The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-05-03
LAST OF THUGS OF INDIA.
MEN WHO REDUCED MURDER
TO A FINE ART.

Religious Devotees That Divided spoils
of Their Crime with Temples-How
Members of the Bands Were Initiated
1t was a shappy inspiration that led
to the adoption of the word thug as
synonym fer a ferocious criminal.
It's very sound is suggestive of silent
and sudden murder. It echoes the
thug of the slung-shot.
This of course, is a mere coincidence;
the word is not English. in spite of it's
sound. 1t is Hindustanee, and came to
this country by way of England, There
it has newspaper currency, but re-
tains it's historical meaning caste OF
Indian strangers.
In becoming popular the term has
suffered some degradation, for the
thugs of India were no vulgar sluggers
and murderers, says the Los Angeles
| Times. They were religious devotees
and artist Tn crime. De Quincy would
iehave given them high rank among the
practitioners Of Murder Considered as
Fine Art"
i The Thugs, indeed were under vows
| to Kali Devil the black broWafd CON
sort Of Silva the Destroyer. She Is
| that terrible parsonage who appears In
the Hindu Pantheon as fierce 'but
beautiful woman, Kidding on a tiger, or
as a hideous, blood stained idol gar
landed with skulls Banded together
as caste brothers, the Thugs hunted
men to offer them to deity Of destrue-
ton, and because she required blood
less sacrifice they killed their victims
! by suffocation.
The Thugs not being cannibals,
could not live by mere murder. 80
| they robbed their victims and divided
the spoils between themselves and the
temples of Kali. AS religious body
they were protected by the Brahmins
and by pious but impecunious Ra1ahs,
| who licensed and taxed them. It was
an easy way for a ruler to increase his
revenue and the victims were travelling
merchants who would not be missed.
During the many centuries Of war
and anarchy in India Thuggee flourish
ed nightly. Under Aurungzebe to
whom as a Moslem Kali was an abb
horred idol, 1t suffered a check Hindu
fanaticism supported 1t. The Nawab
of Surat had captured a band of Thugs
and was about to release them for a
ransom offered by certain 'Banians, VINO
hoped to acquire religious merit by
the act. The Emperor ordered the
Thugs to be strung up by the left hands
in the jungle and left there to die. The
Banians, prototypes Of the senti-
mentalists who present notorious
modern criminals with bouquets, BAN
quoted the strangers before the eX-
ecution.
These terrors of the Indian highway
are now extinct, like the sabre touched
tiger. About sixty years ago many
hundreds were executed and the re-
mainder transported or put TO work at
tent making and other peaceful trades,
in strict confinement,
1t was the writer's privilege few
years back to visit one Of the last Of
these world famous strangers. He
had been captured young, and SEN
fenced to imprisonment for life in a
central Indian jail
In a cool corridor that overlooked the
sunlit garden venerable old man was
weaving the pattern of O. Persian car
pet. Tall and erect, with snowy mus
tache and high caste features he might
have passed in uniform for a British
Colonel bronzed by years Of service.
He showed not a single one of the
criterious of the type criminal as de-
scribed by Lombroso.
Nadhoo, so he was called, had been so
long prisoner that he was rather
cared for as curiosity, museum speci-
had become an expert in weaving, and
when the looms were idle was by no
means unwilling to talk of his expert
ences as a Thug. He had been born in
the caste, and devoted early to the SER
vice Of Kali. His father led him to
secret place in the jungle and there
inflated him, by the weird rite OF the
corpse and the dagger into the free
masonry 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 d precocious youth. as he
said, he was selected to play the part
of "talker,' or confidence man. He
was ostensibly traveller on the Delhi
road, where the Indian Midland Rail-
way now runs, for his brother, who
dealt in silk and cotton goods in Dec
can city. OF his exploits as talker for
the band of Tulsi RAM a notorious
Thug executed long ago for his crimes.
he told this tale.
'Tulsi Ram was the right arm of
Kali, and was the right am of Tulsi
Ram. 1t was I who decoyed Nasur
Khan, the rich jeweller, with coaxing
words, as men take carp from pond
by tickling their sides.
'Nasur was journeylng to Delhi with
gems from Mysore and caravan
laden with silks in bales and rich
brocades I came before him as q poor
trader begging for permission to Join
his train for the sake of protection
against thieves.
A twinkle in the old mans eye be-
trayed his relish of the irony Of the
situation,
"Nasur was as hard as the stones he
dealt in !" he continued, "and the price
he demanded for his protection was
high. Then told him that the Ra1ah