{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54188/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54188","id":"gutenberg_54188","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54188","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Other","Category: Law & Criminology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Crime -- Asia -- History","Crime -- Middle East -- History","Prisons -- Asia -- History","Prisons -- Middle East -- History"],"text":"The History and\n\n  Romance of\n\n  Crime\n\n  FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES\n  TO THE PRESENT DAY\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE GROLIER SOCIETY\n  LONDON\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_A Prison in Tangier_\n\n\n\n\n  Oriental Prisons\n\n  PRISONS AND CRIME IN INDIA\n  THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS\n  BURMAH--CHINA--JAPAN--EGYPT\n  TURKEY\n\n  _by_\n\n  MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS\n  _Late Inspector of Prisons in Great Britain_\n\n  _Author of\n  \u201cThe Mysteries of Police and Crime\n  Fifty Years of Public Service,\u201d etc._\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE GROLIER SOCIETY\n\n\n  EDITION NATIONALE\n  Limited to one thousand registered and numbered sets.\n  NUMBER 234\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nIt is as true of crime in the Orient as of other habits, customs\nand beliefs of the East, that what has descended from generation to\ngeneration and become not only a tradition but an established fact, is\naccepted as such by the people, who display only a passive indifference\nto deeds of cruelty and violence. Each country has its own peculiar\nclasses of hereditary criminals, and the influence of tradition and\nlong established custom has made the eradication of such crimes a\ndifficult matter.\n\nReligion in the East has had a most notable influence on crime. In\nIndia the Thugs or professional stranglers were most devout and their\ncriminal acts were preceded by religious rites and ceremonies. In\nChina the peculiar forms of animism pervading the religion of the\npeople has greatly influenced criminal practices. Murder veiled in\nobscurity is frequently attributed to some one of the legion of evil\nspirits who are supposed to be omnipresent; and to satisfy and appease\nthese demons innocent persons are made to suffer. So great, too, is\nthe power of the spirit after death to cause good or ill, that many\nstories are related of victims of injustice who have hanged themselves\non their persecutors\u2019 door-posts, thus converting their spirits into\nwrathful ghosts to avenge them. The firm belief in ghosts and their\npower of vengeance and reward is a great restraint in the practice of\ninfanticide, as the souls of murdered infants may seek vengeance and\nbring about serious calamity.\n\nOriental prison history is one long record of savage punishments\nculminating in the death penalty, aggravated by abominable tortures.\nThe people are of two classes, the oppressed and the oppressors, and\nthe last named have invented many devices for legal persecution.\nIn early China and Japan, relentless and ferocious methods were in\nforce. One of the emperors of China invented a new kind of punishment,\ndescribed by Du Halde in 1738, at the instigation of a favourite wife.\nIt was a column of brass, twenty cubits high and eight in diameter,\nhollow in the middle like Phalaris\u2019s Bull, with openings in three\nplaces for putting in fuel. To this they fastened the criminals, and\nmaking them embrace it with their arms and legs, lighted a great fire\nin the inside; and thus roasted them until they were reduced to ashes.\n\nThe first slaves in China were felons deprived of their liberty. Later\nthe very poor with their families sold themselves to the rich. Although\nslavery has never been largely prevalent owing to the patriarchal\nnature of society, all modern writers agree that it exists in a\nloathsome form to-day. Parents sell their children and girls bring a\nhigher price than boys.\n\nWho does not know of the peculiar sufferings and wrongs inflicted\nfor so many generations on the gentle peasant in the proud land of\nthe Pharaohs, of whom it is said \u201cthat the dust which fills the air\nabout the Pyramids and the ruined temples is that of their remote\nforefathers, who swarmed over the land, working under the fiery sun and\nthe sharp scourge for successive races of task-masters--the Ethiopian,\nthe Persian, the Macedonian, the Roman, the Arab, the Circassian and\nthe Turk.\u201d\n\nDuring the reign of Ismail Pasha we hear of 150,000 men, women and\nchildren driven forth from their villages with whips to perform work\nwithout wages on the Khedive\u2019s lands or in his factories. It is a\nheartrending picture.\n\nIn earlier times the administration of the country districts was in\nthe hands of governors appointed by the Pasha and charged by him with\nthe collection of taxes and the regulation of the corv\u00ea\u00e9, or system of\nenforced labour, at one time the universal rule in Egypt. The present\nsystem established by Great Britain is in striking contrast to past\ncruelties.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  CHAPTER                                         PAGE\n\n     I. PRISON SYSTEM IN INDIA                         9\n\n    II. THE CRIME OF THUGGEE                          42\n\n   III. CEREMONIES OF THUGGEE                         70\n\n    IV. DACOITY                                       82\n\n     V. CHARACTERISTIC CRIMES                        124\n\n    VI. THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS                          148\n\n   VII. PRISONS OF BURMAH                            170\n\n  VIII. CRIME IN CHINA                               205\n\n    IX. ENLIGHTENED METHODS OF JAPAN                 229\n\n     X. THE LAW IN EGYPT                             243\n\n    XI. TURKISH PRISONS                              269\n\n\n\n\nList of Illustrations\n\n\n  A PRISON IN TANGIER                _Frontispiece_\n\n  EXECUTION IN INDIA                     _Page_ 124\n\n  CHINESE PUNISHMENT                        \u201c   217\n\n\n\n\nPRISONS OF INDIA\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nPRISON SYSTEM IN INDIA\n\n    Lord Macaulay\u2019s work--Commission appointed to look into\n    state of prisons--Appointment of an inspector-general of\n    gaols--Charge of district gaols given into the hands of civil\n    surgeons--Treatment of juvenile offenders in India--Prison\n    discipline--The employment of convict overseers--Caste--Ahmedabad\n    gaol--Prison industries--Alipore Gaol in Calcutta--Ameer Khan,\n    the Wahabee--Description of the Montgomery gaol--The prison\n    factory--Convict officials--The gaol of Sirsah--A native gaol of\n    Orissa.\n\n\nThe prison system in India developed gradually under the British\nrule. At first but little attention was paid to the subject of penal\ndiscipline, and the places of detention were put in the charge of\njudicial officers who had complete control of the criminals in their\ndistricts. The judges and magistrates had but little time to attend\nto the gaols; the administration was chiefly in the hands of native\nsubordinates, and abuses of every kind prevailed, as might have been\nexpected.\n\nThe first important step toward prison reform was initiated by Lord\nMacaulay when a member of the Indian Law Commission in 1835. He\nsuggested that a committee should be appointed to look into the\nstate of the prisons in India and to prepare an improved plan of\nprison discipline. This suggestion was readily acceded to by the\ngovernor-general, Sir C. Metcalfe, and a committee composed of fourteen\nable and distinguished men was selected for the purpose. An extract\nfrom their report will best show the existing state of the prisons at\nthat time, and runs as follows:\n\n\u201cIn reviewing the treatment of prisoners in Indian gaols, although on\nsome points which we have not failed to throw into a strong light the\nhumanity of it is doubtful, yet generally the care that is taken of the\nphysical condition of these unfortunate men in the great essentials\nof cleanliness, attention to the sick and the provision of food and\nclothing, appears to us to be highly honourable to the government of\nBritish India. When fair allowance has been made for the climate of\nthe country and the habits of the people, we doubt whether India will\nnot bear a comparison even with England, where for some years past\nmore money and attention has been expended to secure the health and\nbodily comfort of prisoners than has ever been the case in any other\ncountry of Europe.... It appears to us that that which has elsewhere\nbeen deemed the first step of prison reform has been already taken in\nIndia. What after many years was the first good effect of the labours\nof Howard and Neild in England has already been achieved here. There\nis no systematic carelessness as to the circumstances of the prisoner,\nno niggardly disregard of his natural wants; he is not left to starve\nof cold or hunger or to live on the charity of individuals; he is not\nleft in filth and stench to sink under disease without an attempt to\ncure him; he is not able to bribe his gaoler in order to obtain the\nnecessaries which the law allows him. With us in England, the second\nstage of prison reform seems to be nearly the present state of prison\ndiscipline in India. The physical condition of the prisoner has been\nlooked to, but nothing more, and the consequences here as in England\nhave been that a prison, without being the less demoralising, is not a\nvery pleasant place of residence.... The proportion of distinct civil\ngaols to all other gaols is very honourable to the government. The\nmixture of the two sexes in Indian prisons is unknown, and in general\nthe separation of tried and untried prisoners is at least as complete\nin India as in other countries. We allude to these things, not to give\nmore credit to the Indian government in these matters than it deserves,\nbut to show that although we have found much fault and recommend many\nreforms, we do not overlook the fact that much has been already done.\u201d\n\nThe second stage in Indian prison reform was the appointment of an\ninspector-general of gaols for every province. This was first tried as\nan experiment in the North-western Provinces after some hesitation\non the part of the government, and it was proved conclusively by\ncomparison with the statistics of former years \u201cthat the prisoners were\ngenerally more healthy, better lodged, fed and clothed, that the gaol\ndiscipline had been much improved and that the expenditure had been\nreduced\u201d in those prisons which had been placed under the supervision\nof an inspector. Upon this evidence the government decided to make the\noffice a permanent one, and it was finally established in 1850 in the\nNorth-western Provinces and shortly afterward in the Punjab, Bengal,\nMadras and Bombay.\n\nThe third important measure toward prison reform in India was\ninitiated in the North-western Provinces. Until 1860, the management\nof the district gaols had been in the hands of the magistrates of the\nsurrounding country, but it was found that owing to the increased\npressure of work in the administration they were unable \u201cto find\ntime to regulate the management, economy and discipline of the local\nprison with the care and exactness which the pecuniary interests of\nthe government and the purposes of civil administration demand.\u201d\nTherefore the civil surgeon, who had formerly had charge of the medical\ndepartment only of the local gaol, was now given the entire management.\nThis change was finally sanctioned by the government in 1864, after\ndue trial which showed that there had been an improved discipline\nand an improved economy in all the gaols in which the experiment had\nbeen tried. In 1864 two other important reforms were introduced:\nfirst,--that no central gaol (intended for all prisoners sentenced to a\nterm exceeding one year) should be built to accommodate more than one\nthousand persons; and second,--that the minimum space allowed to each\nprisoner should be 9 feet by 6, or 54 superficial feet, and 9 feet by 6\nby 12, or 648 cubic feet.\n\nSome of the many difficulties in the way of prison reform besides those\nof finance are summed up in Lord Auckland\u2019s resolution upon the prison\ncommittee\u2019s report.\n\n\u201cEvery reform of prison discipline is almost of necessity attended at\nthe outset with extraordinary expense. To exchange the common herding\ntogether of prisoners of all descriptions for careful classification;\nto substitute a strict and useful industry for idleness or for a light,\nill-directed labour; to provide that the life which is irksome shall\nnot also be unhealthy, and that the collection of the vicious shall not\nbe a school of vice,--are all objects for the first approach of which\nlarge buildings must be erected, machinery formed and establishments\ncontrived, and in the perfect attainment and maintenance of which great\ndisappointment has after every effort and expense in many countries\nensued. In no country is it likely that greater difficulty will be\nexperienced than in this for the mere locality of the prison; that\nwhich is healthy in one season may become a pesthouse by a blast of\nfever or cholera, in another. For its form--the close yard which is\nadapted for classification and is not unwholesome in England, would be\na sink of malaria in India. For food, for labour and for consort there\nare habits and an inveteracy of prejudice bearing upon health, opposing\nthe best management of prisons such as are not to be encountered\nelsewhere, and superadded to all this is the absence of fitting\ninstruments for control and management, while it is principally upon a\nperfect tact and judgment and an unwearying zeal that the success of\nevery scheme of discipline has been found to depend.