The herald., 1893-11-29
TRIAL BY oRpsAL.
Remarkable Story From India About
Catching Postal Thief.

Remarkable Story From India About
Catching n Postal Thief.
The narrator of the following story
some years ago had charge of postal
division on the western coast, parts of
which had seldom been visited by a
European officer. The people were for
the most part simple country folk and
very superstitious. One morning the
narrator received information that
considerable sum of money, forming part
,f the contents of the mail from head
10 suboffice, had been stolen on the
road The whole affair was wrapped in
mystery.
The only clew the police had been able
to obtain was that one runner, whom we
shall call Rama, had since the theft paid
Off certain debts in the village which had
long pressed upon him, but there were
no other suspicious circumstances, and
the man had 10 years good service. AS
a last resource it was determined to re-
sort to trial by ordeal and for this pur-
pose an aged Brahman, who was sup
posed to possess occult powers and to be
in daily communion with the gods, was
consulted and readily undertook to dis
cover the thief. All the runners-a good
ly array of sturdy Mahratta peasants
were summoned to the Office, and under
the guidance of a cheyla, or disciple, of
the old Brahman we all proceeded to q
small deserted temple of Mahadeo, stu
ated at some distance from the village.
1t was desolate spot and bore an evil
reputation. The temple, owing to some
act of desecration in the past, had been
abandoned and was almost buried
among weeds and tangled brushwood.
The hour selected was about 6 p. M,
and the long twilight shadows gave the
place weird, uncanny look. The old
Brahman was awaiting us, and as we ap-
preached appeared to be busy mutter-
ing incantations. The runners all seemed
to be more or less under the spell of the
hour, but the look of real fright in
Rama's face was quite distinct The
Brahman, having finished his incanta-
tions, rose and addressing the men said:
"You are about to face the gods. To
the innocent the trial will be nothing,
but to the guilty much. In the temple
a magic wand has been placed on the
altar. Each of you must go in by turns,
take up the wand and turn round three
times, repeating the name of Mahadeo.
The wand will stick to the hand of the
guilty one." By this time it was nearly
dark. glanced in through the door of
the temple. A solitary oil buttee threw
a fitful light on the altar, on which an
ordinary bamboo stick about two feet
long reposed among grains of uncoolSed
rice and nut lines, the whole sprinkled
with red powder.
A curtain was drawn across the door,
and the men entered one at time AS
each one appeared the Brahman seized
his hands and raised them to his fore
head, and then allowed them to pass on
and join his fellows. Coming to Rama
he went through the same pantomime,
but instead of allowing him to pass on
bade him stand aside. When the last
man had gone through the ordeal the
Brahman turned to Rama and said qui-
etly:
"Tell the sahib how you stole the
money"
ITO my utter amazement," continues
the writer, "Rama fell ON his knees.
confessed that he was the thief, and Of
fered to show where he had hidden the
balance of the money. He had succeed
ed in opening the mail bag without
seriously disturbing the seals. The post
master had not really examined them
and so their having been manipulated
had escaped notice. Needless to say,
the Brahman was rewarded and poor
Rama was sent to repent at leisure in
the district jail"
Now the natural question is: "How
was it done?" Very simply. The tenn
pie, the lon'e7 glen, the uncanny hour,
the incantations, all were merely acces-
sories to appeal to the superstitions of
the ignorant peasants. The ''magic
wand" was th;ckly smeared with strong
ly scented sandalwood oil. Rama's
guilty conscience prevented him from
touhcing it, az he firmly believed the
wand would stick to his hands, and his
of course was the only hand that did
NOT smell of oil Times of India