The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-13
PRISONERS OF INDIA.
Grimes That Are Committed Without
Apparent Motive.
From the London Times.

Apparent Motive.
. From the London Times.
Tho report of the analyst of the Bonn
bay government on the cases of criminal
poisoning during the past year is made
the text by the Times of India for some
interesting observations on the methods
of Indian PRISONERS. Arsenic is the agent
most commonly employed for it is the
cheapest and most easily obtained of
deadly drugs opium comes next, and
then, much lower down in the scale,
stTychnia and pounded glass. The arsenic
cases are typical of the people
among whom they occur. In a Scinde dis
rsct a stranger went into a shop one day
and entered into friendly conversation
with a man he met there. On parting
by way of thanking him, the stranger
presented him with some sweets for dis
Irritation among his friends The result
was that five men and a boy were pOis-
oned, and the Obliging stranger has
never been seen since. In Belgium a
boy returning from school was given
some sugar, which he shared
with his sister and another child; all
three we're soon found to be suffering
from an iritant poison, In all the re-
ports children figure as victims in the
arsenic cases. The poison is usually
gwen in sweetmeats, and generally by "a
'strangC woman whom they meet in the
street and who disappears. This
| strange woman" is found in page after
| page of successive analysts reports for
the past twenty years, and under much
the same circumstances.
The Indian professional poisoner is
rarely caught and usually is not even sus-
| pected. In large proportion of cases
the crimes appear to be wholly without
! motive, and in many the pOisoner appears
TO make no difficulty about poisoning a
whole family to make sure of an individ-
ual Accident is the main cause of dis
covery in the reported cases, for in re
mote villages person dies and the body
is burned before the suspicion of foul play
gets abroad. Death is nearly always
| sudden in India and the last rites follow
so quickly that this kind of crime can
be committed with very large
amount of impunity. It is gen
Grady known in India that traces of ar
senN<al poisoning disappear when a body
is bUrned; but this is not always the
case. AT Sattara a body was duly burned
and among the ashes of the pyre some
| one WHO had a grudge against the rela-
! tlves Ofthe deceased secretly introduced
arsenic and then caused an accusation of
| poisoning 10 be made against some of the
relatives. The latter insisted on having
| the ashes analysed, but the analyse
while finding arsenic, declared the charg-
es fraudulent, for arsenic volatilizes at
very moderate heat and leaves no trace
| behind.
Another characteristic feature of the
| Indian poisoner Is recklessness. In Dhar.
! war a woman who had IA grudge against
an old paramount entered n liquor shou
and offered him some drink He was
| about to drink it, when a dispute arose
! about the price and the seller took w
| the cup and poured the liquor back into
| the vessel from which he had taken il.
| A white sediment was found adhering to
| the bottom of the cup which turned out
TO be white arsenic that the woman had
| introduced into the cup. In an
! other instance woman, at the
! suggestion of her paramour, gave her hus
! band arsenic in food. He was violently
! i'll, but recovered and revenged himself or
! his faithless wife and her lover by al
ministering TO both severe thrashing will
! stick Pounded glass is going out Of use
because it is not always fatal, and nor,
! deadly polsons are very cheap and can bt
! obtained easily by any one AS rule il
| Is administered by women to their hus
bands they take off their glass bangles
reduce them to powder by pounding and
then mix this with various articles of
| TODD