\u201d\n\nThe classification of the gaols in the North-western Provinces and Oude\nis made according to the number of persons they can hold, as follows:\nthe central prisons of the first, second, third and fourth class;\nthe district prisons, and the lock-ups. In the central prisons, all\nprisoners sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for any period exceeding\nsix months are confined; in the district prisons all prisoners\nsentenced to terms not exceeding three months are sent for every kind\nof crime, also civil prisoners and prisoners committed for trial at the\nsessions court; in the lock-ups all prisoners under trial before any\ncourt are lodged.\n\nThere are no reformatories for juvenile offenders in India. The\ngovernment has so far considered that there is no need for their\nestablishment. This conclusion has been arrived at by a comparison\nbetween the state of civilisation in the European countries which have\nadopted this plan of dealing with juvenile criminals and that of India.\nIn the former there is a large class of vagrant, deserted and neglected\nchildren, which is quite unknown in the latter country. The following\nfigures will serve to show the truth of this assertion. In Ireland, in\n1866, out of a population of 6,000,000, there were 1,060 juveniles,\nunder sixteen years, committed to prison for various offences; whereas\nin the whole of India, with a population of more than 150,000,000, the\ncommitment of juveniles was about 2,000 in the same year.\n\nIn the presidency of Bombay there is an institution of very much the\nsame nature as a reformatory, called the David Sasson Industrial and\nReformatory Institution, which owes its origin to private benevolence,\nbut which now receives some support from public resources. It is quite\nseparate from the gaols and under different management and control.\n\nIn the North-western Provinces \u201call boys and lads under eighteen years\nof age, sentenced to periods of imprisonment for three months, are\ntransferred as soon after sentence as possible to the nearest central\nprison, where they are placed under a regular system of education with\ntraining in industrial labour; they are confined in separate cells\nat night wherever there are a sufficient number of these for their\naccommodation, which is the case at Meerut, Agra and Gorruckpore,\nand at all prisons they attend school and labour for fixed periods\nduring the day under directors specially employed for that purpose.\nBoys, whether confined in separate cells or association, are kept, day\nand night, entirely separate from the adult prisoners.\u201d In the Punjab\nthere is a reformatory in connection with the gaol of Goordaspore to\nwhich boys sentenced to more than six months\u2019 confinement are sent.\nThis reformatory was first established in the Sealkote gaol in 1862,\nbut was subsequently removed to Goordaspore. The warder in charge,\nthe gaol officials, the inspectors and the teacher approved by the\neducational department, are the only adults allowed to enter this\nyard. In the majority of district gaols there is a special yard set\naside for juvenile prisoners, and in those gaols, where no such yard\nexists, when juvenile prisoners are received they are placed in cells,\nor other arrangements are made for separating them from the rest of\nthe prisoners at night, and during the day they are made to work in a\npart of the yard by themselves. In the Lahore central gaol there is a\nseparate yard for juveniles under a specially selected warder.\n\nNearly every presidency and province of India has its gaol code,\ndrawn up under the sanction of the Prison Acts. That of Bengal was\ncompiled by Frederic J. Mouat, M. D., and was introduced in the year\n1864. \u201cIt borrowed freely,\u201d he says, \u201cfrom all the existing European\nand Indian rules which seemed to me to be suited for introduction in\nlower Bengal, and contained some special provisions based upon my\npersonal experience, and study of prison systems at home and abroad....\nIt defined in considerable detail the duties, responsibilities and\npowers of all classes of prison officers; contained provisions for\nthe classification and punishment of all classes of offenders; their\nmanagement in sickness and in health; their food, clothing, work,\ninstruction; and, in fact, every detail of discipline during their\nresidence in gaol, their transfer from one prison to another, their\ndischarge, and in the execution of capital sentences.\u201d Since these\nrules were framed a system of remission of sentence as the reward for\ngood conduct in gaol has been introduced, based on the principle of\nwhat is known as the Irish system.\n\nOne of the chief peculiarities of Indian prison management is the\nemployment of convicts in the maintenance of discipline. From the\nearliest days, prisoners were employed in the discharge of all the\nmenial duties of the gaols, cooking, washing, cleansing, scavengering,\nhusking rice, grinding corn and the preparation of food. The difficulty\nof obtaining trustworthy warders on the salaries allowed, and the\nimpossibility of preventing the introduction of forbidden articles\nthrough their agency, led to the trial in the gaol at Alipore of\nwell-behaved, long-term convicts as prison guards. They were found to\nbe more reliable than outsiders, and to discharge their duties more\nefficiently. The practice was adopted in other prisons, and when\nconducted with care and discretion, worked so well that the system\nhas been extended throughout India. Special provision for it has been\nmade in all the gaol codes. As a reward for good conduct and strict\nobedience to prison rules, all convicts whose behaviour has been\nexemplary throughout, and who have completed the prescribed term of\nhard labour, are eligible for the offices of convict warder, guard and\nwork-overseer. The number employed in these offices can never exceed\nten per cent. of the criminals in custody. All such appointments are\nmade with great care and deliberation, and are subject to the sanction\nof the head of the prison department, by whom they are closely watched.\nThey are liable to forfeiture for serious misconduct or breach of duty.\n\nAs a measure of economy in diminishing the cost of guarding\nprisons, and as a means of reformation in teaching self-respect and\nself-control, the plan has been successful everywhere in India,\ncontrary to the usual experience of penal legislators. The privilege\nis much prized, and few prisoners who have held such offices have\nrelapsed into crime, while many have obtained positions of trust on the\ncompletion of their sentences.\n\nIn the gaols of Bengal the privileges of caste are respected in\ngeneral, but no false plea of caste is permitted to interfere with\npunishment. With care, tact and such knowledge of the people committed\nto his charge as every officer in command of a prison ought to\npossess, no great feeling of dissatisfaction is likely to arise or to\nbe created. But from the jealousy with which all proceedings within\nthe prisons are watched by the outside population, and the rapidity\nwith which intelligence regarding them is spread, it is evident that\nextreme care must continue to be observed in the matter. While it is\nwell known that imprisonment with its enforced associations is always\nattended with loss of caste, that, however, is readily restored by the\nperformance of slight penances on release. It is instructive to find,\non tracing them throughout the country, how the same castes, whatever\ndifferences of names they bear, are most prone to the commission of the\nsame classes of crime.\n\nAgain, it is strange to discover that belief in witchcraft and the\nexistence of witch-finders is a source of crime in the East at the\npresent time. Among the Kols, an aboriginal race in the south-west of\nBengal, each village is supposed to have a tutelar divinity, generally\nan evil spirit to whom is assigned all the sickness, epidemics,\ndiseases and misfortunes which occur in the village. To this spirit\ncertain lands are assigned, and the produce of this land is used in\npropitiatory sacrifices. The existence of this superstition is said to\nbe a frequent cause of murder and extortion. The Kols believe in the\npowers of divination of \u201cwitch-finders,\u201d who are usually consulted when\nanything untoward occurs in a village. This witch-finder, who often\nlives at a distance, performs certain absurd ceremonials, and pretends\nthrough them to discover who in the village has caused the anger of\nthe tutelar deity. The person denounced is generally called upon to\npay handsomely for the evil caused, and usually does so, but if he\nrefuses he is frequently murdered, and whether he pays or not, if the\nmisfortune does not cease he is driven from the village, if no worse\nfate overtakes him. All this is done in the utmost good faith, faith as\nabsolute as that with which witch-hunting was pursued by the puritans\nof Scotland and America.\n\nSir Richard Temple, one of the most famous of India\u2019s recent\nproconsuls, passes an approving verdict upon Indian prisons as they\nexisted to the date of his volume, \u201cIndia in 1880.\u201d He was of the\nopinion that they were managed conscientiously and as far as possible,\nwith the means available, according to accepted principles. They erred\nperhaps in construction, and showed many shortcomings as regards\nsanitation and disciplinary supervision, but an earnest desire to\nimprove them has animated the Indian government and its officials.\nNative states, a little tardily, perhaps, have followed suit, and\nmany possess prisons imitating some of the best points of the British\nsystem. They long clung, however, to the old barbarous methods of\npunishment, such as short periods of detention with flogging, various\nkinds of fining, compensation to the relatives of murdered men, and\nmutilation in cases of grave robbery. A capital sentence was very\nrarely inflicted.\n\nGradually public opinion in India awoke to the belief that something\nmore than mere penal detention was needed for the treatment of\nprisoners. Outdoor labour, chiefly employed hitherto, was deemed\ninjurious to health and demoralising to discipline, entailing undue\nexpense in staff and guards; and so employment within the walls was\nsubstituted, with organised industries and manufactures by hand and\nwith the help of machinery. The work done includes the weaving of\ncarpets, which have a certain value and reputation, and much cotton\nand other fibres are manufactured; and the prisoners work at printing,\nlithography and other useful trades. The rules for wearing irons and\nfetters have been revised, and a consistent attempt has been made at\nclassification by separating the old habitual criminals from the less\nhardened offenders. The system of earning remission by industry and\ngood conduct, as practised in the British prisons, has been introduced\nwith good results. Sanitation and ventilation have been much improved,\nso that mortality has greatly diminished. Solitary confinement is\nenforced as a means of discipline, but the cellular separation of\nprisoners by night makes only slow progress, and the association of all\nclasses, good, bad and indifferent has a generally injurious effect\nupon prisoners.\n\nAccording to Sir Richard Temple\u2019s figures, there were in his time more\nthan two hundred prisons in all India, exclusive of 386 lock-ups, and\nthe daily average of inmates was 118,500, of whom only 5,500 were\nfemales. The annual number of crimes committed and charged was 880,000,\nand as more than one person is often concerned, the number of persons\ntried amounted to 970,000, of whom 550,000 were convicted, the balance\nbeing under trial or discharged. The labours devolving upon the police\nwere obviously severe, and the prisons were always full.\n\nAmong the leading Indian prisons of to-day, one of the largest, the\nAhmedabad gaol, was originally a Mohammedan college and was converted\nto its present purpose in 1820. Miss Mary Carpenter, who visited\nit in 1868, describes the gaol as follows: \u201cIt is a fine-looking\nbuilding and near the citadel, but not of course well adapted to its\npresent purpose, though the large space enclosed by the buildings\ngives it great capabilities of improvement. The first thing which\nstruck us painfully was that the men had irons on their legs. This\nbarbaric custom, which has long been exploded in our own country,\nis here preserved and is indeed general in India in consequence of\nthe usual insecurity of the premises. The prisoners were working in\nlarge open sheds with little appearance of confinement. A number\nwere occupied in weaving strong cotton carpets which appeared well\ncalculated for wear. Others were making towelling of various kinds,\nvery strong and good, from the cotton grown in the neighbourhood,\nwhile others were manufacturing pretty little cocoa mats and baskets.\nThere was in general a criminal look in the culprits; they were\nworking with good-will and appeared interested in their occupation,\nas in an ordinary factory. Except the chains, there was nothing of a\npenal description in the scene around us; and although this cheerful\nopen place, with work at useful trades, might not give the intended\nfeeling of punishment, still it was to be hoped that training these\nmen to useful labour, under good moral influences, must have a\nbeneficial influence on their future lives. On remarking this to the\nsuperintendent, he informed me that the salutary effect of the day\u2019s\nwork under proper supervision was completely neutralised, or even\nworse, by the corrupting influences of the night.\n\n\u201cThere are four hundred prisoners in this gaol, for whom the number\nof sleeping cells is totally inadequate and three or four are\nconsequently locked up together in the dark for twelve hours. There\nis no possibility during this period of preventing communication of\nthe most corrupting nature, both moral and physical. No man convicted\nof a first offence can enter this place--which ought to be one of\npunishment and attempted reformation--without the greatest probability\nof contamination and gaining experience in evil from the adepts in\ncrime who are confined with him; no young boy can enter without his\nfate being sealed for life.