The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-08-20
HAVE TO STEAL
A CIVIL ENGINEERS EXPERIENCES
WITH THIEVES IN INDIA.
Robbed by Servants, Employees and
viIIngers-One Gang Stole N Bridge
and Another a Train.
New York Sun.

Aller living IN lnuld 1Or nlteen years.
said the civil engineer. Il am firm in my
belief that in no other country on the face
of the globe has thieving been brought to
such a point Of perfection. No matter what
province the native halls from, whether a
high caste or low, the faint is in his blood
and has descended to him through genera
tons. Now and then 1 have met a Hindoo
who would speak the truth by accident, but
never in all those years did 1 meet one in
whose honor 1 could put implicit trust.
There was punishment for thieves before
the English came, and the punishment has
been increased from time to time. but, were
it a hanging ofense to steal. the thief would
still continue to do so. / have figured 1t
out that he can't help it. and have had a
hundred experiences in proof.
A a civil engineer 1 was brought into
direct contact with the masses and passed
weeks and months in their villages. For
several years j was on the land survey and
had my gang of assistants and servants.
The thieving began with my body servant.
He would steal my clothing, my money and
my toilet articles. No matter whether we
were in a village or away out in the jungle,
he would steal. At first / used to reason
with him, but found that he was a liar and
a hypocrite. Then / resorted to personal
violence. / had one man with me for five
years, and never a. week passed hat he did
not steal something. After sizing him up l
used to have a regular programme. When
/ found anything missing 1 called him up
and stated the fact and gave him five min
ties in which to return the article. He
would weep and protest and 1 would take
him by the neck and slam him around.
When he had been half killed he would
agree to restore the property. To threaten
him with discharge or the law had not the
slightest effect. The cook and the boy came
next. They would steal and sell the provi-
sions. the cooking utensils or whatever else
they could pick up: had three or four
four others, but the last one was as big a
thief as the first. The only way to deal
with them was to use a whip. Then came
my gang. There was nothing for them TO
steal except the field outfit, but they stole
that about twenty times a year. No matter
If We were out In. the jungle, and no mat
ter that no native fence In India dared to
and bury the instruments under the ground.
A hundred different mornings l got UP. to
gone The foreman ALWAYS explained that
thieves had entered the camp as he slept,
and he would weep and lament and excuse
was telling the solemn truth. He wasn't,
though. He was lying straight from the
shoulder. My plan was to catch him by the
neck and boot him. After about twenty
Perhaps it would be dug up within fifty
feet of my tenn, and 1t was laughable to
witness the pretended astonishment OF every
man in the gang. 1t was the same with the
villagers as with my servants and employees.
Men, women and children would steal from
me. Every village has a head man, and /
held him responsible. In many instances he
was the thief himself. When some article
had been stolen / would call out the head
man and tell him of it and give him ten
minutes to make restoration. He would
swear by the beard of his father, the bones
of his mother and the souls OF his children
that such a thing as theft was unknown In
his village. Then he would hustle around
and command and appeal and use up the
ten minutes. There was only the one meth,
of him and give him the boot, and after a
few kicks the property would turn up; NO
native, high or low, feels the slightest dis
| grace in being found out, nor is he elatec
when his thievery is a success.
PETTY LARCENY UNIVERSAL.
What we call petty larceny is practiced
| from one end of India to the other. and ex-
| cites no surprise and but little comment
Your valet. your cook, your nurse. your ma
tive soldier or government employe will
| steal anything from a bungalow to a hair
| pin, and most of the Europeans take the
situation philosophically. If the little thieves
annoy you, the big ones who perhaps should
be called robbers, excite your admiration.
For some months I had a bungalow in Ala
| habad while completing my field notes. NOT
far away was a storage yard and among
the stuff was a steam boiler TO go with a
| fve-horse power engine. one night TINS
boiler was stolen. You may figure IL OUT
| that it would take a big truck. two horses
and five or six mer, to load and move that
| boiler on what may be called the European
Plann;a How many tSew men hut the v hatlv the gSH aid hV Was
| TO work beams under that boiler and pick II
up and walk off with 1t. and it was found In
a yard a mile away. 1t mad not been SOLO
! and could not be, but the idea was to steal
| il. and a plan was made and carried out. AT
| a foundry in the same city some iron glrders
weighing 1.6O pounds each had been con-
structed. Native thieves stole one and car
RED il four miles into the country ana
buried it. The gang numbered zen ana tne
| police arrested the suspected leader. He was
firm in his innocence until a whip was APP
| piled to his naked back. When asked why
he stole a thing which he could not posi-
| On one of the branches of the Ganges, In
the province of Dude. a European built a
| tried to run things with native help and
made a funny mess of 1t. The natives be-
San by stealing his lumber c as they gof io ate II it
but they hid il in the jungle and left II to
rot. Then they stole nuts, bolts, shafting,
PTileys 81 an me s mili a fhev 'n act Hay Veis stole the
waterwheel. In about six hours one night
they lugged off the Iog-carriage, two circu-
4 lar saws dlQ Il lOn VI SlidiNIhS' LhC sum
was loaded on a flatboat and the boat was
hidden away in a creek Thirty or forty men
worked like Trojans for five or six hours
without the slightest hope of reward simply
TO steal. Their plumber could not have been
sold for a cent. and they knew 1T. While
the owner of the mill was away to invoke
the aid Of the law the same gang stole the
waterwheel and carried it two miles into
the jungle.
STEALING A BRIDGE.
"One Of the queerest jobs put up by the
thieves was the stealing of a bridge over
the Kista river. II was a wooden bridge $50
feet long, for a quarry railroad. Iron bolts
were used in the framework and the struc-
ture was a solid one. The rainy season
came on just as the bridge was finished and
before the approaches were completed. and
all work was stopped. The thieves had a
week to work in, and there were a hundred
of them. They brought fiatboats down to
the bridge, and the first thing taken was
the iron rails. Then they removed all the
bolts, and as fast as the framework fell
apart IL was loaded up. When they got
through nothing was left but a skeleton
on supports. The man who bosSed the job
had not asked himself where he could sell
the stuff. AS a matter Of fact. Ii couldn't
be sold. 1t was taken just the same. and II
the boats hadn't been wrecked on a sand
bar the plumber would have been dumped
into a Jungle. OF course, the railroad COM
pany got after the fellows, and, in a few
days, about eighty OF them were arrested.
49, 10 A4 Dnr +h4 10.