Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-25
THUGS AND THEIR ODD WAYS.
Murder Formerly Pr.cticed % . business
tn the Orient.

HOW THEY PURSUED KILLING As SORT or M
Lreious NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. AND ROB-
bEas-MuRDER TRAPS ron rRAvELERs-ruk
EELLs OF THE DEMONSTRATIONS SOIL
ssMURDER HAS CEASED ONLY RE-
W Gently to be recognized profession in
India" said an oriental traveller to STAR
writer. "A few years ago those who practioed
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 foothold in that country.
Some notion may be got of the scale on which
they worked from the fact that one Of them.
captured q few years ago, confessed 10 having
taken part in ssl deliberate killings Of human
beings They Travelled in gangs, and inasmuch
as the native governments took no pains 10 put
them down, their vocation prospered. Zach
minor organization in their association, con-
tanning often 100 men, sbstained from the
practice Of lite industry in it's own immediate
neighborhood, which none tie less exposed
TO occasional visits from other bands, SO that
the slaughter went ON continually everywhere.
One ofhcial OF the East India Company, who
was for three wears in charge OF district on
the Nerbudda river, testified in his reports that
during that period 100 people were murdered
within less than a quarter OF mile of his own
residence.
THEY KILLED PoR SPORT.
at would be incorrect 10 imagine that the
thugs were mere brutal criminals with an APP
petite for blood. On the contrary. many Of
them belonged to the most intelligent and re-
spectacle classes. They loved their profession.
/ ratya lad h. .
sport and even considered themselves ennis
saries Of a divinity, that they were never
troubled with pafgs of conscience account
of their deeds. They were organized NJ a
regular army, rising through various grades ac-
cording TO merit. The lowest rank WAS COM
posed of scouts the second of sections the
third of men whose duty il was TO hold the
hands OF the victims while the latter were
choked 70 death by the strangers, who formed
the fourth and highest rank. They worshiped
the pickax, which symbolical of their pro-
fession, and an oath sworn on il was never
broken. In the district Of Dude alone. which
is ITO miles long by 100 miles broad, there were
214 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 presence of transporting religious
pilgrims. When passengers had been taken
aboard ut a given signal the crew rushed upon
them, strangled 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 praoticed were TO
inveigle travellers to the murder stations or 10
capture 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 tho extraordinary notions of
fate held by the natives of the orient, this
wholesale destruction of human life occasioned
very little remark. III person died, it WAS the
will Of the Deity, and so there could be no use
In stirring up an investigation of the matter.
Two-roLp MOTIVE.
'The motive Of the thugs in their business
OF slaughter was two fold. 1t was q highly
stimulating sport to them, with q certain
amount of religious sentiment in it. and it was
productive of gain in the shape of plumber. In
one instance on record the killing of six per-
sons yielded $4,000. Because the thugs con-
| fined their attention to the native people, who
made no complaint. long time passed before
the British authorities took any active measures
for putting down the evil; but, when the work
| OF supervising il was once begun, it was
carried on with such activity and effectiveness
! that the gangs were soon wiped out. OF one
society that included GOO assassins all save
| seventy were captured in ten years. Between
| 1926 and 1885 1852 thugs were arrested. OF
whom 3S2 were hanged and 900 were trans
| ported. A part of the code of Thuggee was
never TO practice unnecessary cruelty. nor in
any case to rob a victim before killing him.
! Infants were always spared and were trained to
/ the profession. The murder Of women was no,
countenanced, though certain gangs adopted
! the practice. Most commonly thug would en-
! gage an unwary traveller in conversation, wher
the superior stranger would throw his Owl
linen girdle aroung the unfortunates neck and
choke him TO death by pressing the knuckle,
against his spine.
PRISONERS AND ROBBERS.
"Besides the thugs, there were in India the
'poisoners' and the robbers The former al
belonged to one caste of dealers in toddy
They went singly 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 wayfarer's food. Then they would rob him
and leave him to take his chance OF recovering
from the dangerous effects Of the narcotic. The
robbers likewise went about in gangs. stealing
wherever and whatever they could, and improv-
| ing such chances for incen diarism as fell in
their way. They were originally all high class
Rajpoots, who, on being conquered by the Mo-
hammedans, 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 coun-
try is filed with wholesale tragedies in the
shape of massacres, pestilences and forth.
Some princes were SO fond of killing that they
would go hunting for their own subjects in
intervals of leisure. destroying them by whole
sale simply for amusement. In one respect the
doing away with these causes of death has
worked unfortunately, inasmuch as it has re-
suited 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. Inasmueh as very early mar
riage is q religious obligation binding on every
Hindoo, quite irrespective of means for sup
| porting family, the misfortune goes on pro-
| gressively. 1t is reckoned that, taking the
whole OF British India. &C. 0o0. 900 people go
through life continually hungry, not being able
| possibly to procure two full meals daily.
PUTTING A STOP TO cANNABALIsM
"Among the practices which the British have
tried hard to do away with is that Of canni-
balism, which is INDUCED in TO this day by
some jungle tribes. One OF them, the Kookes,
living like monkeys in huts built in the tops Of
trees in forests $50 miles from Calcutta, was