Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-06-27

! lcOch OF BIrOkZSI, on his way homo
| from short service in a frontier reei.
ment, had halted in his retreat at re
sight of pair of big black eyes be
| hind the chink of a door.
/ Long before that, however. the cues
| ton as to whether those Jewels of
HaIyat B1bi's were to come back with
her III search Of a Few bridegroom
| among her own relations, or to remain
with her in her late husbands amiIy..
had greatly exercised the minds of
little village which lay, as it We're,
safely tucked away between the sheefs
Of sand in the bed of the Indus and the
soft piliOWHke curves of the rising
ground. 1t was given to BE- excited
over tribes, this far-a way, peacerul-
looking cluster of mud-huts: for be-
meath the newly acquired placidity of
the peasant which its inhabitants pre-
scented on the surface the lawIessness
Of the border bravo remained ready
fer any emergency. On the whole,
however, it afforded beautiful exam
PIE Of the ciyilizing effects of agricuI-
ture, and as such figured in many re-
ports having as their object the gIol1l-
cation Of British rule. Consequently
it was watched with jealous eyes by
the district and police officials, who felt
their Sheet-anchor of reference would
be gone did any serious crime occur
to throw discredit on the converted
community.
Despite this constant care, the village
might have been situated in the moon
for all the authorities knew Of the
petty intrigueS, the hopes and fears
which formed the handspring of its
life. Even the ordinary human inter-
ests of it's Inhabitants were all too low
in tone ana insignificant to secure
alien sympathy. So Haiyat Bibis
peeping eyes and her Delhi-made
jewels were disturbing elements IN
known to those who signed the
monthly criminal reports with placid
self-Sadsfaction at their own success
in securing virtue. Even when, rgged
Oh by the family, her best looking male
cousin made bids for POSSESSION of
both these charms in various under
hand ways, the consequent employ
ment of Faizullah Khans martial dis
cipline did not reSound so far as the
hakam's ears.
Therefore it was an unpleasant sur
prise when, some six weeks after the
original homily against peeping, the
significant red flag which proclaims
the shedding of blood found it's way
into the deputy commissioners mail
bag, and brought the news of Haiyat
Bibis murder by her husband, and his
subsequent flight to the hills.
Furthermore it was reported by the
sergeant of police, whose very writing
showed signs of trepidatiOn, that the
whole village was in an uprOar, and lie
himself quite unable to cope with the
situation. AS luck would have it, some
eighty miles of desert and alluvial
land lay betWeeIs the excited village
and the fountains of law and order; for
when the red envelope arrived, the re-
SpOnSible officials We're in camp at the
other end of the district. Nearly a
week passed ere they could arrive en-
the scene, and by that time the vii
layers had sworn to renew a blood
ICuu w lj1Ill III past lStt UIIlf tI
brayely between their clan and that Of
the murderer. They were in fact on
the point of turning their pIowshares
into swords; an example which is dan
gerously contagious among the border
tribes.
Owing, therefore, to the necessity of
persuading the people to trust the far
reaching arm Of the law for revenge
instead of seeking it for themselves,
the actual murder itself dropped into
comparative insignifcance. Indeed,
the details of the crime were melger
in the extreme, though the evidence of
previous jealousy on the husbands
part, even to the point of grlevous
hurt, was copious. Nor did the ia mily
of the murdered woman's late nus
band hesitate to accuse her biOOd-rela-
lions of a deliberate attempt to Sellce
her from the path of virtue, in order to
bring about a poisoning Of the bold
FaiZu!lah, and a subsequent transfer
ence of her affection, and her jewels,
to a more suitable husband. Inquiry,
indeed, opened up such vista of con-
fiicting rascality that the district Off
Ger was fam to draw decent veil over
! it by accepting the result-namely that
on a certain specified night, between
certain specified hours, FaiZullah
Khan, not content with having beaten
| his wife to the verge of death during
| the day, had stealthily completed his
! devilish work, dragged the corpse of
! his victim a mile or two from the viii
| lage, stripped it of ornament and left
it to be devoured by jackals and
hyenas.
In support of which statements
| grewsome remains found, it was said
| some days after the wolnanS diSaD-
| pearance, were produced and sworn
! TO vociferously by all. Relics of this
! sort are apt to be somewhat indefinite;
! this objection, however, was net by
the subsequent discovery of portions
/ of Haiyat Bibi's clothing and a golden
| earring which the murderer had evi
i IDENTITY dropped in his flight. The latter
;! whetted the desire for revenge D q
Il point, for, as the district officer sor
rowfully admitted to himself, the old
! fashioned wrath at injury to theil
}, women, so conspicuous among these
! border clans, was now freely inter
t mixed with that greed of gold which
civilization brings in its wake. Fin
: ally. since nothing else could be done
, a reward of 1000 rupees was put up)1
), the capture of one Faizullah Khan