Morning journal and courier., 1893-12-11
TRIAL BY ORDEAL,
A Remarkable Story from Indis About Catching a Thief.
 From the Times of India

About Catching a Thief. From the Times of India.l
 The narrator of this story some years ago had charge of postal division on the wes tern coast, parts of which had seldom, fl ever, been visited by an Europisn officer.
 The people were for the most part simple folk and very expectations. One morning the narrator received information that 6 considerable sum Of money, forming part of the contents of the mail from head to 6 sub-ofice, had been stolen on the road. The whole affair was wrapped in mystery. The only clue the police had bsen able to obtain was that one runner, who we shall call Rama, had since the theft paid of csr- tain debts In the village which had long pressed upon him; but there were no other suspicious circumstances, and the man had done 10 years good service.
 As a last resource it was determined to resort 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, 6 goodly array of sturdy
 Mshrstta peasants, were summoned to the office and under the guidance of 6 cheyls or disciple of-the old BrAhmin, we all pro- cseded to the small deserted temple of Ma hadeo, situated st some distance from the
 the village. It WAS desolate spot and
 bore au evil reputation. The temple, ow- ing to some act of dissertation In the past, had been abandoned, and was almost bur fed among weeds and tangled brushvood. The hour selected was about six p. m, and the long twilight shadows gave the place a wierd ,uncanny look. The old Brah- .f,r nd arfr,roaaha1 appeared to be busy muttering incanta- tions. The runners all seemed to be more or less under the spell of the hour, but the look of real fright ou Rams's face was Q uite distinct. The Brshmip, having fin ished his ipcantstions. arose, and address ing 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 turnf, take up the wand snd turn around three times repeating the name of MShEdeo: the wand will stick 10 the hard of the guilty one"
 By this time 1t vas nearly dark. glanced in through the door of the temple. A solitary oil bu'tee threw a pitiful light
 on the altar, on which an ordinary bamboo | stick about two feet long reposed among grains of uncooked rice and cut Hines, the I whole sprinkled with red powder. A cur | tain was drawn across the door and the | men entered one at 6 time. As each one | appeared the BrAhmin seized his hsnds and
 raised them to his forehead and then al
 lowed him to pass on and join his fellows. Coming to Rama he went through the same
 pantomine, but, instead of allowing him to pass on, bsde him stand aside. When the | last man had gone through the ideal the | Brahmin turned to Rama and said quietly: "rell the sahib how you stole the money.n
 | To my utter Amszsment Rama fell on hii
 kness, confessed that he was the thief, and | offered to show where he had hid the bal ance of the money. He had succeeded ir opening the mail bag without seriously disturbing the seals; the postmaster had not really examined them and SO their haT ing been manipulated escaped notice Needless to say the BrAhmin was rewarded and poor Rama was sent to repsnt al leis
 ure in the district jail
 Now the natural question is, How wal
 it dousr Very simply. The temple, thu
 lonely glen, the uncAnny hour, the incsn tations, all were mere accessories to sppes to the expectations of the ignorant peas
 ants. The "msgic wand" wAs thick,
 smeared with strongly scented sandalwoot
 oil. Rama's. guilty conscience prevented
 him from touching 1t, as he firmly believed the wand would stick to his hands, and his
 of course, was the only hand that did no
 smell of the oil.