El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-09-03


band of hereditary assassins who first
strangled and then robbed their vic
tins. They had maps of the country
with murder stations marked upon
upon them at>~which places ione could
kill with least danger of discovery.
They killed by wholesale In one Of
the trials a certain thug confessed that
he had been engaged In 900 murders
The road prisoners of today are said
to be the descendants of or allied to
the thugs. They work in small gangs,
following the pilgrims and travellers
and using poison that they may be
able to rob and make their escape
One Of the most common drugs is nux
vomica, and another is the native
dhatura, which produces insensibility
and death. The latter comes from a
plant common all over this country. II
IS one Of the famous poisons of ancient
India, which kills without trace. One
Of the most noted prisoners of recent
times used this drug. He was a police
man, who had learned the trade in Jail.
AT his trial he confessed that he had
poisoned hundreds of people, and he
gave the details of SO murders !
Poisoning has always flourished in
India. The legends of the gods are full
Of the custom, and love charms and
death charms may still be bought The
tanners used to poison cattle for the
sake of their hides by placing arsenic
IN their feeding troughs; and within
recent times an attempt was made to
poison an army official with diamond
dust mixed with arsenic. There are
traditions of princes l and princesses
who have been poisoned by envenomed
robes like that of Nessus
Baby killers.
Until very recently one of the most
common crimes in India has been in
fanticide. 1t is still practiced in some
localities, being most prevalent at the
times of famines. Such infants are
usually girls. Many of the Hindus look
upon the birth of female child as
curse; and at a census taken not long
ago it was shown that of the girls un-
der II years of age of certain castles.
about 80 in every 1000 were missing.
This would mean the killing of four
girls in hundred. a large percentage
indeed
Among the Rajputs of northern India |
the surplus female children were once
destroyed at birth, and I am told that |
this still occurs now and then In and !
about Benares there is tradition that !
If girl baby be drowned in milk. |
1t may come into the family next year
as a baby boy Such beliefs made in |
fanticfde common in many parts of |
India until the British administration !
look hoIu- one authority relates that /;
in some Of the tribes of Oudh not more
than one in 20 of the baby girls were
allowed to live. and many castles and
tribes threw their surplus of children
into wells or tied them to trees, where
their eyes were picked out by the
crows. In the upper Ganges valley the
BRITISH had to pass special laws for
the clans supposed to be addicted to
child murder. The police were set on
hs1r 1v11
their proportion of girls cOrresponded to I
that Of the rest of the country. Even
today everywhere throughout India
girls are less priced than boys and the
girl baby is not as well cared for as /
her baby brother She is not so wen I
led and not as well treated in sickness. /
1t may be that this has caused in SONS
degree the difference in the numbers of !
the infants of the two sexes
JaiIs and Convict Labor
All such capital crimes. however, are
decreasing, and in the British states !
nave almost disappeared. The police Z
nave a record of every professional of
the criminal classes, and in the rogues
their photographs and finger
print records The railway has its own
police and there are guards about every
station There are strong jails everv-
where, and the criminals now In prison
are about 100 900
During my stay here 1 visited some
or the 5ails- There are many of them
scattered throughout British India, and
not few contain several thousand
prisoners. In nearly all contract labor
is done The prisoners work about nine
hours a day. There are three classes of
labor, hard, medium and light; they
are allotted according to the physical
OF the men. Much of the work |
Is IN manufactures of various kinds,
and as far IS possible in the making of
things for the government A great
deal of the clothing and tents for the
army come from the jaiIs The GRIM
lnals print most Of the government
blanks, and they also make furniture
for the public buildings In some jails
trades are taught. A great deal of
is done and some of the finest
carpets of the world are made in the
Jail at Agra The prisoners are forced
TO work, and should they shirk they
are punished. Among the punishments
are various forms of confinement.
in chains and whipping. There
are also rewards for industry and good
conduct, and the orderly criminal can
thus cut down his term
There are boys in most of the jails;
but they are kept in separate wards
and receive an educatio of the manual
training order. There are also reforma-
-OAACo AOI bOln girls anu boys, ana In !
some prosinces the jails have special
departments for girl criminals.
The Courts of India.
Indeed, law and order now mean more
n India than in any other country of
Asia, with the exception, perhaps, of
Japan. There are courts everywhere,
md every native has the right to bring
suit The Hindus are fond of the law,
md they spend freely in defending
heir rights. Something like 100000
'ivil cases are instituted each year.
The officers Of the courts number al
most 1000, and the civil justices and the
of the magistrates are natives.
rhere are many trials by native juries,
md the native lawyers, who usually are
graduates Of the universities, are both
-ole and efficient. There is a regular
'ystem Of appeal courts, and In Madras
8oHbay, Bengal and the united prov
noes there are supreme high courts,
Thich have the right of appeal to the
5rivy council in England.
l have before me some recent statis-
les which give ONE an idea of the work |
4 the criminal courts, and show how !
veil the British are keeping law and or
er IN Hindustan. The country, as you
NOW, is thiclly populated. It's inhabi-
ants number 500. 100000, but among all