The Northern Daily Times. — 1856-08-23 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

IHORRIBLE MURDER OF AN OLD WOMAN.  The Tehsildar, who in the Madras Presidency is also head of the Talook police. accompanied by a number of native underlings, stayed for some days in Rudravarum, and, consequent upon fixing the actual amount to be levied on the village crops, winnowing baskets were required by the Tehsildar's people. A number were furnished by some of the ryots of the place, in the habit of making up such articles for sale. No payment however was given for this first supply of baskets, and on a further number being demanded, the price of those already delivered was asked for. The ryots pleaded inability to make them until their male relatives arrived with the material, for which they had gone to the jungles, and as it was a period of great scarcity, the deceased asked for money in advance .o provide themselves with food. which being considered an impertinent proceeding, the first prisoner gave orders to strike, which the third prisoner did, giving the deceased two blows on the temple,and appears never to have spol on whichenafterwardss,hweitfelhtlhe exception of one exclamation ; as she did not rise, the second prisoner considered she must have been shaming, and gave her a kick on the abdomen, which he repeated, and the fourth prisoner then took her by the arm to lift and remove her to the pial close by, from which the first, second, third, and fourth witnesses removed her gently to one a little f .r-ther off, but finding her unable to proceed, they left her there and went to await the arrival of their male relatives. The son of the deceased, the prosecutor, returning about this time to the village, and hearing what had happened, went immediately to the house of the landholder where the Tehsildar was staying, and there accused the latter of having caused his mother to be ill-treated. He was " turned away "by the followers of the Tehsildar. The next day the old woman died. Her body was taken by her son, and laid before the door of the he use where the injuries had been inflicted ; and from thence, in spite of all that the 'Tehsildar and his myrmidons could do, the exasperated relatives refused to remove it. One of them in the mean time lodged a complaint before the Joint Magistrate of Cuddapah, who gave orders that the Tehsildar should report on the circumstances connected with the old woman's death ; the accused holding an inquest on the body of the woman he was charged with having murdered ! The result of such a proceeding was that " no marks of violence were visible on the body of the deceased." The truth was, that the cloth which covered the corpse had never been removed during the examination, and thus, it being impossible to see the marks it concealed from view, the village authorities under the influence of fear or bribery, returned a verdict implying a natural death, and forthwith ordered the body to be disposed of, i.e , buried. The sub police officer, however, next in rank to the Tehsildar, refused to sign the inquest papers, as untruthful, and out of this circumstance arose further investigations, which ended in the committal of the Tehsildar and the three worthies who had obeyed his orders and beaten the old woman. But even in the Sessions Court, to obtain redress was no easy matter. Notwithstanding that there was the evidence of numerous bystanders, the prisoners were well nigh acquitted. The nahornedan law officers were for allowing them to escape, and discrepancies and contradictions in the evidence for the prosecution were found out, and declared such that a conviction could not stand. Mr. Elliott, the Session Judge of Cuddapah, however, thought differently. To his thinking the discrepancies alluded to were trifling and unimportant, He thought such a statement as that the Tehsildar was "sitting in the house," perfectly reconcileable with one which described him " sitting within the entrance to the house," and did not, with the law officers, think that it was impossible for an assailant using his right hand, to strike the person he was attacking on the left temple, The prisoners were therefore convicted, the man who actually struck the woman to eight years' imprisonment. the Tehsildar and another person to two years' similar punishment, a fourth prisoner, who was the foremost amongst the assailants, and who would probably have also been awarded eight years' imprisonment, having died in jail before his trial.—Calcutta _Englishman.