Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-08-10
A QUEER OLD TOWN.
COME OF THE HAPPENINGS THAT
ASTONlSHED THE NATIVES.
An Indian Incident Showing the Power
of Jugglery-How Hidden Band Of
Treasure Seekers Succeeded In Cap
turing Immense Wealth.


Copyright, 1892. by Charles B. Lewis.1
Between the towns of Mysore and Coim-
batore, India, and on the left bank of
stream called the Honhollay, are the ruins
of three or four large villages. The second
one west of the foothills of the Mysore
range of mountains is called Garrow. and
amid the general desolation are the ruins
of what was once a great temple. These
villages are only three or four out of hun
dreds to be found in the great empire.
Now and then their history can be traced
back to some terrible plague which depop-
ulated them in a month"; and again the
desolation is due to war between tribes
and factions. AS a rule no native will
approach one of these ruins. and no at
tempt is ever made to rebuild the towns.
In 1865, while l was at the village OF
Bheeta, about thirty miles from Garrow,
the government sent a commission of three
officials to survey and inspect the village
with view of restoring it by offering to
rebuild the temple and give free deeds to
all settlers. / was invited by the commits
sion to go along, and this appearing
splendid opportunity for an extended in
spection of the historic ruins / gladly &C
copied. Including servants there were
twelve of us in the party. On arriving at
q small village called Mussan. six miles
east of the village we meant to survey, we
were told of some strange things that had
lately happened. 1t was declared that
spirits had taken possession of the ruins.
Strange lights had been seen fitting about
at night, and hunter whose ardor had
led him among the ruins had heard the
sound of stones being moved and had been
pelted with rocks. He had a bad bruise
on the shoulder to prove the latter state
ment. While the most intelligent natives
of India are full of superstition, the COM
mon villagers and farmers are thor
oughly imbued with it that signs and
dreams guide most of their daily tranSac-
tions. The commission was headed by an
Englishman named Grant, of the civil
service. The second was a Mr.. Artwell,
of the same branch, and the third Mr..
Martin, who was civil engineer. With
them, as secretary and clerk, was a young
man named Thomsason.
Little attention was paid to the stories
of the villagers, and next day we moved
over and camped in grove on the stream
about half a mile above the head of the
desolated town. The site covered
with shrubs and grass and vines, and here
and there We're groves of young trees. No
tigers had been seen in that neighborhood
for years, but the place looked like para
disc for panthers, wolves, hyenas and ser
penis. The town had extended along the
bank of the stream for mile and half
That evening, while we We're settling down
in our new quarters, a number of stones
from some unseen asSailants were sudden
ly thrown with great force at one of the
natives who had strayed beyond the limits
of the camp, hitting him on the head and
rendering him insensible for several min
utes. The missiles came from thicket
between US and the first ruins of the
town. and after we had located the di-
rection we fired a volley from our guns
and put an end to the disturbance. The
native servants were thrown into state
of great CONSERVATION, believing and argu-
ing that our presence had offended the
spirits keeping guard over the ruins, and
but for Mr.. Grants threats the crowd
would have bolted and left us.
81 think can see into this business" he
explained to us after the servants had been
Quieted down. ''These ruins have either
been taken possession of by a band of rob
bers or there is party here hunting for
treasure. In either case our presence is
undesirable and that demonstration was
to drive away. Well try to make it a
bad job for them, whoever they are"
The explanation was n reasonable one,
and when | asked the gentleman if ruin
as old as this ever yielded up treasure he
replied:
''Bless you, yes! 1t has been my luck to
be i'm on two jobs as old as this. If
tribal depopulated this town, then
because it could not be carried off. If
plague appeared then those who hurried
away thought only of saving their lives
and took little or nothing with them.
Somewhere in or about that temple we
are pretty sure Of finding plant worth
picking up"
He was still talking when queer lights
appeared at intervals among the shrub
berry, and strange wild cries were heard
from among the ruins. The natives fell
down and covered their heads with cloths,
too frightened to even cry out, but the
commissioner calmly continued:
"You have been wondering how it came
about that such treasures were left undis-
turbed so long. Here is the explanation at
hand. Such survivors as knew of it's ex-
istence feared to return. No native of
India would give an Englishman a pointer
on treasure We have gathered in plenty
of loot since the mutiny, but never with
their assistance. They call it robbing the
dead. If the party there are after treasure
they belong to some clan up among the
mountains. They rob each others ruins,
but never their own"
By and by the lights disappeared and
silence reigned over the ruins and we turn
ed in again. Soon after daylight came
one of the natives, who had now recovered
q portion of his natural courage, inspected
| the shrubbery and found plenty of evidence
| that it had been occupied by men during
| the night. Some of the stones thrown at
| us were found to have been freshly broken
| from large blocks.
Its gang of treasure hunters for sure"
| said the commissioner after this last proof
| had been submitted, land it is quite need
| less to caution you that we must be very
| careful. No one must enter the shrubbery
| alone, and we must be constantly ready
for an attack. They are doubtless Sholaga
men from the hills, and they will stick at
| nothing"
"But why not send down to Bheeta for q