\n\n\u201cJuvenile delinquents, casual offenders, hardened thieves sentenced\nto a long term of imprisonment, are all herded together without any\npossibility of proper classification or separation. The condition of\nthe thirty-two whom I had seen at the court on the day before was\neven worse than the others; they were all penned up together without\nwork. There they had been for many months; and still they all were\nwithout any attempt being made to give them instruction, which might\nimprove their moral and intellectual condition. This state of things\nwas not owing to any neglect on the part of the superintendent, a man\nof enlightened benevolence, who devoted himself heart and soul to\nhis work. The conditions of this gaol are such that though able and\nwilling to remedy all these evils if authority and means were given to\nhim, under the existing circumstances he is powerless. There is ample\nroom on the premises for him to construct separate cells for all the\nprisoners with only the cost of material, but this is not granted to\nhim; he cannot therefore carry out the printed regulations that the\nprisoners are not to be made worse while in custody. The regulations\ndirect that the juveniles shall be separated from the adults; this is\nnow simply impossible. Rules are made that the prisoners shall receive\ninstruction, but no salary is allowed for a schoolmaster; there is\nno place appropriated for instruction and no time is granted for\nschooling; there are ten hours for labour, two hours are requisite for\nmeals and rest and during the remainder of the twenty-four hours the\nprisoners are locked up. It is indeed permitted by the regulations that\nsome prisoners may be employed as instructors but with the proviso\nthat their hours of labour shall not be abridged for the purpose. Such\ninstructors could not be expected to exercise any good moral influence\non the other prisoners; yet to commence with these, if any educated men\nwere among them, might lead to some better arrangement. The old college\nhall might possibly be employed as a schoolroom for a couple of hours\nafter sunset; but light would then be required and oil did not form a\npart of the authorised expenditure. There were, then, obstacles to any\nkind of instruction being imparted to the prisoners which no amount of\nearnestness on the part of the officials or the superintendent could\nsurmount.\n\n\u201cOn inquiring whether there were any females in the gaol, we were\nconducted to a small separate court where in a dismal ward there were\nsome miserable women employed in drudgery work. There were no female\nattendants and indeed no attempt appeared to be made to improve their\nwretched condition. I felt grieved and shocked that in any part of the\nBritish dominions women who were rendered helpless by being deprived of\nliberty, and thus fell under our special responsibility, should be so\nutterly uncared for as to be left under the superintendence of male\nwarders and without any means of improvement. In all these observations\nI found that I had the full accordance of the superintendent; who, so\nfar from being annoyed at the discovery of so many evils in this place,\nonly rejoiced that some one should add force to his own representations\nby an independent testimony. He stated that he understood it to be in\ncontemplation to build a large central gaol for the long-sentenced\nprisoners; the removal of these from his own gaol would of course\nremedy the overcrowding, though it would not enable each prisoner to\nhave a separate cell. In the meantime the evils were very great from a\nsanitary as well as from a moral point of view. On one occasion more\nthan a hundred had died owing to a want of good sanitary arrangements.\nImmediate attention to the condition of this gaol appeared therefore\nnecessary. Considering this as a common gaol without long-sentenced\nprisoners, the following points suggested themselves as necessary\nto carry out the intentions of government. First, a number of\nwell-ventilated sleeping cells should be constructed without delay,\nso as to enable every prisoner to have a separate cell for sleeping.\nSecond, a trained and efficient teacher should be engaged to carry\nout instruction; arrangements should be made to provide a cheerful\nand well-lighted schoolroom. Educated prisoners may be employed as\nassistant teachers; these should be specially trained and instructed\nby the headmaster in their labour hours so as to provide as efficient\na staff as possible. Third, the mark system and classification should\nbe carried out. Fourth, prisoners awaiting trial should be kept in\nseparation, but not under penal condition; the female department should\nbe completely remodelled under female warders; all the advantages\nprovided for the men should be given to the women.\u201d\n\nMr. Routledge, speaking of the Alipore Gaol in Calcutta which he\nvisited in 1878, says:--\n\n\u201cIt contained 2,500 persons when I saw it, and with a few exceptions,\nas in the case of those undergoing punishment, all were employed\nin remunerative labour. There were masons erecting buildings,\nweavers making gunny-bag cloth of jute, a factory of jute-spinners,\nlithographers, painters, carpenters, blacksmiths and many other classes\nof workmen, all engaged in task work. If they exceeded the task a\nsmall sum was carried to their credit to be paid to them on leaving\ngaol. An amusing story was told of a shrewd Yorkshireman who when\nsent out to \u201cmanage a jute mill\u201d was faced by the reality of some\nhundreds of criminals not one of whom knew anything of the work. First\nhe despaired; then he hoped a little; finally he succeeded and had a\ncapital jute mill. Dr. Faucus, the governor of the prison, told me that\nthe men they sent out with trades hardly ever had returned; and there\nwas an instance of a man whose time had expired begging permission to\nremain a little longer in gaol to more completely learn his trade. It\nwas to my view a humane and judicious system.\n\n\u201cEighteen months later I visited the Presidency Gaol in Calcutta, and\nthe governor, Dr. Mackenzie, kindly showed me the wonders of the place.\nWe saw in the yard, \u2018a mild Bengalee,\u2019 whom flogging, short diet and\neven the dreaded solitary confinement had failed to compel to work.\n\u2018He is one of the few prisoners who ever beat me,\u2019 the governor said.\nA hundred or so of the prisoners were breaking stones; some were on\nthe tread-mill, a frightful punishment under such a sun; some were\nmat-making, on very heavy looms. We came to a separate cell, the inmate\nof which was a loose-jointed, misshapen, weak-looking, thin-faced\nnative man, apparently about twenty-five years of age, though he\nmight, for anything one could judge, have been any age from eighteen\nto forty. \u2018That,\u2019 said the governor, \u2018was one of the most daring and\nrelentless Dacoits we have ever had.\u2019 In a cell a few yards distant,\nthere was a grave and venerable looking old man who had attained the\nvery highest grade in a different profession--that of a forger. He had\nbeen convicted in attempting to obtain money from an officer--I think\nthe head of the police--by means of a letter purporting to be written\nby Mr. Reilly, the well-known detective. The forgery was perfect, and\nno one would have disputed the letter but for one small mistake; the\ntwo initial letters of Mr. Reilly\u2019s Christian name were transposed.\nThis interesting old gentleman when questioned as to the amount of work\nhe had done, put his hands together and gravely confessed that it was\nfar short of the task. The governor spoke sternly and threatened short\ndiet. Evidently the old artist was out of his vocation when attempting\nslow, patient work. When the same question was put to the Dacoit he\npleaded pitifully, \u2018Only four bags, but I\u2019ll do forty to-morrow.\u2019 Forty\nwas the number required to be sewed per day.\n\n\u201cThere were many wealthy natives among the prisoners; and I was\nsorry to find a number of English sailors and soldiers committed for\ndeserting regiments or ships. It was impossible to look upon them as\ncriminals. They were kept apart from the other prisoners. Some of\nthem were very fine fellows, who probably never were in prison before\nnor would be again. Another class was that of the vagrants, termed\n\u2018loafers.\u2019 There were some very respectable looking men among them,\n\u2018turned away from the railways,\u2019 they said, or \u2018brought from Australia\nin charge of horses and then dismissed\u2019--the most prolific source of\n\u2018loaferism\u2019 in India.\n\n\u201cSix young native boys were separated from the rest. They had their\nown yard and each a little garden and a division of work. One was\ncook, another housemaid, and so on. They were drawn up in line and\nquestioned, the cook first.\n\n\u201c\u2018What are you here for?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Murder; I struck another boy on the head and killed him.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018And you?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Murder; I threw a child into a well.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe answers were given as if they had related to common matters.\nWe went no further in the list. An Indian prison is marvellous for\nits mixture of races. The Hindu cannot eat with the Mussulman. To\nstep inside a cookhouse is to defile it even for prisoners. Yet even\nBrahmins, old offenders, had been known to beg for the office of\n_mehtars_ (sweepers, lowest menials), so great was their dread of the\nhard labour.\n\n\u201cWhat were called the \u2018non-habituals\u2019 were employed as at Alipore and\ntaught trades where necessary. I noticed particularly an intelligent\nChinaman busy at the lathe. I said, \u2018He never gave you any trouble?\u2019\n\u2018No; he was entrapped into a robbery, caught and convicted, and he\nimmediately made the best of his position. He is a quiet, respectful,\nintelligent man.\u2019 He spoke English like an Englishman. There were\nseveral Chinamen in the prison and all of the same class. We came to a\nlong line of men, seated on the ground, engaged in hand spinning; the\nfourth from one end was old Ameer Khan, the Wahabee. He was a tall man,\nI should say nearly seventy years of age, stout, with flabby cheeks, a\nrather fine forehead and an extraordinarily furtive eye.\u201d\n\nThe trial of Ameer Khan, the Wahabee, caused a great sensation in the\nIndian law courts in the year 1870. The Wahabees were a sect founded by\na young Arab pilgrim of Damascus, named Abd-el Wahab, who endeavoured\nto reform the Mohammedan faith by denouncing the corruptions that\nhad crept in and by calling upon Mussulmans to \u201creturn to their\nprimitive church with its simplicity of manners and purity of morals.\u201d\nThe movement spread into India, where it gained great success with\nthe Sunnis, themselves puritans, but it was fiercely hated by the\nMohammedans, who had deteriorated greatly under the English rule, and\nthere was great danger of an insurrection. In 1858 Sir Sydney Cotton\nhad stormed the stronghold of the Wahabees at Sittana and razed the\nvillages of their allies to the ground. In 1869 the government received\ninformation that the Wahabees had issued a propaganda from Sittana\nand Patna which was to be spread throughout India, and again found it\nnecessary to take steps to suppress the Wahabees. Among others, Ameer\nKhan, a Mussulman banker and money lender of Calcutta, was suddenly\narrested in July, 1869, on no stated charge. He applied for a writ\nof habeas corpus, but was refused. He appealed to the Supreme Court,\nand then began the famous trial which lasted six months. In December\nAmeer Khan was released from Alipore gaol, but he was immediately\nrearrested, as it had been discovered that he had been apprehended\nby a warrant about which there was some question. He was then tried\nbefore a civilian judge at Patna, where the offences were alleged to\nhave been committed, and was sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was\nfound guilty of acting as agent and supplying money for the Wahabee\npropaganda.\n\nThe religious tenets of the Wahabees are still professed by many of\nthe Arabs and are admitted to be orthodox by the most learned of the\n_\u2018ulamas_ of Egypt. The Wahabees are merely reformers, who believe all\nthe fundamental points of El-Islam and all the accessory doctrines\nof the Koran and the \u201cTraditions of the Prophets;\u201d in short, their\ntenets are those of the primitive Moslems. They disapprove of gorgeous\nsepulchres and domes erected over tombs; such they invariably destroy\nwhen in power. They also condemn as idolaters those who pay peculiar\nveneration to deceased saints; and even declare all other Moslems to\nbe heretics for the extravagant respect which they pay to the prophet.\nThey forbid the wearing of silk, gold ornaments and all costly apparel,\nand also the practice of smoking tobacco. For the want of this last\nluxury they console themselves in some degree by an immoderate use of\ncoffee. There are many learned men among them, and they have collected\nmany valuable books, chiefly historical, from various parts of Arabia\nand from Egypt.\n\nThe Montgomery gaol in the Punjab, one of the largest in India,\nwas recently visited by Captain Buck of the Indian army, and his\ndescription of the details of prison life there is exceedingly\ninteresting.\n\nAttached to the gateway are not only the prison offices, barracks for\nthe warders and an armory, but a queer looking room where well-behaved\nprisoners may receive friends once in three months. The room is divided\nby bars into three parts. In the portion at one end the prisoner\nsquats, his visitor stays in the part at the other end and a gaoler\nor assistant sits in the middle space, where he can make sure that no\nsmuggling goes on or that no attempts at escape are made.