The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-09-06
49,, If the black list Of their ne"
residence.
profesSiOnal Murderers.

of the thugs ana nada
other castles, who formerly mace
cri,na a business. There are many %
those The Kuru marus are pluneo
sional thieves and pickpocke,s :.
teach their children to steal ana ~
ont of it. They burglarlze houses
not through the doors or windows, out
bv digging through the nnuu "al'
Nth instruments made for the pur-
pose.
Tha thugs have about ~isappeareo'
having been hunted down by the po-
ice like wild beasts. they were Q
caste or band Of hereditary assaSslns
who first ~strangled and then roopeo
+hair victims. They had maps Of the
country with murder stations marx
cd upon them at which places one
could kill with least danger OF o1s-
covery. They killed by wholesale. IN
one Of the trials a certain lug :,
tossed that he had been engaged IN
500 murders.
The road PRISONERS Of today are sald
~ he the descendants Of or allied 10
the thugs. They work in small sanss,
following the pilgrims ana traVeiels
and using poison that they may pe
able to rob and make their escape.
ono IF he most common drugs is
nux vomica, and another is the ma
tive dhatura, which produces lnsen-
sihi,;+y and DEATH. The latter comes
from a plant common all over lhla
- country. 1t IS one OIL t1t AdAho -
noisons Of ancient India, which kills
without trace. One Of the most
note, poisoners of recent times used
$ this drug. He was a policeman, VINO
. had learned the trade IN jail "a.
his trial he confessed that he had
noisoned hundreds Of people, ana ne
: gave the details of sixty-n1ne mnrueiS.
Poisoning has always fourlshed IN
7 India. The legends OF the Sods are
9 full of the custom, and love cnarIns
and death charms may still De bouSn'.
Q The tanners used to poison cattle for
the sake OF their hides by placing
/ arsenic in their feeding troughs ana
Is within recent times IN attempt was
made to poison an army ofhclal Win
/ diamond dust mixed With arsenic.
There are traditions. of princes ana
IS princesses who have been poisoned by
envenomed robes like that of Nessus.
n Until very recently one Of the mos'
common crimes in India has been IN
y fanticide. 1t is still practiced IN some
10 localities, being most prevalent at tne
re times of famines. Such infants are
IS usually girls. Many of the Hindus
le look upon the birth of a female chlle
IL as a curse; and at a census taken no
"a long ago it was shown that or the
girls under twelve years OF age OF Ger
IS, tain castles, about forty in every thou
in sanl we've missing. This Woule
IN mean the killing of four girls IN
m hundred a large percentage, indeed.
al Among the Rajputs Of northern In
p dia the surplus female children Wer
- once destroyed at birth, and l am tol
III that this still occurs now ana tner
nc In and about Benares there IS a ira
dition that if a girl baby be browne
in milk it may come into the famll
next year as a baby boy. Such De
~ liefs made infanticide common !
many parts of India until the Brltls
~ administration took hold. one au
III ~ oritv rolatac that in some or IN
III tribes of Oudh not more than one !
twenty Of the baby girls were above
$50 to live, and many castles and tribe
'e threw their surplus Of children INT
" wells or tied them to trees, Wher
Ia their eyes were picked out by tn
!. crows. In the Upper Gauges vale
~ the British had to pass special Ia"
ne for the clans to be addlcte
ne to child murder. The police were Sc
rs. on them and they were heavily take
IKE until their proportion Of girls CORE
al sponded to that Of the rest Of tn
u. country. Even day everyWne
throughout India girls are less prize
thar boys, and the girl baby IS not {
nc well cared for as her baby brotne
IN: She is not so we'll fed and not as we
y treated in sickness. It may be tn;
this has caused in some degree II
difference in the number Of the il
fants Of the two sexes.
IA Jails and Convict Labor.
All such capital crimes, howeve
are decreasing, and in the Britt:
has states have almost disappeared. tt
has police have a record Of every profe
7 IS sional of the criminal classes, and
leir the rOgues' galleries their phOt
ag- graphs and finger print records. Tt
len, railway has it's own police ani the
10 are guards about every station. The
lon are strong jails everywhere, and Il
and criminals now in nrisOn are aho
ept. 100000.
, in During nv stay here I visited son
re- of the tails There arc MANY Of the
ave scattered throughout British Ind
sun and ont a few contain several tho
go sand prisoners. In nearly all CO