The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-12-07
.THIEV Y ES OF BON BA Z.
THEY PRACTICE FHE ART OF BE-
COMING INVISIBLE.

d COMING HNvIslBL
Work In Which the Dae oit
seldom Fails-tCleyer Device Eeracticed# I
by the Hoocases in Throwing Pursuerss
# on Their Trsak. S
"A very Interesting and valuable re-
port was issued several years ago, BY
the Inspector of prisons off the Indian
empire, IN which almost incredible.
accounts are given of the practice of
this extraordinary art 'hy the thieves
of lower Bombay, says a writer in
the New Penny Magazine. The.
thieves themselves, with better rea-.
son, feel moub1y secure; for if, in spite.
of his luVisibility, by some unlocked
for and s1nlucky chance, one is seized,
his oily body slips away like an cells;
and in, the still more unlikely contin-.
gency of his being held with an un-2
breakable grip, he has, slung by a
slender cord about his neck little.
knife with an edge as sharp as that Of
the keenest razor, with which he cuts
the Tendons of the intruding wrist.
This, MDWeyer, he considers last re-
SORT for he prldes himself upon doing
his work without inflicting bodily,
harm supon his victims. To enter a
zenana, or the women's apartment in
native house, where all the family
treasures are kept, is the ambition Of
every native thief. This, however, is
NO easy matter, for the zenana is in
the center of the house, surrounded by
other apartments occupied by ever,
wakEful sentinels. In order to reach
it the ethief burrows under the house
until his tunnel reaches a point be-
Meath tthe floor of the room to which
access is sought But the. cautious
native 'does not at once enter. Full
well he knows that the inmates of the
house sometimes detect the miner at
work and sstand over the hole armed
with deadly weapons, silently await
ing his appearance. He has with him
a piece Of bamboo, at one end of, which
a bunch of grass represents human
head, and this he ;thrusts UP through
the completed breach. If the vicari-
GUS head does not come to grief, the
real one takes its place, and the thief,
entering the zenana, secretes himself;
or, finding everything already favor
able for this purpose, proceeds to at
tempt what seems an impossible un-
derta king. This, indeed, is no less a
task than ito remove from the ears and
arms and nose sthe earrings, bracelets,
armhats, bangles and nose rings of the
saeepers without awakening them, and
to get safely away with his plunder
Who hut "a :dacoit would be equal to
so delicate, dangerous and difficult a
piece of work? But the dacoit seldom
fails. These adroit burglars says
my authority, Commit the most dar-
ing robberies in the midst of the Eng
lish army. Knowing the position of
the tents, they make out one which is
occupied by an officer of high rank,
and creep silently toward it. Arrived
at the tent, their sharp knife makes
them door i'm the canvas, and they
glide undiscovered into the interior.
Indeed $50 wonderfully adroit are they
that even the very watchdogs do not
discover them, and a thief has been
known to actually step over a dog
without disturbing the ANIMAL
But the most :marvelously clever de-
vice practiced by the thieves of lower
Bombay is that used by the Mooches
in throwing mnrsuers off their track.
The Mopehes come down in gangs,
from the back country, and raid the
settlements; their specially is poison
ing cattle. They smear plantain leaves
with their own particular. brand OF.
cattle exterminator and scatter them
about among the herds at night. In
the morning, as 1aany of the cattle as
have partaken are dead, and have been
abandoned by their owners. The
Meoches fay the dead animals and
sell their hides. Pursued, these hon
est creatures make at full speed for
the. jungle. If they reach it, all hope
OF capturing them is at an end, but
even when they discover that they
must be overtaken before they reach
it, they by no means lose heart, and
are measurably sure oil. escaping, es-
pecially if, as is very often the case
in India, the surface is burned over
and the trees and bushes that have
not been consumed are charred and
blackened s-nd bereft of their foliage.
and many, perhaps, reduced to little
more than blackened stumps by the
FIRE which the fields are annually burn
ed over. # hard pressed In such a
country as this, they cease>to dy. and
Immediately disappear. For 4 long
time, the English troops which policed
she districts where they made their
raids were completely nonpluged
again and again, on the very point Of
being captured, the Mooches ESCAPED
by miraculo lously vanfshing and ofacers
as we'll as soldiers became supersti-
tious. With the power Of maintaining
dxed, INN movable postures, in which
fbpir race snnn1 II ~ e,v0oT II +J,,x... 4 !, S. .