Year: 1874

As detectives, the East Indian police
men, says a writer in Once A Week, ex-
hibit an acumen that would not dis
grace the most intelligent of our own
force. will give an instance of this
that happened lately. One day a we'll
dressed woman apparently of the better
class, entered the house of a sowcar or
money-lender in Hyderabad. She
seemed to be in the most dire distress,
and crying bitterly. She informed the
sowcar that her husband was a mer-
merchant, and that he had embarked his
all in stocking a shop that the shop
keepers had agreed together TO ruin
him that they had succeeded in doing
so; and that now he was lying in prison,
sunk under a load of debt, at the mercy
of his pitiless creditors. The only way
of helping him that she could think Of
was to pawn her jewels, and that she
had accordingly brought them with her,
hoping that the sowcar would advance
her such a sum on them as would be
sufficient to Hberate her husband. She
then produced her treasures-diamond
rings. earrings, pearl necklaces-ap-
parently worth several thousand ru-
pees, and entreated him to lend her two
thousand rupees on them without de-
lay. He accordingly, having first tes-
ted the gold setting, and found them of
pure gold, judged the jewels to be also
genuine, and thought that he might
make a good thing out of the transac-
ton. SO, after beating her down q
hundred rupees, he gave her tine money.
The woman left the shop and disap-
peared. The sowcar shortly afterwards
htppened to show the jewels to friend
who was visiting him, and was advised
by him to examine the stones carefully,
which as yet he had not done. He had
concluded at the time he made the bar
gain that, rs the gold settings were un-
doubtedly of pure metal the stones also
would be genuine. he acted according
TO his friends advice, aud then discov-
cred, to his horror, that they were all
clever limitations, worth nothing. There
was only the gold, worth about e40, for
comfort. He had been swindled clever
ly out of fifteen hundred rupees.


The only thing that remained for him
to do was to put the matter into the
hands of the police, in the hope of cap
turing the woman. They advised him
to say nothing of his having heen
cheated, but to give out that his house
had been broken into by a band Of
thieves, that everything had been car
ried of, among which was a large guam
tity of jewelry-that belonging TO the
woman was to be infinitely described
and that he should offer large reward
/ for the discovery of the stolen goods,
as, from their having been deposited on
| pledge, he would be involved in a
great loss. This he did, having it
cried with beat of tom-tom through all
the bazars.


Two or three days after a mau came
to the sowcar, and said that he had been
in prison for debt that his wife bad
pawned her jewels to get him out that,
since then his father had died and left
him property and that now he wished
to redeem the jewels that had been de-
posted with him. OF course, the SOW
car said he could not produce them, as
they had been stolen but would the
man give him timer This was refused,
and the full value demanded, less the
sum lent and interest. A great deal Of
haggliug was done, in order 10 allow
time for the police 70 be summoned.
On their arrival he was taken into Gus,
tody. and woman and man were pun
/ ished.