\n\nThe prisoners become very clever and use all sorts of devices to\nsmuggle in coins, tobacco, opium and other drugs and dice. They are\nallowed to wear their own shoes, but these are examined very carefully,\nfor the soles are frequently found to be made of tobacco, four-anna\npieces and other things than leather. \u201cA common dodge,\u201d says Captain\nBuck, \u201camong the prisoners for concealing coins and other small things\nis to make a receptacle in the throat by means of a leaden weight about\nthe diameter of a florin and half an inch thick; this is attached to a\nstring some six inches long, a knot in the end being slipped between\ntwo teeth to prevent it sliding down the throat. By holding the head in\na particular position for some time every day, \u2018waggling\u2019 the weight\nabout, and from time to time altering the length of the string, a pouch\ncan be formed in the throat suitable for holding as many as fifteen\nrupees. The possessor of this strange \u2018safe\u2019 is able to put in and take\nout his treasure with facility, but it is exceedingly difficult to\nmake a man disgorge the contents against his will, or even to find out\nwhether he possesses the pouch at all without the use of the R\u00f6ntgen\nrays.\u201d\n\nThe Montgomery gaol is as large as a small town, and contains two great\nenclosures surrounded by a high outside wall, three spaces at the back\nfor work shops, a separate yard for the female ward and such other\nbuildings as storehouses, pumping stations and granaries. All of the\nbuildings are constructed of burnt brick, but the walls are made of\nsun-dried brick and are kept in repair and plastered by gaol labour.\nThe menial work is performed by the prisoners, and caste prejudices\nhave been consulted in apportioning this work to the different classes\nof prisoners. The lower castes do scavengering and general cleaning,\nwhile the dyer, washerman, barber, tailor, blacksmith and weaver are\nall, as far as possible, employed at their respective professions.\nOther prisoners who have worked at trades which the gaol does not\nafford are given work in the factories.\n\nThe factories are the most interesting part of the gaol at Montgomery.\nCarpets are made in many beautiful patterns. A carpet over fifty feet\nwide can be woven on the largest loom, and it is an interesting sight\nto see a row of twenty-five men engaged in pulling the threads from\nthe many coloured balls of wool above their heads, slipping them into\nplace and with a small curved knife cutting off the ends, pressing\ndown the stitches with a wooden fork, and never making a mistake. The\npattern is read out by convicts stationed behind a loom, sometimes\nfrom patterns, sometimes from books and often from memory. To the\nuninitiated these instructions are incomprehensible, for there is such\na confusion of sounds that it is difficult to distinguish any one\nvoice. The marvel of it is how each man knows what colours to use and\nwhere. Somehow or other, in spite of all the noise and confusion, dust\nand glare, these lovely carpets are produced. The ordinary woollen\ncarpet costs from sixteen to twenty-four shillings a square yard,\naccording to the number of stitches to the inch, but the prices range\nhigher for specially selected wool, while the price of a silk carpet is\nalmost a small fortune.\n\nAnother part of the factory contains the cloth looms. The weavers\nrig up their looms in the same manner as they would in their native\nvillages, and consequently the yard appears to be in considerable\ndisorder; \u201ceach weaver sits at his own little loom with his legs in\na hole in the ground and flashes the spindle backwards and forwards,\nseldom wasting his time for fear he may not finish his day\u2019s job, and\nthus lose marks or fail to gain any. One man, in training, has to\ncomplete nine yards of the duster-cloth, three-quarters of a yard wide,\nin a day; fifteen yards of blanketing four feet, eight inches wide, is\nanother task; while a man working on a carpet, \u2018_munj_-mat,\u2019 or cotton\nmat, has to work on a width of two feet and complete four inches,\ntwelve feet and two feet respectively in one day.\u201d If a prisoner is\nable to do extra work he obtains marks and gains some remission from\nhis sentence.\n\nThe dormitories contain curious looking long rooms with passages down\nthe middle and on each side rows of couches made of hard baked mud. The\nprisoners are provided with blankets and mattresses made of rice straw,\nand they can be fairly comfortable. Even beds made out of such material\nhave been diverted to other uses by the ingenious inmates. A convict is\nsaid to have made a pipe out of his bed. By hollowing out a place near\nthe head of the bed and plastering it over, he made two holes, one to\nhold the tobacco and ashes, and the other to serve as a mouthpiece.\n\nAs an additional precautionary measure to prevent plague from entering\nthe gaol, every prisoner who catches a rat and produces it alive is\ngiven a reward of ten marks. This is a distinct gain toward a shorter\nsentence, for twenty-four marks means one day\u2019s remission. It has\nbeen surmised, as the rats are very numerous in the gaol in spite\nof wire netting everywhere placed to keep them out, that either the\nwarders arrange to bring them in or the prisoners maintain reserves for\nbreeding purposes.\n\nThe cook-house is in the yard where the men are paraded. Two meals are\nserved daily, one at 7.30 A. M. and the other after 5 P. M., but in\naddition a little parched boiled _gram_ is given to each convict in\nthe middle of the day, when there is a short recess from work. Besides\nthe large _chupattis_, made of wheat and Indian corn, a few ounces of\n_dal_ are served in the morning, and vegetables with condiments in the\nevening. All the vegetables and condiments are produced by the convicts\nin the large garden attached to the gaol.\n\nIt is said that no convict has ever gotten away altogether, but that\nthose who manage to escape occasionally are always recaptured. As\nthe gaol is situated in a large desert, tracking the runaways is\ncomparatively easy. On one occasion, a man was apparently missing\nat evening roll-call. For considerable time his identity could not\nbe ascertained, but after a thorough search and re-checking, it was\nremembered that a murderer had been hanged that day, and the officials\nhad failed to strike his name from the roll.\n\nThe hospital is exceedingly clean and well kept. The routine of the\ngaol generally runs smoothly, and the character of the treatment and\ndiscipline in this typical prison of India will bear comparison with\nthat in many institutions of a like kind at home and abroad.\n\nSome of the local gaols in India are worth a passing mention. A good\nspecimen was that of Sirsah on the confines of the Bikaneer desert.\nColonel Hervey visited it and speaks of it as a model gaol. He says,\n\u201cIts lofty walls are shielded by a covered way running round its top.\nIt has an outer and an inner ditch at the foot of the walls, and\nupward-sloping towers at its four corners, resembling the castles of\na chess-board. The prisoners in it were warmly clothed and looked\nsleek, and being told off to healthful although hard labour, they ate\nwith eagerness their diet of curried meat, curried _shorwah_, or soup,\nand wheaten cakes. This was served out to them plentifully while I\nwas there. They sat down on the ground in lines without reference to\ncastes, and all promiscuously partook of the food set before them. I\nwas astonished at this, for there is generally so much difficulty in\nthe matter of food, owing to caste prejudices.\u201d\n\nAnother interesting native gaol is that of Orissa, visited by Sir\nWilliam Hunter in 1872. He says: \u201cIt consisted of a courtyard with\nlow thatched sheds running round three sides and the guard-house on\nthe fourth. The shed roofs came so low that a child might have jumped\non to them and thus got over the wall. When the guard turned out,\nmoreover, we found it to consist of two very old men; and the Maharaja\nwas rather displeased to find that one of them had his matchlock under\nrepair at the blacksmith\u2019s, while the other had left his weapon in his\nown village, ten miles off, to protect his family during his period of\nservice at court. Inside were sixty-nine prisoners, and I asked how it\ncame that they did not, under the circumstances, all jump over the\nwall? The question seemed to strike the Maharaja as a particularly\nfoolish one. \u2018Where could they go?\u2019 he said. \u2018On the rare occasion that\na prisoner breaks gaol, it is only to pay a visit to his family; and\nthe villagers, as in duty bound, return him within a few days.\u2019 The\ntruth is that the family instinct is still so strong in the tributary\nstates that imprisonment, or even death itself, seems infinitely\npreferable to running away from kindred and home. There were no female\nprisoners, and the Maharaja stated that crime among women had not yet\npenetrated his country.\n\n\u201cI found the gang divided into two sections, each of which had a shed\nto itself on the opposite sides of the court, the shed of the third\nside being set apart for cooking. The one shed was monopolised by ten\nmen whose light complexion declared them to belong to the trading class\nand who lolled at great ease and in good clothes in their prison house.\nIn the other shed the remaining fifty-nine were crowded, packed as\nclosely as sardines and with no other clothing except a narrow strip\nround their waist. On expressing my surprise at this unequal treatment\nand asking whether the ten gentlemen who took their ease were confined\nfor lighter crimes, the Maharaja explained: \u2018On the contrary, these\nten men are the plagues of the state. They consist of fraudulent\nshop-keepers who receive stolen goods, and notorious bad characters\nwho organise robberies. The other fifty-nine are poor Pans and other\njungle people imprisoned for petty theft, or as the tools of the ten\nprisoners on the opposite side. But then the ten are respectable men\nand of good caste, while the fifty-nine are mere woodmen; and it is\nonly proper to maintain God\u2019s distinction of caste.\u2019 All the prisoners\nwere in irons except one, a lame man, whose fetters had been struck\noff on the report of the native doctor. They looked very fat and\ncomfortable, as indeed they well might considering that the sixty-nine\nprisoners have an allowance of a hundred pounds of rice per diem, with\ngoat\u2019s flesh once a fortnight, fish twice a month, besides the little\ndaily allowance of split peas and spices to season their food. It did\nnot seem to have occurred to any of them to feel in the least ashamed\non account of being in gaol. One of them had been imprisoned twice\nbefore, and on my asking him what his trade was he explained that the\nyounger brothers of his family were husbandmen, but that for his part\nhe nourished his stomach by thieving.\u201d\n\nNo European country can show anything like the immunity from crime\nwhich the worst district in Orissa enjoys. In Balasor, the proportion\nof persons in gaol is one to every 3,375 of the population, or one\nfemale to every 121,278 of the population. Puri district, however, the\nseat of the so-called \u201cabominations of Jagannath,\u201d would blush to own\nsuch an overwhelming criminal population. Including both the central\nand the subdivisional gaols, the proportion is one criminal always in\nprison to every six thousand of the population and one woman to every\nhundred thousand.\n\nThe gaol is a great institution in Indian and Burmese stations. Your\n_syce_ breaks the shaft of your dogcart; send it round to the gaol to\nbe repaired. New matting is wanted for the veranda; you can get it in\nthe gaol. You want a piece of furniture; whether it be a wardrobe or\na whist table, you will find what you require in the gaol workshop,\nand if there does not happen to be one ready, you can order it to be\nmade. They take a longer time to do it than free artisans, but you can\ndepend upon sound material, good workmanship and reasonable prices; so\nthe gaol industries flourish and the cost of supporting the criminal\nclasses falls with comparative lightness upon taxpayers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE CRIME OF THUGGEE\n\n    Difficulties experienced in administering justice--Perjury\n    common--Native officers delight in torture--Various devices used\n    to extort evidence--Characteristics of the Indian criminal--Crime\n    hereditary--Thugs\u2019 method of strangling victims--Facilities\n    afforded by the nature of the country--The river Thugs--Suppression\n    of Thuggee gangs and their operations.\n\n\nCrime in India does not differ essentially from that prevalent\nelsewhere, although some forms are indigenous to the country,\nengendered by special physical and social conditions. As a rule, the\npeople of India are law abiding, orderly and sober in character, but\nthere is an inherent deceitfulness in them that tends to interfere with\nthe course of justice. This is constantly seen in the untrustworthy\nevidence so often given in court. Witnesses are either reticent or\ntoo fluent; they will conceal facts or over-colour them according\nas it serves their interests; they can be bought, or intimidated,\nor easily persuaded. It has been said of India that perjury is the\nrule and not the exception; it is a country in which no man desires\nto tell the simple truth or the whole truth, where exaggeration is\nperfectly natural and mendacity revels in the incredible minuteness\nwith which false statements are made, so perfect indeed as to cast\ndiscredit on them at once when heard. Perjury has long been a flagrant\nevil thwarting the administration of justice, and is still frequent,\nalthough likely to decrease as social standards improve. The people\nchafe at police investigation which worries and irritates them and\nwill say almost anything if it will rid them of the attentions of\nthe officers of the law. \u201cThey would condone even grievous wrongs,\u201d\nsays Sir Richard Temple, \u201cdisavow the loss of property which they had\nsuffered, and withhold all assistance from their neighbours in similar\nplights, rather than undergo the trouble of attending at police offices\nand criminal courts.