Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-10-26
SIMPLY HAVE TO STEAL.
A CIVIL HNolNeRRs EXPERIENCES IN
Robbed BY Servants and vlliagsrs---Ose
Gang Stole Bridge. Another Traia'''
Useless Plumber Hidden Away.-Hx.
perts Tackle Strong Room.


"After living in India for fifteen
years." said the civil engineer, II am
firm In my belief that in no other coun-
try on the face Of the globe has thiev-
ing been brought to such point of
perfection. AS civil engineer was
brought into direct contact with the
masses, and passed weeks and months
In their villages. For several years 1
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 mon
ey and my toilet articles. No matter
whether we were in n village or away
out In the jungle, he would steal. AT
first / used to reason with him, but
found that he was liar and hypo-
critic. Then 1 resorted to personal vio-
lence. / had one man with me for five
years, and never week passed that
he did not steal something. After siz-
ing him up used to have On regular
programme. When found anything
missing / called him up and stated the
fact and gave him five minutes In
which to return the article. He would
weep and protest and l would take
him by the neck and slam him around.
When he had been half killed he would
agree to restore the property. The
cook and the boy came next. They
would steal and sell the provisions, tft
cooking utensils or whatever else they
N,.II f.l. II hnH
cooks sent to Jail and l discharged
three or four others, but the last one
was as big a thief as the first. The
only way to deal with them was to
use 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 matter that no native fence in
India dared to buy the loot, they would
steal just the same and bury the in
struments under the ground. A hun
dred different mornings l got up to
find the gang sitting around and every
planned that thieves had entered the
camp as he slept and he would weep
and lament and excuse himself in a
way to convince you that he was tell
ing 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 kicks he would agree to
turn up the stuff. Perhaps it would
be dug up within fifty feet of my tent,
and it was laughable to witness the
pretended establishment of every man
in the gang.
lone of the queerest jobs put up by
the thieves was the stealing Of a
bridge over the Kista river. 1t was
wooden bridge $50 feet long for n
quarry railroad. Iron bolts were used
in the frame work and the structure
was a solid one. The rainy season
came on just as the bridge was fin
ished and before the approaches were
completed, and all work was stopped.
The thieves had week to work In,
and there were 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 frame
work fell apart 1t was loaded up.
When they got through nothing was
left but a skeleton on supports. The
man who bossed that job had not ask
ed himself where he could sell the
stuff. As n matter of fact, 1t couldn't
be sold 1t was taken just the same,
and If the boats hadn't been wrecked
on a sandbar the plumber would have
been dumped into jungle. or course,
the railroad company got after the
fellows, and in few days about 80
of them were arrested. When the
boss was asked what put the idea Of
stealing a bridge into his head, he re-
piled that he had noticed 1t was un-
guarded. He would have been salts
fed, he said, could ne have gotten
half price for ten CT the iron bolts.
All the fellows were sent to prison for
long terms, but none of them COM
planned Of the law. What they COM
planned Of was the carelessness of he
railroad people in leaving a big bridge
ungarded as a temptation. After
hearing of the bridge affair you will
not be surprised at the stealing of
freight train. Such thing actually
happened in the province of Nagpur.
Six freight cars loaded with merchan-
disc were run in on siding at small
station one evening. When the station
| agent had gone home band of thieves
pushed the cars down to the end OF
| the siding and then used some old rails
| to extend the track about twenty rods
into the jungle. They got two cars in
all right, but the third tipped over and
blocked the way. During the night
nealy all the contents of the five cars
were carried off, and next day one of
the thieves gave the whole snap away
to the police for sum amounting to
about 80 cents.
"As for slick thieves. India has 'em
by the thousands. No white man can
approach Hindoo in pocket-picking,
and all the bolts and bars won't keep
q burglar out. For time had quar-
tiers at Jypur with a government agent.
The bungalow had just been erected.
and special precautions had been taken
against thieves. There were times
when the agent had goodly sums In
1 n