonly chosen In India for
making journeys on account of the heat OF
the day. Owing to the extraordinary no
tions OF fate held by the natives OF the
Orient, this wholesale destruction of human
| life occasioned very little remark. II q
person died it was the will Of the deity, and
30 there could be no use IN stirring up an
Investigation of the matter.
TwoFoLD MOTIVE
The motive Of the thugs In their busi-
ness Of slaughter was twofold IL was
highly stimulating sport to them, with q
certain amount Of religious sentiment In il,
and 1t was productive Of gain in the shape
OF plumber. In one instance on record the
killing OF six persons yielded S40,000. Be-
cause the thugs confined their attention to
| the native people, who made no complaint
| a long time passed before the British author
tiles took any active measures for putting
down the evil; but, when the work of sup
on with such activity and effectiveness that
| the gangs were soon wiped out or one
| society that included 900 assassins, all save
seventy were captured in ten years Be-
tween 1926 and 1885 ], 500 thugs were ar
rested, of whom 1882 were hanged and 500
were transported. part OF the code of
Thuggee was never to practice unnecessary
cruelty, nor in any case to rob q victim be-
fore killing him. Infants were always
spared, and were trained to the profession.
| The murder of women was not ooun-
tenanoed, though certain gangs adopted the
practice.
"Most commonly thug would engage an
unvary traveller IN conversation, when the
superior stranger would throw his own
linen girdle around the upfortuuntes neck
and choke him to death by pressing the
knuckles against his spine.
PRISONERS AND ROBBERS.
Besides the thugs there we're ia India
the 'poisoners' and 'robberA' The former
all belonged TO one caste Of dealers In toddy.
They went single or In gangs, haunting the
stopping places Of travellers where they
would take advantage OF any opportunity
to drop q small quantity Of pounded
'datura' seeds into the wayfarsr's food.
Then they would rob hin and leave him to
take his chance of recovering from the dan
gerous effects of the narcotic. The robbers
likewise went about in gangs, stealing
wherever and whatever they could and i'm
| proving such chances for incendiarism as
fell in their way. They were originally all
high class Rajpoots, who, on being con-
quered by the Mohammedans, vowed to
revenge themselves upon mankind.
INCREASE OF THE PEOPLE.
From the facts which have mentioned
you can well conceive that human life in
India was not valued very highly up to the
time Of British domination. In fact, the
history Of the country is filled with whole
sale tragedies in the shape OF massacres,
postilence and so forth. Some princes were
so fond Of killing that they would go hunt
ing for their own subjects in in
tervals Of leisure, destroying them by
wholesale simply for amusement. In
one respect the doing away with
these causes OF death has worked
unfortunately, inasmuch as Ii has resulted
in an increase of the people beyond the
power Of the country to sustain them. The
population Of Bengal has actually trebled in
the last century. Inasmuch as very early
marriage is religious obligation binding
on every Hindoo, quite irrespective Of means
of supporting family, the misfortune goes
on progressively. 1t Is reckoned that, tax
ing the whole OF British India, &C, 000, 900
persons 60 through life continually hungry,
| not hainu alba Y1oRsihlv 70 prno,,ra eli