\u201d In the old days police methods for the detection\nand proof of crime were often reprehensible. Native officers were ever\neager to make a case complete and would go to any length in colouring\nand creating evidence. An eminent judge in India found great fault with\nthe police who \u201cwould never leave a case alone, but must always prepare\nit and patch it up by teaching the witnesses to learn their evidence\nbeforehand and to say more than they knew.\u201d A village official would be\nso eager to succeed when others had failed that he would threaten and\nmaltreat the witnesses till they invented merely imaginery evidence. It\nwas the frequent custom to drug prisoners about to be charged so that\nthey could make no defence, and when evidence was wanting, the witness\nwas subjected to actual torture until he promised to depose as required.\n\nThis use of torture, secret and unavowed, for the purposes of the\nprosecution, prevailed until a recent date. Disgusted English officers\nvainly sought to check the pernicious practice, which was common\nthroughout India among all sects and classes, though strictly forbidden\nby law. According to one authority, \u201cThe poor practise torture on\neach other, robbers on their victims; masters upon their servants;\nzemindars on their ryots; schoolmasters on their pupils; husbands on\ntheir wives and even parents on their children.\u201d \u201cThe very plays of the\npopulace,\u201d says another, \u201cexcite the laughter of many a rural audience\nby the exhibition of revenue squeezed out of a defaulter, coin by\ncoin, through the appliance of familiar provocatives.\u201d Some of these\nas employed by the old police consisted of such devices as filling\nthe nose and ears of a prisoner with cayenne pepper, checking the\ncirculation of the blood with tight ligaments, suspending a person head\ndownward in a well and sometimes immersing the whole body in deep water\nuntil insensibility but not actual drowning was caused.\n\nOther processes are recounted by Dr. Cheevers. Torture by heat\nconsisted in applying to the naked flesh a lighted torch, burning\ncharcoal or red hot tongs, or by pouring boiling oil into the ears or\nnose. Torture by cold was inflicted by exposure of the victim naked\nin the night air and constantly sprinkling the body with freezing\nwater. Other methods were: suspension by the ears, wrists, feet, hair\nor moustache, generally accompanied by severe beating with rods, wet\nstinging nettles, bunches of thorns, or cudgels of split bamboo;\nconfinement in a cell containing quicklime; rubbing the face on the\nground so that the nose was wounded, the lips torn and the upper jaw\nfractured; fastening offensive and gnawing insects under cover upon\nthe skin; sticking pins under the nails; beating the ankles and other\njoints with a soft mallet. The bull\u2019s hide torture showed devilish\ningenuity. The victim was sewed up in a newly flayed skin and exposed\nto the torrid sun. The outer covering contracted with the heat, drawing\nthe live flesh with it, and the poor agonised creature died gradually\nof hunger, thirst and putrifaction.\n\nMilder tortures, as they were deemed, existed, in which the punishment\nwas more gradual but not less acute. Roasting by exposure to sun or\nfire, running up and down or \u201cwalking about,\u201d a process in which relays\nof policemen keep a culprit on the move for hours and hours together,\nso that, after a night\u2019s unbroken promenade, the craving for rest and\nsleep becomes intolerable, especially with people accustomed to sleep\nfor twelve or fourteen hours at a stretch. The prolonged use of the\nstocks was at one time very general in Bengal, sometimes with the\nlimbs enclosed in small apertures too tight for them, or when the\nvictim lay on his back with his feet raised high in the air for a\nperiod of twenty-four hours.\n\nIndian criminal annals record many curious forms of crime more or\nless peculiar to the country, and it will be interesting to specify\nsome of the best known. Many are as old as the hills and are directly\ntraceable to the innate character and distinguishing traits of the\nvarious races that people the great peninsula of Hindustan. There\nis a family likeness in the offences against morality and the rules\ngenerally binding upon the community at large, but some are encouraged\nand facilitated by the condition and organisation of the daily life of\nthe people. Profound observers have penetrated to the darker and deeper\nrecesses of the criminal mind of the native, both Hindu and Mussulman.\nUnder the often placid, timid, civil-spoken and seemingly harmless\nnative there lies a strange but potent combination of sensuality,\njealousy and vindictiveness, backed by wild, ineradicable superstition,\nabsolute untruthfulness and ruthless disregard for the value of human\nlife. This is especially true of the Bengali, whose character has\nbeen powerfully portrayed by Lord Macaulay. A feeble, effeminate\ncreature of sedentary pursuits, with delicate limbs, and without\ncourage, independence or veracity, he is full of tact, ready with\nlarge promises, smooth excuses, elaborate tissues of circumstantial\nfalsehood. With all his softness, he is by no means placable in his\nenmities or prone to pity, but is pertinacious in his purposes and\ndominated only by the immediate pressure of fear.\n\nCustom has been largely the parent of crime in India, and nowhere has\nheredity exercised greater influence. A large proportion of offences in\nIndia are committed by persons whose ancestors have done the same for\ncenturies. Strong belief in the strength of family tradition and the\npotency of inherited traits and tendencies have long filled the Indian\ngaols. To these causes we must trace the vitality of certain crimes; we\nfind in them the explanation of persistent gang-robberies, \u201cDacoity,\u201d\nthe drugging and poisoning of travellers, the kidnapping of children,\nthe forgery, the forest frauds, the infanticide and secret murders; the\nwhole series of offences against which is directed the penal code of\nIndia, originated by Lord Macaulay and praised by the highest experts,\nincluding Sir James Stephen, as the best system of criminal law in the\nworld.\n\nWhen England\u2019s work in India is reviewed in the time to come, full\ncredit must be given to the humane administration which sternly\nsuppressed the atrocious malpractices that so long afflicted the land,\nsuch as \u201cSuttee,\u201d or the burning of widows on the funeral pyre; the\nhuman sacrifices to the bloodthirsty idol of Jagannath; \u201cThuggee,\u201d\nthat vile organisation for secret murder which devastated the entire\ncontinent and killed so many unsuspecting victims. No more terrible and\nwidespread crime has obtained in any age or country. It was fostered by\nthe prevailing conditions in a vast extent of territory, divided among\nmany princes and powers, each ruling independently and irresponsibly,\nwith many kinds of governments, and with their hands one against\nthe other, having no common interests, no desire for combination,\nno united police, no uniform action in the repression of determined\nwrong-doing. Everything conspired to favour the growth of these daring\nand unscrupulous land pirates.\n\nThere were no roads in those early days, no public conveyances, no\nmeans of protection for travellers. The longest journeys from one end\nof the continent to the other were undertaken of necessity on foot\nor on horseback; parties hitherto complete strangers banded together\nfor common security, and mixed unreservedly with one another. The\navenues of communication were at best mere tracks barely beaten down\nby the passage of wayfarers across country and not always easily\ndistinguished, so that it was possible to wander into by-paths and get\nlost among the forests, jungles, mountains and uncultivated tracts\nwhere but few sparsely inhabited villages were scattered. Direct\nencouragement was thus afforded to freebooters and highwaymen to make\nall travellers their prey, and many classes of robbers existed and\nflourished. Of these the most numerous, the most united, the most\nsecret in their horrible operations, the most dangerous and destructive\nwere the Thugs.\n\nThe origin of Thuggee, as it was commonly called, is lost in fable\nand obscurity. Mr. James Hutton, in his popular account of the Thugs,\nthinks that they are of very ancient date and says they are \u201creputed to\nhave sprung from the Sagartii who contributed eight thousand horse to\nthe army of Xerxes and are mentioned by Herodotus in his history. These\npeople led a pastoral life, were originally of Persian descent and use\nthe Persian language; their dress is something betwixt a Persian and\na Pactyan; they have no offensive weapons, either of iron or brass,\nexcept their daggers; their principal dependence in action is on cords\nmade of twisted leather which they use in this manner. When they engage\nan enemy they throw out this cord having a noose at the extremity; if\nthey entangle in this either horse or man, they without difficulty put\nthem to death.\u201d There is some reason to believe that in later times\nthe descendants of these Sagartii accompanied one of the Mohammedan\ninvaders to India and settled in the neighbourhood of Delhi. In the\nlatter part of the seventeenth century Thevenot speaks of a strange\ndenomination of robbers who infest the road between Delhi and Agra and\nwho use \u201ca certain rope with a running noose which they could cast with\nso much sleight about a man\u2019s neck when they are within reach of him,\nthat they never fail; so that they strangle him in a trice.\u201d These\nrobbers were divided into seven principal classes or families from\nwhich the innumerable smaller bands sprang.\n\nSir William Sleeman, a distinguished Indian official, whose signal\nservices in purging a large part of India of this terrible scourge\nmust ever be gratefully remembered, has conjectured that the first\nThugs were to be found among the vagrant tribes of Mohammedans who\ncontinued to plunder the country long after its invasion by the Moguls\nand Tartars. No historical mention is made of Thuggee until the reign\nof Akbar, when many of its votaries were seized and put to death. From\nthat period until 1810, although known to some of the native princes,\nwho alternately protected and persecuted these criminals, it entirely\nescaped the observation of the British rulers of India. But attention\nwas finally attracted to it by the strange disappearance of sepoys,\nor native soldiers in the British service, when moving about the\ncountry on furlough. In 1812 a British officer, Lieutenant Monsell,\nwas murdered by Thugs. A punitive expedition was immediately sent\nagainst the village where the assassins were known to reside, and the\nculprits, after some show of resistance, were ultimately dispersed. No\ndoubt the fugitives took with them their traditions and their homicidal\nprinciples into new lands where they were probably unknown hitherto. As\nearly as 1816 the veil of secrecy which had concealed the organisation\nwas lifted, and a very complete and accurate account of the ceremonies\nand practices of the Thugs in southern India was published by Dr.\nSherwood in the _Literary Journal_ of Madras. It is supposed that the\nhorrible story told was deemed too monstrous for belief, and it is at\nleast certain that no active measures were undertaken to suppress and\nroot out the offenders.\n\nAt all times many hundreds of predatory castes existed in India,\nchiefly among the marauding hill and forest people, and some of them\nare still recorded by name in the census papers. These people lived\nopenly by plunder, and were organised for crime, and for determined\ngang-robbery and murder. There was no established police in those days\nequal to coping with these gangs, and the government of the East India\nCompany had recourse to the savage criminal code of the Mohammedan\nlaw. When Warren Hastings was governor-general, he decreed that every\nconvicted gang-robber should be publicly executed in full view of his\nvillage, and that all of the villagers should be fined. The miscreants\nretaliated by incendiarism on a large scale. One conflagration in\nCalcutta in 1780 burned fifteen thousand houses, and some two thousand\nsouls perished in the flames. A special civil department was created to\ndeal with this wholesale crime, the character of which is described in\na state paper dated 1772. \u201cThe gang-robbers of Bengal,\u201d it says, \u201care\nnot like the robbers in England, individuals driven to such desperate\ncourses by want or greed. They are robbers by profession and even by\nbirth. They are formed into regular communities, and their families\nsubsist on the supplies they bring home to them. These spoils come\nfrom great distances, and peaceful villages three hundred miles up the\nGanges are supported by housebreaking in Calcutta.\u201d Special laws were\npassed to deal with the crime of Dacoity or robbery in gangs to the\nnumber of five or more.\n\nBy this time the word \u201cThuggee\u201d was becoming known and was applied\nto the practice of \u201cstrangling dexterously performed by bands of\nprofessional murderers disguised as pilgrims or travelling mendicants.\u201d\nThese hereditary assassins prided themselves on their descent and\ntheir evil reputations, which inspired an amount of awe in their\nfellow countrymen hardly distinguishable from respect. \u201cYes, I am a\nstrangler,\u201d one of them shamelessly told an English officer. \u201cI and my\nfathers before me have followed the business for twenty generations.\u201d\n\nThese Phansigars, or \u201cstranglers,\u201d were thus designated from the\nHindustani word _phansi_, \u201ca noose.\u201d In the more northern parts of\nIndia these murderers were called Thugs, from the Hindu word _thagna_,\n\u201cto deceive.