Asheville daily citizen., 1892-08-08
A QUEER OLD TOWN.
SOME OF THE HAPPENINGS THAT
ASTONlSHED THE NATIVES.


An Indian Incident Showing the Power
of Jugglery-IIow IA Hidden Band of
Treasure Seekers Succeeded in Cap
turing Immense Wealth.
Copyright, 1892, by Charles b. Lewis.l
Between the towns of Mysore and Coim-
batore, India, and on the left bank of
stream called the lIonhollay, 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 II 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-
ulatcd them in month, and again the
dcsolation is due to war between tribes
and factions. AS n rule no native will
approach one of these ruins, and no at
tempt is ever made to rebuild the towns.
In 1865, while | was at the village of
Bheeta, about thirty miles from Garrow
the government sent 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 II
splendid opportunity for an extended in
spccton of the historic ruins | gladly nc.
cepted. Including servants there were
twelve of us in the party. On arriving at
n 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 ar,lor had
led him among the ruins had heard the
sound Of stones being moved and had been
pclted with rocks. He had bad bruise
on the shoulder to prove the latter state
mcnt. While the most intelligent natives
of India are full Of superstition, the com
mon Villagers and farmers are So thor
oughly imbued with il that signs and
dreams guide most Of their daily transac-
tions. The commission was headed by an
service. The second was n Mr. Artwcll,
of the same branch, and the third II Mr..
Martin, who was civil engineer. With
them, as secretary and clerk, was u young
man named Thomsason.
Little attention was paid to the stories
Of the Villagers, and next day we moved
over and camped in II grove on the stream
about half mile above the head of the
desolatcd town. The site was covered
with shrubs and grass and vines, and here
and there were groves Of young trees. No
tigers had been seen in that nciVhborhood
for years but the place looked like a para
disc for panthers wolves, hyenas and ser
pents. The town had extended along the
bank of the stream for mile and a half.
That evening, while we We're settling down
III our new quarters, a number of stones
from some unseen assalants were sudden
ly thrown with great force ut one of the
natives who had strayed beyond the limits
of the camp, hitting him on the head and
rendering him nscnsible for several min
utes, The missiles came from thickct
between us and the first ruins of the
town, and after we had located the di-
| rcction we fired a vollcy from our guns
| and put an end to the disturbance. The
native servants were thrown into II 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 afterthc servants had been
quietcd down. These ruins have either
been taken possession of by n band Of rob-
bcrs or there is party here hunting for
treasure. In either case our presence is
! undesirable and that demonstration was
to drive us away. Well try to make it II
bad job for them, whoever they are"
The explanation was reasonable one,
and when asked the gentleman if ruin
as old ms this ever yielded up treasure he
replied;
Bless you, yes, 1t has been my luck to
be in on two jobs as old as this. If a
tribal war dcpopulated this town, then
| more or less treasure was hidden away
because it could not be carried Off. If a
plague appeared, then those who hurried
away thought only of saving their lives
and took little or nothing with them.
| Somewhere i'll 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 its eX
istence feared to return. No native OF
India would give an Englishman II pointer
ON treasure. We have gathered in plenty
of loot since the mutiny, but never witt
their assistance They call it robbing tn,
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 reigncd over the ruins and we turn
ed i'll again. Soon after daylight camt
one Of the natives, who had now recovered
a 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 broker
from large blocks.
Its a gang of treasure hunters for sure,
said the commissioner after this last proc
had been submitted, "and it is quite need
less to caution you that we must be yer,
careful. No one must enter the shrubbery
alone, and we must be constantly read.
for an attack. They are doubtless Sholagi
men from the hills, and they will stick a
nothing"
But why not send down to Bheeta for {
detachment of soldiers to hunt them out?'
asked
"And so give away our find, in cas-,
there is one? We are not quite so green "a
that. The government must haveits share
OF course, but we want no further division
l nj =.