The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-12-24
MURDER THEIR PROFESSION.

! MHEuNT nus CtdSeu Ouly TtCtIuly 10
be recognized profession in India"
said an Oriental traveller 20 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 two hundred 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 a
few years ago, confessed to having
taken part in 931 deliberate killings of
human beings. They travelled in gangs,
and, inasmuch as the native govern
ments took no pains to put them down,
their vocation prospercd. Each minor
organization in their association, con-
tanning often one hundred men, alb
stained from the practice of its industry
In its own immediate neighborhood,
which was none the less exposed to oc
casional visits from other bands so that
the slaughter went on continually
everywhere. One official of the East
India Company, who was for three years
in charge of district on the Nerbudda
|
ing that period 100 people were muir
dered within less than a quarter of a
mile of his residence.
ut would be incorrect to imagine
that the thugs were mere brutal crimi-
nails with an appetite for blood. On the
contrary many of them belonged to the
most intelligent and respectable classes.
) They loved their profession, regarded
the killing of people as legitimate sport
and even considered themselves ennis
saries of a divinity so that they were
never troubled with pangs of conscience
on account of their deeds. They were
organized as a regu ar 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 it was to hold
the hands of the victims while the latter
were cholled to death by the stranglers,
; who formed the fourth and highest
rank. They worsniped the picllaX,
; which was symbolical of their profes-
sion, and an oath sworn on it was never
broken. In the district of Dude alone,
which is 170 miles long by 100 miles
, broad, there were 274 regular stations
Fifty years ago the Ganges river be-
tween Benares and Calcutta was in
tested during five months of every year
with no less than $50 boats which made
n pretense of transporting religious pill
grins When passengers had been taken
. on board at 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 practiced were to inveigle travel
ers to the murder stations or to 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 the
extraordinary notions of fate held by
! the natives of the Orient, this wholesale
destruction of human life occasioned
very little remark. If person died it
was the will of the Deity, and so there
could be no use in stirring up an inves-
tigation of the matter.
| ne IlOIlfe Ol JllG JlupS III UHer
business of slaughter was two-fold. 1t
! was highly stimulating sport to them,
with a certain amount OF religious sem
timent in it, and it was productive of
gain in the shape of plumber. In one
instance on record the killing of six
persons yielded $40, 900 Because the
: thugs confined their attention to the
} native people, who made no complaint,
long time passed before the British
3 authorities took any active measures
1 for putting down the evil; but when the
q work of suppressing it was once begun
it was carried on with such activity and
c effectiveness that the gangs were soon
I wiped out. OF one society that included
d 900 assassins all save seventy We're cap
tured in ten years, Between 1926 and
l., 1885, 1862 thugs We're arrested, of whom
: $50 were hanged and 900 were trans
b ported. A part of the code of Thuggee
was never to practice unnecessary cru
), city, nor in any case to rob n victim
Y before killing him. Infants were al
n ways spared and were trained to the
profession. The murder of women was
q not tcountenanced, though certain gangs
a adopted the practice. Most commonly
0 thug would engage an unwary trav-
eler in conversation, when the superior
G strangler would throw his own linen
a girdle around the unfortunate's neck
:, and choke him to death by pressing the
s knuclSles against his spine
n Besides the thugs, there were in
= India the 'poisoners' and the robbers
y The former all belonged to one class of
dealers in toddy. They went singly or
in gangs, haunting the stopping places
t of travellers, where they would take ad-
n vantage of any opportunity TO drop a
d small quantity of pounded 'datura'
seeds into the wayfarer's food. Then
>. they would rob him and leave him to
take his chances of recovering from the
dangerous effects of the narcotic The
e robbers likewise went about in gangs,
stealing wherever and whatever they
/ could, and improving such chances for
+ inceudiarism as fell in their way. They
Z We're originally all high-class Rajpoots,
. who, on being conquered by the Mo-
. hammedans, vowed to to revenge them
> selves upon mankind. Washington
Star,
Wonderful Things in Heredity.
= 1t is fact we'll established by stu
u dants Of bpra1itv thot nbil1ran ora n NJ