The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-22
BEN ALrS STRANGE POWER.
THE REMARKABLE WORK OF An
INDIAN DETECTIVE.

mOny - bamboo Divining Rods
Pointed Out the CuIprIt-The Ver-
dict Sustained by Another Won
derfuI Test.
From the Detroit Free Press.
I was visiting a friend in Calcutta
The day before my arrival he had lost
a very valuable gold watch, which he
had thoughtlessly left exposed upon his
dressing table. He had questioned the
servants concerning the theft, but to no
purpose. Finally he advertised the MISS
ing article. Offering a reward of 100 ru-
PEGS for its recovery.
''Why not send for Ben Aii?'' suggested
some one.
"And who pray, is Ben ALP" inquired
my friend.
Have you never heard of him? He is
a holy man who by long study and deep
penance has become endowed with the
power to detect criminals. He is a priest
and thief-catcher combined"
Ben Ali was accordingly sent for, less
/ may say, from any faith in his power,
than from the curiosity to see how he
would proceed. On his arrival we found
him to be a short, sinewy individual, re-
markedly intelligent looking and possess
ed of a very easy and gentlemanly bear
ing. He brought along with him two
bamboo rods. each about eight feet long,
am inch and half broad and a quarter
of an inch thick. These were to be used
in his strange exercises.
The ceremony he was about to perform
was known, he said, as the Mole Cham
laun. 1t was some years ago declared Ill
legal. and, therefore, it was now rarely
practiced.
After a few Introductory remarks, our
party gathered at the front of the house,
under the portico, and the investigation
began Taking a brass drinking mug
from his pocket the Brahmin stepped
down to the Hooghly-the most holy
stream that flows from the sacred Gam
ges-and filled the vessel with water Re
tlrnlng, he brought forward and laid
won the ground the two mystic rods.
hese he prayed over, sprinkling them
as he did so with the blessed water This
done he produced a leaf containing some
red pigment with which he daubed each
knot in the bambOos. All this was done
very slowly and with much wearisome
ceremony, so that by the time the rods
We're prepared, there was quite crowd
of spectators.
'fsahib." said the Brahmin, advancing
and bowling deferentially to my host, "all
is now ready; but | require two men of
the same creed or religion TO hold the
rods No cross sects or creeds viii do;
they must be influenced by the like fear
or favor of their gods"
Take your choice" replied my friend
indicating with a sweep of his hand that
a selection might be made from the as
sembly. But this was easier said than
done. Nearly all refused point blank to
lend themselves to any such performance.
At length, however, couple volunteered.
each other about eight feet apart. The
rods were then lifted and the four ends
placed under the mems four armpits. Both
lightly supported the parallel bamboos
from halnVy with their Mains
After another prayer and a fresh
sprinkling of the rods with the sacred wa
ter, the Brahmin gravely informed the
mystic bamboos of what he had learned
concerning the stolen article, and then
humbly requested them to proceed to the
place whence it was distracted and after
ward to point out the thief.
Standing close beside the supporters of
the rods, the priest-detect.ve kept remind
ing the sticks of their duty and stimuat-
ing them to the performance of it by re-
peating the words: "Sigi, sigi! juldee jul
dee" (soon, soon! quick, quclSD For a
considerable time, however there was no
manifestation. At length an explanatory
outbreak from the Brahmin announced
that something was about to happen and
to our surprise we saw the rods cross each
other horizontally, and alternately rise
and descend. They We're now, he told u.s.
obeying the mandates of the deity He
further informed us concerning the phe-
nomena we were about to witness. The
rods he said, would bend In the direction
that required their supporters to GO which
was first to the place from which the
watch was stolen and afterward they
would point out the thief by bending to-
ward him; and when the person so pointed
out was made to sit on the
ground the bamboos would, on
being held over his head, separate and
descend, inclosing his head between them
1t was a very slow and tedious process.
For some minutes the bamboos remained
motionless, then they began to bend, and
the supporters were told to advance in
the direction of the outside curve until
the rods again became straight. This
was done over and over again, the ad-
or four yards. By degrees the rods led
their bearers in this way along the We
randa, in through the bedroom door and
up to the dressing table. Then bending
slowly, one of the rods actually touched
the very spot where the watch had been
last laid.
Returning in..the same manner to the
veranda, the rod bearers now moved slowly
along in front of the nine native servants
who had been placed in a row arms
length apart. The bambooS remained rigid
enough until they came opposite the sixth
man, who proved to be the cook Here.
strange TO say, they bent gently forward
curving outward, until at length they
touched him on the breast The mans
face turned livid with fear
The nine were then ordered to sit upon
the ground and the final test was made.
Again the bamboos remained inactive I'M
til the cook was reached, when they OBJ
ened, bent downwards, and inclosed the
culprits head. This was repeated several
times with. the same result and it was
clearly to be seen that the mans COM
panions looked upon him as satisfactorv
proven guilty of the crime
The result was quite a surprise to my
host for the cook had been with him sew
eral years and was something Of a fave
rite. He was rather inclined to laugh At
the whole affair as absurd. Still neither
of us could quite ignore the decision ~
the rods. AS far as we could see there
were no collision between the rod bearers
certain that there was none: and yet we
did not feel like c0ndemniug The man
1lr3cn slzssr pectf{f ar "a nee = 1880