Martinsburg statesman. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1869-1906, 1906-07-27
LAST Of THUGS Of INDIA
Men Who Reduced Murder to
an Art-Victims Sacrificed.
HOW GRAFT FLOURISHED.
Religious Devotees That Divided
spolls Of Their Crime With Tenn
ple--How Members Of the Band
Were initisted--Their Palmy
n-... l.. narl.

pie--How Members Of the Band
Were initisted-Their PaImy
Days in Paris.
The Thugs we're under VOWS to Kali
Devi. the black browed consort OF
silva the Destroyer. She is that terri-
Bile parsonage who appears In the
Hindu Pantheon as fierce but beau
tiful woman. riding on a tiger, or as
bideous, blood stained idol, garland
ed with skulls. Banded together as
caste brothers, the Thugs hunted men
to offer them to the deity OF destruc-
ton, and because she required a blood
less sacrifice they killed their victims
by suffocation.
The Thugs, not being cannibais.
could not live by mere murder. SO
they robbed their victims and divided
he spoils betweea themselves and the
temples of Kali As religious body
they were protected by the Brahmins
aud by pious but impecunious Rajas.
who licensed and taxed them. IL was
an easy way for u ruler to Increase
his revenue aud the victims we're tfay-
cling merchants who would not be
missed,
During the many ucnturtes OF war
and anarchy In India Thugeee' -four
ishea nightly uneer Aurungzeoe, 10
whom as Moslem Kali was an ao-
horred idol. II suffered a check.
The Emperor ordered the Thugs to 10
strung UP by the .eit hands IN the
Jungle and left there 90 die. The Ban
Ians, prototypes OF the sentimental
lists who present notorious modern
criminals with bouquets. banqueted
the strangers before the execution.
These terrors OF the Indian high
way are now extinct, like the sabrs
toothed tiger About sixty years ago
many hundreds were executed and the
remainder transported or put to work
at tent making and other peaceful
trades. In strict confinement.
Ii was the writer's privilege few
years ago to visit one of the last OF
the world famous strangers. He had
been captured young, and sentenced
to Imprisonment for life In a central
Indian Jail.
Nadhoo, so he was called. had been
80 long a prisoner that he was rather
cared for as curiosity, museum
specimen, than treated as criminal.
He had become an expert In weaving
and when the looms were idle was by
no means unwilling to talk OF his ex-
leriences as Thug. He had been
In. 3 ia u
to the service Of Kali His father led
him to secret place In the jungle
and initiated him. by the wierd rite
OF the corpse and the dagger, into the
freemasonry Of the brotherhood. He
learned their signs, how to interpret
the omen OF the owl. the patter OF
the ''ramawsi the secret language
of the craft Being a precocious youth,
as he said. he WAS selected to play
the part of 'talker." or condolences
man. The old man illustrated with
wrist and knuekle the act OF tighten
ing the rumai. or handkerchief. round
the neck OF the victim. He told how
the travellers we're buried while warm
in the graves that mad been prepared
fer theLi. For himself 1t was his des-
tiny to be Thug. 1T liz our Gus
tom," he said The potters son takes
to the po.tar's wheel: the copper
smiths to the linking Of the ham
mer"
The garrotters who infested London
in the Cos choked, but did not kill the
late returning citizens When chloro-
form came into use In surgery, the
underworld Of crime, or at any rata
Its master minds at one appreciated its
value. II was painless, II was safe
for them; the victim would awake u
q state OF mental confusion he could
give the police no clew. The drug De-
came popular with the scientific Grim
mails who operated on English rail-
road lines, where the closed compart-
ments secure privacy. Sometimes q
subject died under chloroform by mis-
adventure, but that might have hap
pened at the hands OF young med
zeal practitioner.
In Paris, however, the tricks OF In
dian Thuggee have been closely fol-
lowed. Look over the files OF the
Partisan papers Of recent years, you
will find accounts OF men found dead
In lonely places with leather cords
around their necks and empty pock-
cts.
A robber dressed like a workman
or petit bourgeois would approach q
belated ciubman and offer him for
sale ring. ostensibly picked up from
the pavement. If Monsieur did not
take alarm the robbers partner, VINO
had erept behind his victim, shared
his mouth and throat In moose. Then
with a quick Jiu-Jitsu turn the thug
heaved him off the ground on to his
own back, like sack OF coal, and his
partner stepped up and rifed Mon
sieur's pockets. The latter was then
dropped on the pavement with force
enough to stun him and the things
made their escape.
To the Grave IN a GAP.