Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-04
STORY OF INDIA THUGS.


0ASCOvexOI8 OK y 0UoIo0Q xIcaSUtO
Who Felt the Knottsd Handkerchief.
From the London Field
India has many false delusions. one OF
them being that crimes practiced in days
gone by are now extinct.
/ have seen II written that thuggee has
been eradicated. 1t has been generally &C.
cepted that the fearful method Of making
away with mankind disclosed years ago by
Mr.. Taylor in ''rhe Confessions Of Thug
has disappeared; but in my opinion. as long
as India Is India that ancient system of
murder will remain as an heirloom to the
race of Asiatics prone to that peculiar
crime The story have to relate is indi.
rectly connected with the dacoIt TantIa
and his followers.
1t was in 1884 that searched a certain
watercourse In the Asseerghar junsles for
tracks of tiger. 1 found them about five
miles from village called Kakria in sur.
roundings that suited my methods I'm every
way for the erection OF a machan. and
called upon my followers to tie up the buff
falo and prepare the place for a kill Near.
by was temple ancient and moss-b bound.
Much to my surprise. my men refused en-
masse to help me In any way. They at first
offered all sorts Of feeble objections to the
position, which did not deceive me. felt
that there was some strong superstition or
other feeling OF repugnance which made
them hostile to machan being erected on
that particular spot l went to my tent and
pondered. and while so doing my head
shikaree approached me and told me that
he would explain matters to the best OF his
ability.
What the skikaree said to me / will en-
deavor to repeat In his own words. "Sahib,"
he said, Tantia the dacoit Is in these re-
gions. He Is friend OF the poor but .
bitter enem Of the Feringee sahib and the
rich. He has murdered many men. and
the riches he has gathered hidden In
many places. Cheetoo. one OF his follow.
ers, has served you well, and he once knew
what l am saying Is true.
1t became known that rantia Pheel had
hidden hal; lac of rupees In the vicinity
of the temple. near where you wish us to
erect machan. Cheetoo. your late hunter.
knew 1t also. and he communicated the
news to his brother. They both resolved
to gather the wealth while Tantia was else
where and having collected some digging
implements they set out at shutdown for
the temple. The treasure was actually
buried beneath the temple idol Cheetoo
and his brother Rugoo never returned to
their homes. and when two Of their rela-
tives set forth to find them they likewise
returned not.
Some days after these events a brother
Of mine was hunting for thatch i'm the
neighborhood of the temple and came across
four dead bodies Two Of them were skele-
tons, the third was partially devoured, but
the fourth, which was inside of the temple,
was-owing to the incident having occurred
about Christmas-in a fair state of preserva-
ton. There were not wounds on the body,
but simply dark blue mark around the
neck, proving strangulation by the Thugs
knotted handkerchief. and a bruise at the
nape of the neck
The skikaree added that Tantia had In his
employ two renowned Thugs VINO could kill
their victims before they reached the
ground, and those experts watched Tantias
treasure / was not surprised that the shi-
karees avoided the spot though II was
10 I,A \ 4.
ill-gotten gains and planted them else
where