The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-12-02
Trial by Ordeal.

Trial by Ordeal.
The Times of India publishes good
story of trial by ordeal The narrator of
it some years ago had charge of postal
division on the Western coast parts of
which had seldom, if ever, been visited by
a European officer The people were for
the most part simple country folk and
superstitious One morning the narrator
received information that considerable
sum of money, forming part of the con-
tents of the mail from a head to sub
Office, had been stolen on the road The
whole affair was wrapped in mystery.
The only clcw 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 been pressed upon him, but there
were no other suspicious circumstances,
and the man had ten years good service.
As last resort it was determined to re-
sort to trial by ordeal. and for this pur-
pose an aged Brahmin, who was supposed
/ to possess occult powers and to be in daily
communion with the gods, was consulted,
and readily undertook to discover the
thief All the runners-a goodly array of
sturdy Mahratta peasants-were summoned
to the Office and under the guidance of a
cheya or disciple of the old Brahmin we
all proceeded to small deserted temple of
Mahadeo, situated at some distance from
the village. 1t was a desolate spot and
bore an evil reputation. The temple, ow-
ing 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 G p NJ
and the long twilight shadows gave the
place weird, uncanny look. The old
Brahmin was awaiting us, and as we ap-
preached appeared to be busy muttering
incantations The runners all seemed to
be more or less under the spell of the hour,
but the look of real fright on Rama's face
was quite distinct. The Brahmin, having
finished his incantations, rose and address
ing the men said
You are about to face the gods; to the
innocent the trial will he nothing, but to
the guilty much. In the temple magic
wand has been placed on the altar. Each
of you must 90 in by turns, take up the
wand, and turn round three times, repeat
ing 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 fitful light on
/ the altar, on which an ordinary bamboo
stick about two feet long reposed among
grains of uncooked rice and cut lines, the
whole sprinkled with red powder A cur
tain was drawn across the door, and the
men entered one at time. As each one
appeared the Brahmin seized his hands
and raised them to his forehead and then
allowed him to pass on and join his fellows.
Coming to Rama, he went through the
same pantomime, but instead of allowing
him TO pass on babe him stand aside
When the last man had gone through the
ordeal the Brahmin turned to Rama and
said quietly "Tell the sahib how you
stole the money
To my utter amazement, continues The
writer, Rama fell on his knees, confessed
that he was the thief. and offered to show
where he had hidden the balance of the
money. He had succeeded in opening the
mail bag without seriously disturbing the
seals The postmaster had not really ex-
aSined them, and so their having been
manipulated had escaped notice. Needless
to say, the Brakmin was rewarded and
poor Rama was sent to repent at leisure in
the district jail. Now the natural ques-
ton is: .How was it doue?H Very
simply The temple, the lonely glen, the
uncanny hour, the incantations, all were
merely accessories to appeal to the super
stitions of the ignorant peasants. The
'.maeic wand was thickly smeared with
strongly scented sandalwood oil Rama's
guilty conscience prevented him from
touching 81, as he firmly believed the
wand would stick to his hands, and his, Of
course, was the only hand that did not
smell Of the oil