\u201d Europeans became aware of the existence of this class\nof criminals with the conquest of Seringapatam in 1799, when about\na hundred were apprehended in the vicinity of Bangalore. Little\nattention, however, was attracted to these depredators for a long\ntime; they carried on their abominable practices under the protection\nof different native rulers and local authorities, with whom they\nshared their spoils. But we read that, with the extension of British\nrule and the subjection of the native rulers, active measures were\nset on foot to suppress these professional murderers, who found it\nnecessary to engage ostensibly in agriculture or some other harmless\noccupation so as to conceal their real business. One characteristic of\nthe Phansigars was that they never committed a robbery unaccompanied\nby murder, their practice being first to strangle, then to rifle their\nvictims. It was also a principle with them to allow no one of a party,\nhowever numerous, to escape, so that there might be no witnesses of\ntheir proceedings; the only exceptions to this were in the case of boys\nof very tender age, whom they spared and adopted in order to bring\nthem up as Phansigars, and girls whom they sometimes married. A gang\nof Phansigars consisted of any number from ten to fifty men, or even\nmore, a large majority of whom were Mussulmans, but Hindus were often\nassociated with them, and occasionally Brahmins.\n\nIn common with brigands of all nationalities, the Thugs generally\nfrequented districts abounding in hills and fastnesses which afforded\na secure retreat in times of danger. Particular tracts were preferred\nwhere they could murder their victims with the greatest security.\nThey lurked by the way in the extensive jungles which offered cover\nand concealment, and where the soil was soft and easily turned up\nfor digging graves. The Thugs cherished pleasant memories of these\nhappy hunting grounds so often associated with their successes. To\nreach the scene of action they often performed long journeys and were\nabsent from home for many months at a time. Their game was almost\ninvariably travellers whom they encountered on the road, or for whom\nthey frequently laid in wait outside towns and villages at the ordinary\nresting places. Their method was to send scouts into the town to\nfind out whether persons of property were likely to be setting out\non journeys and with what possessions. Children were often employed\nin this way. Each gang of Thugs was under a _jemadar_, or chief, who\ndirected their movements; they very seldom assumed any disguise, but\nhad the appearance of ordinary travellers or traders. They generally\nput an end to their victims in the same manner, that of strangling,\nand it was the custom to assign three of them to perform this deed.\nWhile moving along quietly, one of the Thugs would suddenly throw a\ncloth around the neck of the person doomed to death and retain hold\nof one end of it while the other end would be seized by the second\naccomplice; this was then drawn tight, the two Phansigars pressing\ntheir victim\u2019s head forward, and at the same time the third villain, in\nreadiness behind the traveller, seized his legs, and he was thrown to\nthe ground and despatched. Meanwhile, other members of the gang kept\nwatch in advance and in the rear to prevent interference; if they were\ndisturbed during their operation, a cloth was thrown over the victim,\nand the company pretended that one of their comrades had fallen sick by\nthe roadside, and made great lamentations. The bodies of the victims\nwere carefully buried so as to escape observation and leave no clue for\ndetection.\n\nIn the early part of the nineteenth century the audacity and murderous\nactivity of the Thugs increased to such a fearful extent that the\nBritish government was roused to serious consideration. It could not\nremain indifferent to an evil of such magnitude. Startling cases began\nto crop up and disturb the equanimity of the official mind. One of\nthe first revelations was secured in 1814 by an officer, Lieutenant\nBrown, when appointed to investigate the circumstances of a murder\nin the northern part of the province of Central India, at no great\ndistance from Jubbulpore, a city closely connected with Thuggee\nfrom the subsequent trial and incarceration of a large number of\nthe ringleaders in the Jubbulpore gaol. Mr. Brown, when engaged in\nhis inquiry at a village named Sujuna, on the road to Hatta, heard\na horrible story of a gang-robbery in the neighbourhood. A party of\ntwo hundred Thugs had encamped in a grove in the early morning of\nthe cold season of 1814, when seven men, well-armed with swords and\nmatchlocks, passed, conveying treasure from a bank in Jubbulpore to\nits correspondent in Banda. The treasure was ascertained to be of the\nvalue of 4,500 rupees, and a number of Thugs, well-mounted, gave chase.\nComing up with their prey at a distance of seven miles, in a water\ncourse half a mile from Sujuna, they attacked the treasure-bearers\nwith their swords, contrary to their common practice of strangling\ntheir victims, the latter plan being possible only when the objects\nof their desire were taken unawares. Moreover, the robbers left the\nbodies where they lay, unburied and exposed, which was also an unusual\nproceeding. A passing traveller, who had seen the murderers at work,\nwas also put to death to prevent his giving the alarm. As much rain\nfell that day, none of the villagers approached the spot till the\nfollowing morning, when the bodies were discovered and a large crowd\ncame to gaze at them. Great difficulty was experienced in bringing home\nthe crime to its perpetrators. This often happened in such cases from\nthe strong reluctance of people to give evidence and appear in court\nfor the purpose; even the banker who had lost his cash hesitated to\ncome forward and prove his loss, and this was no isolated case. Once\nbefore, the wood at Sujuna had been the rendezvous of robbers, who had\nslaughtered a party of treasure-bearers travelling between Jubbulpore\nand Saugor. Sixteen were strangled, but the seventeenth escaped with\nhis life and running into the town, gave the alarm. The native rajah,\nat that time supreme, hurried to the spot, but only came upon the\nbodies abandoned by the thieves, who had made off with the treasure.\n\nThese depredations were greatly facilitated by the prevailing practice\nof transmitting large amounts of cash and valuables from place to place\nby hand. Remittances were made in gold and silver to save the rate of\nexchange, although an admirable system of transfer by bank bills was\nalmost universal in India. Money carriers by profession were to be met\nwith in all parts of India, who were trusted by merchants to convey to\ndistant parts enormous sums in cash and large parcels of jewels; their\nfidelity, sagacity and poverty-stricken appearance, natural or assumed,\nwere relied upon as a sufficient security, and it was attested by\nSleeman that although he had to investigate hundreds of cases in which\nthey had been murdered in the discharge of their duty, he had never\nheard of one who betrayed his trust. The sums secured by the Thugs,\nafter murdering these faithful but unfortunate servants, were immense,\nand amounted in the few years between 1826 and 1830 to hundreds of\nthousands of rupees. They could not escape their fate, being constantly\nwatched and spied upon, and were often brought to light by customs\nofficers in the native states, from whom the lynx-eyed, keen-witted\nThug spies gained much information to assist in their robberies.\n\nThe discovery of this extensive organisation for murder was greatly\naided by the fearful disclosures made by some of the captured leaders.\nThe most noted of these informers was a certain Feringhea, who is\nsupposed to have been the original of the character of Ameer Ali, the\nprincipal person and narrator in Colonel Meadows-Taylor\u2019s \u201cConfessions\nof a Thug.\u201d He had fallen into the hands of the famous Captain Sleeman,\nthen the political agent of the provinces bordering on the Nurbudda,\nby whose untiring energy the whole system of Thuggee as then practised\nwas laid bare. Through his efforts large gangs were apprehended\nwhich had assembled in Rajputana to pursue their operations in that\ncountry, and among the great numbers committed to safe custody in the\nvarious gaols, especially that of Jubbulpore, precise information was\nobtained leading to the breaking up of the diabolical conspiracy. It\nwas then found that Thuggee was actively practised throughout India.\nThe circle, which seemed at first centred about Jubbulpore, gradually\nwidened until it included the whole continent, from the foot of the\nHimalayas to the waters that wash Cape Comorin. From the Gulf of Cutch\nto the tea plantations of Assam, every province was implicated, and the\nrevelations of the informers were substantiated by the disinterment of\nthe dead.\n\nSir William Sleeman has left a personal record of his own achievements.\n\u201cWhile I was in the civil charge of the district of Nursingpoor, in\nthe valley of the Nurbudda, in the years 1822, 1823 and 1824,\u201d he\ntells us, \u201cno ordinary robbery or theft could be committed without my\nbecoming acquainted with it; nor was there a robber or a thief of the\nordinary kind in the district, with whose character I had not become\nacquainted in the discharge of my duty as magistrate; and if any man\nhad then told me that a gang of assassins by profession resided in\nthe village of Kundelee, not four hundred yards from my court, and\nthat the extensive groves of the village of Mundesur, only one stage\nfrom me, on the road to Saugor and Bhopaul, were one of the greatest\n_beles_, or places of murder, in all India; and that large gangs from\nHindustan and the Dukhun used to rendezvous in these groves, remain in\nthem for days together every year, and carry on their dreadful trade\nalong all the lines of road that pass by and branch off from them, with\nthe knowledge and connivance of the two landholders by whose ancestors\nthese groves had been planted, I should have thought him a fool or a\nmadman; and yet nothing could have been more true. The bodies of a\nhundred travellers lie buried in and around the groves of Mundesur; and\na gang of assassins lived in and about the village of Kundelee while I\nwas magistrate of the district, and extended their depredations to the\ncities of Poona and Hyderabad.\u201d\n\nSimilar to the preceding account, as showing the daring character\nof the Thuggee operations, was the fact that in the cantonment of\nHingolee, the leader of the Thugs of that district, Hurree Singh,\nwas a respectable merchant of the place, with whom Captain Sleeman,\nin common with many other English officers, had constant dealings.\nOn one occasion this man applied to the officer in civil charge of\nthe district, Captain Reynolds, for a pass to bring some cloths from\nBombay, which he knew were on their way accompanied by their owner, a\nmerchant of a town not far from Hingolee. He murdered this person, his\nattendants and cattle-drivers, brought the merchandise up to Hingolee\nunder the pass he had obtained and sold it openly in the cantonment;\nnor would this ever have been discovered had he not confessed it after\nhis apprehension, and gloried in it as a good joke. Many persons were\nmurdered in the very bazaar of the cantonment, within one hundred yards\nfrom the main guard, by Hurree Singh and his gang, and were buried\nhardly five hundred yards from the line of sentries. Captain Sleeman\nwas himself present at the opening of several of these unblessed\ngraves (each containing several bodies), which were pointed out by\nthe \u201capprovers,\u201d one by one, in the coolest possible manner, to those\nwho were assembled, until the spectators were sickened and gave up\nfurther search in disgust. The place was the dry channel of a small\nwater course, communicating with the river, no broader or deeper than a\nditch; it was near the road to a neighbouring village, and one of the\nmain outlets from the cantonment to the country.\n\nSome of the operations in which Thugs were concerned, and the nature\nof their proceedings, are of especial interest. In the year 1827,\nGirdharee Thug joined a gang of seven Thugs under Bukshee Jemadar ...\nand set forth on an expedition. The party proceeded to Cawnpore where\nthey were joined by Runnooa Moonshee with nine Thug followers, so that\nthe gang amounted to eighteen Thugs, who all went on to Pokraya. At\nthis place they fell in with two travellers going from Saugor to the\nOude territory, who were decoyed by Runnooa Moonshee, and the next\nmorning, having been escorted about a couple of miles towards Cawnpore,\nthey were strangled by two Thugs, Oomeid and Davee Deen, who buried\nthe bodies in the bed of a stream. After this the gang proceeded on\nthe road leading to Mynpooree, as far as Bewur, where they found a\nKayet on his way from Meerut to the eastward, who was decoyed into\njoining the company of the Thugs. After passing the night together,\nthe traveller was taken to a garden a short distance from the village,\nwhere he was induced to sit down and was then strangled, his body\nbeing thrown into a well. They went on to Sultanpoor and Mynpooree,\nwhere the number of the gang was increased to twenty-one by three more\nThugs who joined them. The gang advanced on the same road as far as\nKurkoodda in the Meerut district, but meeting with no success in their\nsearch for victims, they turned back toward Malagurh, and on arriving\nthere sent one of the gang as a scout into the town. He discovered two\ntravellers, a Brahmin and a Kuhar, who were proceeding from Kurnal to\nthe Oude territory, and whom he persuaded to join the Thugs. Early the\nfollowing morning the Thugs escorted these travellers about two miles\nbeyond the village, where they were strangled and their bodies buried.\nAfter this affair the gang passed through Boolund Shuhur and stopped\nto rest at a police station two miles from the town. A Chuprassee from\nMeerut passed by on his way to Cawnpore. The Thugs addressed him and\npersuaded him to join their band, and they all went to Koorja, where\nthey rested for the night in a caravansary. Long before daylight the\ngang, accompanied by the traveller, proceeded on the road to Muttra,\nand on the way one of the company found an opportunity to strangle the\nChuprassee.