Year: 1867

Captain Lanseer was in temporary command o
the military post at Pudser, and had in his detach
Inent large body Of native troops. He parades
his soldiers for inspection, and put them through
thorough drill The evolutions of the battalion
were performed with promptness and precision
and the manual Of arms was nearly equal to tha
of the best drilled European troops. had heart
that these Sepoys were not 80 well disciplined a
the English soldiers; but Lanseer assured me tina
their discipline was well nigh perfect In size the!
are smaller than the English but they readil..
adapt themselves to the light uniform and are yer.
hardy: =


Our second evening at Pudser was spent at Cap
tain Ianseer's quarters and after supper we work
ed our way into story telling


Gentlemen" said Lanseer, as we filled oul
pipes the second time, II can tell you very Gu
rious story of circumstances that have transpirec
in this place within month. IF you can thinl
of nothing Better, will give it to you. /"


Of course we could think of nothing better, and
the vote was unanimous that he should proceed


About four weeks ago. commenced the Captain
wealthy zemindar, named Hoosan Kahn


s'Zemindar," interrupted Gihoy, "what's
that .+


Azemindar is simply land owner, replied Ian
seer. As was saying, the zemindar Hoosiar
Kahn was found one morning dead in his bed, with
his throat cut in most shocking manner. 1t was
not cut clean across, as suicide would have done
it, but it was hacked frighfuly. Upon the floor
close by the bedside, was found razor covered
with blood, its stout horn handle broken, and the
shank bent. The semindar had been an excellent
man, respected by the people, both high and low,
and his shocking death was the cause of much ex-
citement. And first it was thought that the mur.
der had been committed for the purpose Of robbie,
~; but not an article had been stolen from the
houses The English watch, the jewels, the purse,
the leather pocketbook which, with the clothing
in the room, were undisturbed. was called to
the scene Of the murder as soon as it was discov.
cred, and, with other officers, did my best to un.
ravel the mystery. There had been some strug,
Cling on the part of Hoosian, as was evident from
the condition. of the bed but he had not strug'
gled much. We found large bunch of hair upon
the pillow, where the murderer had held the head
back while thefatal work being done and this,
together with the broken handle and bent shank
of the razor signaed to us that the assassin must
have been fellow of immense physical power.


While I was gathering up his hair, one Of my
. companions called attention to some marks upon
the floor A quantity of blood had run down up
on grass mat by the side of the bed, and not tai
from this upon the floor, several bloody prints
which appeared to me to have been made by a
mans hand. They were certainly not the print oi
human foot i could only account for them up.
on the supposition that the murderer had either
slipped and fallen or had been pushed over by the
struggling zemindar, and that here was where his
bloody hands had struck The window was open,
and we found stains of blood upon the stool very
much in the shape of those upon the floor. This
sleeping room was all our chamber, and the muir
derer had made his exit by the window into the
tree, the limbs of which dropped toward the
house.


The first person whom we called as witness was
an old woman who had been employed for some
years in the family The zemindar' wife was just
then too deeply affected to give us any coherent
information. - The old woman, whose name, !
think, was Zaloa, recognized the razor as having
belonged to her master, and she also showed us the
little closet where it had been kept The closet
door had been opened, and the razor had been ta-
ken from the dressing case, and that, too, in the
dark, from all which it itappeared that the deed had
been done by some one familiar with the premises.
There had been no robbery, so we were led to the
further conclusion that the murder had been an
act of vengeance And who could have entertain.
ed such feelings toward Hoosian Kahn? We had
questioned Zaloa, but she shook her head. She
did not reply with that promptness which might
have been expected from one who had mo suspi
cions but she seemed rather to avoid the'subject
Iquestioned her closely, but she was not inclined
to speak. '


'sDo you know" said ], eff any of the servants
in the house had any feelings Of il-wil agains
your master?'


She begged me to ask her mistress. The mis-
tress had just then entered the room, and, as sh,
heard this remark, she spoke She said there wa
a servant who had such enmity against her hus
band and she named the khidmutcher, Gholam


"Khidmutcher," interrupted Ben Gilroy, taking
his pipe from his mouth, whats that?'


ga khidmutger is table servant, !" exclaime'
the Captain 'This hidmutger's name was Gho
lam, and he was the most powerful fellow on tn
place knew him well He was high tempered
and bold, but had never thought him vindictive
It seems that two or three days before, the zemin
dar had punished Gholam for some slight misde
meanor, and the latter had declared that he woul'
have vengeance. Finally the woman, Zaloa, con
fessed that she heard the man make such threat
and she had hesitated telling it because Gholan
vas good hearted man, and had been kind t
her.


Gholam seemed utterly astonished when he wa
accused of the murder. At first he pretended +
think we were not in earnest; but when he foun
that we meant what we said, he protested his IN
nocence in the most vehement manner. Wekne'
the superstitious nature of the caste to which h
belonged, and we expected that he would betra
his guilt when he beheld the bloody corpse OF hi
yictim-but it was not so. He was horror-stricb
en- at the sight, but quickly recovering himself
walked directly to the bed, and placing his han
upon the cold brow of his master, he called on tn
AZ ing God to witness that he was innocent
tA ,rime. My belief in the guilt Of Gholam wa
81 s.ggered, and yet circumstances were strongly
gainst him. We knew that the murderer mus
have been not only well acquainted in the house
but also acquainted with the zemindar's privat
affairs; and we were furthermore confident tha
the deed had been one of revenge.


Gholam was arrested and confined, and two day
afterward he was tried and condemned. Still b
was not Immediately executed as is generally th
manner in capital cases in this country. His pr(