\n\nThe band next went to Secundra and while halting there decoyed two\nBrahmins travelling from Kurnaul toward Lucknow. Runnooa Moonshee took\nthem under his own protection, and the next morning they were escorted\nin an easterly direction and strangled. The bodies were thrown into a\ndry well and the earth heaped over them. After this murder, the gang\nwent to Jullalabad, where they rested in the caravansary; and finding\nthat two travellers, a Brahmin and a Rajpoot, had previously put up\nin the same place, a Thug was deputed to decoy them by inviting them\nto join the band; the travellers agreed, and were put to death in the\nusual manner and their bodies buried. In this way the expedition\nproceeded for some weeks, the gang was joined by other Thugs until\nit amounted to sixty in number; then it separated into two parties,\neach going in a different direction, but they joined forces again\nat Allahabad and commenced operations in the Cawnpore district.\nTwenty-seven of the Thugs quitted the gang and returned to their\nhomes; the remainder went to Meetapore, where they met two travellers\non their way to Agra, whom they decoyed into their company. Two more\ntravellers were also persuaded to join the gang, and besides these\nfour others were also inveigled, among them two rich persons who were\nstaying in the same inn; the last named had engaged a carriage in which\nto continue their journey, but the Thugs, anxious to get into friendly\nrelations, offered horses on more favourable terms. The proprietors\nof the carriage, enraged at this proposition, threatened to have the\nThugs arrested, but the matter was arranged amicably and the travelling\nparty, with their Thug attendants, proceeded on their way. Their fate\nwas sealed, for on reaching a convenient spot in the Mynpooree district\nthey were strangled and their bodies rifled. The alarm, however, was\ngiven soon afterward, and all the robbers were taken up by order of the\nBritish magistrate and lodged in gaol. It was found that in the course\nof this one expedition the Thugs had murdered fifty-two victims and\ngained spoil to the value of 5,000 rupees.\n\nThe Thugs did not confine their operations to attacking travellers on\nland. There were many gangs who worked on the rivers and kept their\nboats on the Nurbudda and Ganges, into which they decoyed passengers\nwhen bent upon their destruction. They resided chiefly in villages\nalong the banks and kept their boats at the principal ghats or points\nof passage, as at Monghyr, Patna, Cawnpore and as far up the river as\nFuruckabad. Their murders were always perpetrated in the day time. A\ncertain number of them were employed as actual boatmen, wearing the\ndress and doing the work; others acted as decoys, having no connection\nseemingly, but arriving at the banks as well-dressed travellers,\nmerchants or pilgrims bound for or returning from the sacred places\nsuch as Benares or Allahabad. In the meantime the _sothas_ or\n\u201cinveiglers\u201d sent out by the gang to bring in passengers, being well\ndressed and respectable, would accost those they met upon the road and\ninvite them to join in the voyage by river. The boats in waiting at\nthe ghat were invariably kept clean and looked inviting, with other\nrespectably dressed travellers awaiting the moment of departure.\nOften enough it was at first pretended to be inconvenient to take the\nnewcomers on board, the captain alleging that he was short of room,\nbut at last he would yield to the urgent request of the _sothas_,\nand the trusting passengers would be taken on board and accommodated\nbelow. After departure the disguised Thugs on deck would commence to\nsing and amuse themselves noisily until a quiet spot was reached, when\nthe signal was given--the death-warrant in this case--by three taps\nupon the deck above. The victims below were forthwith strangled by the\nappointed stranglers, who were in close attendance upon their prey.\nAfter death had been inflicted the murderers proceeded to break the\nspinal bones of their victims by placing a knee in the back and pulling\nover the head and shoulders; this was to prevent all possibility of\nrecovery. Then the bodies were stabbed through under the armpits and\nthrown overboard, while the boat made its way to the next ghat, where\nthe \u201cinveiglers\u201d were landed to repeat their operations with others. No\npart of the booty was retained, lest it might form a clue to detection,\nexcept the cash found upon the dead or in their baggage. These river\nThugs often ran the risk of being captured, but they were generally\nwell known to the village watchmen on the river side, whom they were\nready to bribe.\n\nTheir extraordinary audacity and the success with which they murdered\ntheir victims is recorded in the memorandum prepared in March, 1836,\nby an officer, Captain Lowis, who did much to bring them to justice.\nHe speaks of repeated instances in which ten or a dozen persons were\nput to death by boats\u2019 crews, hardly more numerous than their victims.\nIn one case seven men were murdered at one and the same time by a crew\nof nine Thugs. The victims were often men from the west country,\nnotoriously stronger and braver than the natives of Bengal. Strange\nto say, the deadly business was often completed in small boats, in\nwhich there seemed too little room to move or plan the fell purpose\nunperceived. Frequently the Thug boatmen made friends with their\nvictims, as in the case of a boat laden with tobacco and hemp, when\nthe captain and crew persuaded their passengers to land on a sand bank\nto cook and eat their dinner together. After the meal, the Thug leader\ninvited his friends to join in a song of praise to the Hindu divinity,\nand while it was being sung the Thugs adroitly got behind their victims\nand strangled them.\n\nA shocking story was revealed in the trial of three Bengalis who were\narraigned at Berhampore on suspicion of having committed Thuggee. It\nappeared that one of them, Madhub by name, had arrived at the Serai\nwith a large sum of money in the hollow of a joint of bamboo; two\nothers, Gunga Hurree Mitter and Kunhaye, quickly came upon the scene\nin pursuit of the first whom they accused of having stolen the money\nfrom their boat. Madhub retorted that they were Thugs and wanted to\nmurder him. This squabble excited suspicion and ended in the arrest\nof all three. Within a few days two Bengali boats, full of suspicious\ncharacters and laden with much money and property, were seized between\nMonghyr and Patna and news came that four travelling merchants had\nrecently disappeared. It was strongly suspected that these merchants\nhad been murdered and great efforts were made to obtain a clue to the\nguilty parties. Gunga Hurree Mitter, above mentioned, seemed willing\nto turn approver, and although stoutly denying that he was concerned\nin this particular crime he at length confessed to complicity in many\nfrightful murders as a river Thug and admitted as many as fifty murders\nbetween Moorshedabad and Barr, where the boats had been seized. About\nthis time another very notorious Thug was arrested in the Burdwan\ndistrict who volunteered valuable information in exchange for his life\nand confessed to being an accomplice in the murder of the merchants.\n\nAccounts of such affairs, as found in contemporary records,\nmight be multiplied indefinitely. Colonel Sleeman\u2019s report of\nthe Thug depredations for a year or two when they were most\nvirulent--1836-37--fills one large volume. On a map which he made of\na portion of the kingdom of Oude, showing a territory one hundred\nmiles wide from north to south, and one hundred and seventy miles from\neast to west, are marked an endless number of spots between Lucknow,\nCawnpore, Manickpur, Pertabgurh and Fyzabad, all of them indicating\n_beles_ or scenes of murders perpetrated. These places were pointed\nout by captured Thugs and \u201capprovers\u201d who had been actively present\nand taken part in the murders. There were some 274 _beles_ in all, or\none for about every five miles; the fact was proved by the continual\ndisinterment of skulls and skeletons of the often nameless victims.\nEach recorded great atrocities and many wholesale murders. The number\nof deaths for which each Thug miscreant was personally responsible\nseems incredible. One man, Buhran by name, killed 931 victims in forty\nyears of active Thuggee, and another, Futteh Khan, killed 508 persons\nin twenty years, making an average of two monthly for each assassin.\n\nWhen the British government was roused to the determination to\nsuppress Thuggee, nearly every village was tainted with the system\nand no district was without its resident gangs of Thugs, or free from\ntheir depredations. The campaign once undertaken was prosecuted with\nextraordinary vigour, and the pursuit organised was so keen that\nvery rapid progress was made in putting down this terrible scourge.\nWhole gangs were arrested, one after the other; the ringleaders were\nquickly tried and executed, or bought their lives at the price of\ninforming against and contributing to the capture of their fellows.\nDifficulties often arose in securing conviction. Fear kept witnesses\nfrom testifying; bankers were reluctant to acknowledge their losses;\nrelations were loth to identify corpses; and the revelations made\nby the approvers could not always be corroborated. But the work of\nextermination never slackened, and a few short years sufficed to\nput down the seemingly hydra-headed evil. It is possible that some\nmore distant and inaccessible regions escaped, such as the Concan or\nMalabar coast, to which the gangs never penetrated; and gangs were\nnot permanently located in such districts as Khandeish and Rohilcund;\nbut they were visited by robbers from other neighbourhoods, for a\ngang generally avoided a district occupied by their own families and\nfriends. And the tide of murder swept unsparingly year after year over\nthe whole face of India from the Himalayan mountains in the north, to\nthe east, west and south as far as the most remote limits of Madras.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nCEREMONIES OF THUGGEE\n\n    Murder a religious rite--Consulting the omens--The sacred pickaxe\n    or \u201ckussee\u201d--The \u201cgoor\u201d or consecrated sugar--Certain castes\n    under the protection of the goddess Bhowanee spared--Women seldom\n    killed--Belief of Thugs that the neglect of omens and murder of\n    women were the causes of arrest and downfall--The apprenticeship of\n    a young member to the practices of Thuggee.\n\n\nWhen and how Thuggee began may not be definitely known, but it is\ncertain that its votaries always attributed a divine origin to the\npractice. They esteemed the wholesale taking of life to which they were\nvowed a pious act, performed under the immediate orders and protection\nof the Hindu goddess, indifferently called Devee or Durga, Kali or\nBhowanee. Murder was in fact a religious rite, the victim being a\nsacrifice to the deity. The strangler was troubled with no remorse;\non the contrary, he gloried in his deed as the pious act of a devout\nworshipper. He prepared his murders without misgiving, perpetrated them\nwithout emotions of pity, and looked back upon them with satisfaction,\nnot regret.\n\nThe Thugs gave free vent to some of the worst passions of perverse\nhumanity; they were treacherous, underhanded, pitiless to those they\ndeemed their legitimate prey. But yet they were seldom guilty of wanton\ncruelty; the pain they inflicted was only that caused by depriving\na human being of life. It was a rule with them never to murder\nwomen, and they generally spared infant children whom they adopted,\nbringing them up in their traditions. Even if a woman was doomed to\nsuffer she was most scrupulously preserved from insult beforehand,\neither by act or word. In private life they were patterns of domestic\nvirtue, affectionate to their own families, fond of their homes; well\nconducted, law abiding subjects of the state that gave them shelter.\n\nFor two centuries at least Thuggee flourished with rank luxuriance in\nIndia, a soil exactly suited to its growth, fostered by the bigoted\nadherence to its tenets and a firm faith in the rewards vouchsafed to\nclose observance of its rites and ceremonies. The Thugs were noted\nformalists in the performance of their dread business. When they went\nout to kill, they were governed by the strictest rules of procedure,\nand steadfastly believed that the breach of any, even the smallest,\nwould entail discomfiture and misfortune. They gave the most unlimited\ncredence to superstitions, followed omens blindly and implicitly, and\nundertook nothing without consulting their pundits, or wise men versed\nin precedent and traditionary lore. No Thug, Sleeman tells us, who\nhad been fully initiated in the mysteries, doubted the inspiration\nof the pickaxe (the sacred emblem in the faith of Thuggee), when\nconsecrated in due form, or doubted that the omens sought and observed\nwere all-sufficient to guide them to their prey or warn them from their\ndanger. They were satisfied that only by the neglect of these and the\ncareless worship rendered to the goddess could the suppression of\nThuggee have become possible to the British government.\n\nThe most portentous omen was that invited from the deity on the eve\nof a new expedition for gang-robbery. When about to be undertaken, a\nchief pundit was asked to name a day for departure and the road to\ntake. On the day suggested the _jemadar_, or leader of the party, would\nstart out holding in his right hand the _lota_, a brass pot filled\nwith water suspended by a string from his mouth; in his left hand he\ncarried the sacred pickaxe and a clean white handkerchief in which were\nseveral coins. He proceeded a short distance along the road named by\nthe pundit and then paused to pray to the \u201cgreat goddess and universal\nmother\u201d to vouchsafe some signal that the proposed expedition met with\nher approval. The best possible omen was the braying of an ass and\nif it was heard on the left, followed by a second bray on the right,\nit was believed that the expedition would be an entire and lasting\nsuccess even if continued for years. The first, on the left, is called\nthe _pilhaoo_; the second, on the right, the _thibaoo_. The terms are\napplied to the voices of any animals, but by far the most effective is\ndeemed the braying of the ass, whose voice is equal to any hundred\nbirds and superior to that of any other animal.\n\nThe initial ceremony, after the omen, proceeded by the leader\u2019s\nseating himself on the ground with the _lota_ before him. He remained\nthus seated for seven hours while his followers brought him food and\nmade the necessary preparations for the journey. If the _lota_ should\nhave fallen from his hand terrible disaster might be anticipated and\nthe _jemadar_ would inevitably die during the year. If any one was\nheard weeping as they left the village, great evil impended; the same\nthreatened if they met a corpse being carried out, or if they met an\noil vendor, a carpenter, a potter, a dancing master, a blind or lame\nman, a _fakir_ with a brown waist band or a _jogi_ with long ragged\nhair. A corpse from any village but their own was a good omen. The call\nof a jackal, of which there were three kinds, threatened great evil,\nand if at work the gang instantly quit the country leaving any victims\nmarked down for slaughter untouched. The call of the lizard was a good\nomen, that of a wolf or a hare crossing the path, bad, entailing an\nimmediate halt and change of route. If a dog was seen to shake his head\noperations had to be suspended for three days.\n\nIn all Thug ceremonies the sacred pickaxe or _kussee_ played a great\npart. It was treated with the utmost respect and was so holy that to\nbe sworn upon it meant an oath more binding than on Ganges water, and\nperjury on the pickaxe would entail the death of the foresworn within\nsix days. The superstition was that the perjurer would die horribly,\nwith his head turned round, his face toward his back, and writhing in\ntortures till the end came. The oath on the pickaxe was in use when the\nThugs filled the gaols and it was made upon a piece of cloth fashioned\nin the shape of the _kussee_. A legend existed that the _kussee_ was\nthe gift of the goddess herself when she had been greatly incensed\nby the contravention of one of her laws. At first the Thugs did not\ntrouble about the corpses of their victims but blindly left them for\nKali\u2019s disposal. One day a slave looked back and saw her throwing them\nin the air, and in her rage the goddess condemned her votaries to\nbury their bodies themselves, digging the graves with the consecrated\npickaxe. It was to be made by some blacksmith in the presence of the\n_jemadar_. The consecration follows a long ceremony, including many\nwashings in water, sour milk and ardent spirits, and the pickaxe is\nfirst used to smash a cocoanut, the kernel of which is eaten by the\nassembled worshippers. The pickaxe was entrusted to the safe keeping of\nthe _jemadar_.\n\nWhen on the road it was carried by the most sober and careful man of\nthe party. In camp he buried it in a secure place with its point toward\nthe intended route, but they believed that when unearthed, if another\ndirection was better, the point would be found supernaturally changed.\nIt was at one time the rule to throw the pickaxe down a well at the\nnightly halt, and many witnesses declared that it used to spring up\nspontaneously from the water in the morning to come into the hand of\nits carrier at his call. Several of the Thug prisoners in Jubbulpore\ngaol assured Sir William Sleeman that this was absolute fact, and\nwent so far as to declare they had seen it happen. The _kussee_ was\nreligiously worshipped every seventh day.\n\nAnother important agent in the Thug religion was the _goor_ or\nconsecrated sugar. It was an offering to Bhowanee, made as a sacrifice\nof _tupounee_, to celebrate the commission of any murder. An exact\namount of coarse sugar was purchased to the worth of 1 rupee, 4\nannas. A clean place was selected and the sugar laid out on a sheet\nor blanket, on which were also put the sacred pickaxe and a piece\nof silver coin. The leader of the gang having taken his seat on the\nblanket, surrounded by the most notable stranglers, with the rest\noutside, made a small hole in the ground for the _goor_ and then\ndedicated it saying, \u201cGreat goddess, who vouchsafed 1 lac and 62,000\nrupees to Toora Naig and Koduk Bunwaree in their need, so we pray\nthee fulfil our desires.\u201d (Toorah Naig was a celebrated _jemadar_\nwho, single-handed, with his servant, Koduk Bunwaree, killed a man\npossessed of plunder, and bringing it home, divided it honestly among\ntheir assembled comrades as though they had all been present at the\nmurder.) The Thugs fervently repeated the prayer and the _goor_ was\ndistributed, first to those on the blanket, who ate in solemn silence,\nand when they had finished, it was given to the rest who were entitled\nby their rank to receive it. No one but a man who had strangled his\nvictim was suffered to partake of the _goor_, which had a miraculous\neffect; and the Thugs were persuaded that if any human being tasted it\nhe would take forthwith to the trade. The Thug chief Feringhea told\nSir William Sleeman that the _goor_ completely changed a man\u2019s nature,\nadding,--\u201cIt would change the nature of a horse. Let anyone taste it\nand he will be a Thug, though he know all the trades and have all the\nwealth in the world. For my own part I was well to do; my relations\nwere rich and I held high office myself in which I was sure of\npromotion. Yet I was always miserable when absent from my gang. While\nI was still a mere boy, my father made me taste that fatal sugar, and\nif I were to live a thousand years I should never be able to follow any\nother trade.\u201d\n\nThere was a hierarchy in the caste of Thuggee. The first grade was\nthe _kuboola_, or \u201ctyro,\u201d who after initiation was first employed as\nscout, then as grave-digger, _lughae_; next in rank was the _shumseea_,\nwhose duty it was to hold the hands and feet of the victim when being\nstrangled by the _bhurtote_, who is of the highest grade in the\norganisation. The initiation was made early; a Thug parent apprenticed\nhis son at thirteen or fourteen years. The candidate having bathed and\ndressed in new clothes, which had never been bleached, was led by his\n_guru_, or spiritual director, into a room where the leaders of the\nband were assembled seated on a white cloth; the sacred pickaxe was\nplaced in his right hand, and raising his left on high, he repeated\na fearful oath dictated to him and sworn on the Koran, after which\nhe ate a small piece of the consecrated _goor_. He pledged himself\nto be faithful, brave and secret, to pursue to destruction every\nhuman being whom chance or his own ingenuity threw into his power.\nOnly he was forbidden to kill the members of certain castes, such as\nsweepers, oil-vendors, blacksmiths, carpenters, professional musicians,\nany maimed or leprous persons, the carriers of Ganges water or any\nman travelling accompanied by a cow. As a general rule women were\nspared, and many cases are quoted of the misfortunes that overtook\nthose who disregarded this regulation. Feringhea stated that his gang\nafter killing many women had no luck, and his family fell into great\nmisfortune. Sometimes when they encountered a rich old woman, she was\nsacrificed, and even youth and beauty did not always escape; but the\nconsequences were always the same. After the murder of the woman Kalee\nBebee, who was travelling with a gold _chudur_ for a sacred tomb, the\nperpetrators were severely punished by fate. One got worms in his body\nand died barking like a dog; others died miserably in gaol or after\ncrossing the black water (transportation to Penang). The families\nconcerned became extinct. Thugs who had slain women admitted that they\ndeserved the worst evils that could befall them.\n\nThe crime of killing women was sometimes aggravated by the murder of\ntheir children. In the case of the murder of Bunda Alee, Moonshee of\nGeneral Doveton commanding at Jhalna, his wife and daughters were\nstrangled. One of the Thugs would have adopted the infant child and was\ncarrying it off, when a comrade pressed him to kill it also lest they\nshould be detected on crossing the Nurbudda. Whereupon the miscreant\nthrew the living child on the heap of dead bodies in the open grave,\nand the child was buried alive.\n\nThe apprenticeship to murder was gradual. The young members saw and\nheard nothing of the first affair after their initiation; they were\nignorant of the exact business, but grew to like the life as they were\nmounted on ponies and received presents purchased out of their share of\nthe booty. On the second expedition they began to suspect that murder\nwas committed, and on the third they witnessed the actual deed. They\naccepted the horrible situation, and were seldom much shocked. But\nin one case told by Feringhea, a lad of fourteen, out for the first\ntime and mounted on a pony, was committed to the charge of a young\ncomrade, who was to keep him in the rear out of sight and hearing of\nthe affair when the signal was given. Unfortunately, the boy broke\naway and galloped up in time to witness the scene; he heard the screams\nand saw them all strangled. He fell off his pony and became delirious,\nscreaming and trembling violently if anyone touched him or spoke\nto him. They sat by him when the gang went on and vainly attempted\nto pacify him, but he never recovered his senses and died the same\nnight. A somewhat similar case is told by Sleeman of an affair near\nShikarpore, where the place selected for the murder was in an extensive\njungle by the river side, and a party of travellers were strangled,\nall but two young boys who were to be saved for adoption. One of them,\nwhen the bodies were being thrown into a ditch covered with earth and\nbushes, began to scream violently, and the Thug who had intended to\nadopt him, finding it impossible to pacify him, seized him by the legs\nand dashed his brains out against a stone. The dead boy was left where\nhe lay and his body was found by a fisherman, who gave the alarm which\nled to the pursuit and arrest of the Thugs.\n\nColonel Meadows-Taylor in his \u201cConfessions of a Thug\u201d graphically\npictures the sufferings of his hero after the first affair he\nwitnessed. \u201cDo what I would,\u201d the Thug confesses, \u201cthe murdered father\nand son appeared before me; the old man\u2019s voice rung in my ears, and\nthe son\u2019s large eyes seemed to be fixed on mine. I felt as though a\nthousand _skitans_ (devils) sat on my breast, and sleep would not come\nto my eyes. It appeared so cold-blooded, so unprovoked a deed, that I\ncould not reconcile myself in any way to having become even a silent\nspectator of it.\u201d Next day his father reasoned with him, making him eat\nthe _goor_, and explaining that having put his hand to the work he must\nnot turn back. As soon as the _kuboola_ has got over the first feelings\nof disgust and his courage is equal to the blood-thirsty business, he\nbecomes the disciple of some renowned and experienced member of the\ngang, and instruction is given in strangling. He is entrusted with\nthe handkerchief, _roomal_, and taught how to make the knot with a\npiece of silver inserted. When he has fully learned the process, one\nof the travellers at the next affair is entrusted to him, and with a\n_shumseea_ at hand to assist, he regularly graduates as a _bhurtote_\nand is eligible to become a leader of a gang of his own.\n\nThe stern resolve of the British government to suppress Thuggee, and\nthe energetic assistance of the agents employed were no doubt the true\ncause of its being stamped out. The neglect of omens, the signs sent by\nBhowanee to warn her votaries of threatened dangers, and the murder of\nwomen and persons of the protected castes, brought down upon the Thugs,\nin their own opinion, their deserved retribution. One leader of a gang\nwas arrested with seventeen others because, as they said, he persisted\nin his purpose when a screaming hare had crossed his path. They pleaded\nthat an omen was an order, and disobedience brought its own punishment.\nWe may accept such explanations for what they are worth, and may\nassign to a more reasonable cause the activity in the years between\n1826 and 1840, when no less than 3,689 Thugs were arrested and tried.\nOf these a large number were hanged, transported or imprisoned for\nlife. A few were acquitted or died before sentence; a certain number\nbecame approvers or informers, and no doubt a fatal blow was struck at\nthese horrid crimes which had been so long fostered and supported by\nnearly all classes in the community; landowners, native officers of the\ncourts, police and village authorities.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nDACOITY\n\n    Commission appointed in 1837 to consider means for the suppression\n    of Dacoity--Story of a daring attack upon government--Disguises\n    assumed by Dacoits--The Brinjaras--The \u201cByragee\u201d or religious\n    devotee--Professional poisoners and highway robbers--The\n    datura--Its action and employment--Hereditary descendants\n    of Thugs--Predatory tribes of criminal instinct--Some noted\n    Dacoits--Female leaders--Theft of government treasure in a British\n    garrison--A Dacoit\u2019s revenge.\n\n\nIt has been asserted that although Thuggee has been ostensibly stamped\nout in India, road murders are still committed in considerable numbers\nby the agency of poison administered to travellers, and that this is\nthe work of Bhowanee\u2019s votaries carrying on the old business, still\nimpelled by their horrible religion. This impression is believed to be\nerroneous. There is no evidence that the gang-robbers who undoubtedly\nuse poison such as opium, arsenic, datura and other drugs to stupefy\nor kill their victims, belong to the fell organisation so long a\nscourge in Indian society; or that the worship of Bhowanee, observed\nwith such murderous rites, still exists in India. Nevertheless, the\nadministration of poison by professional robbers, who infested the\nmain roads and lurked in the vicinity of large towns, was largely\nand for the most part mysteriously practised until a comparatively\nrecent date, if it is not indeed still prevalent. It was one of the\nforms of Dacoity, a crime akin to Thuggee, but without its religious\npretensions, and ever one of the most serious evils combated by the\nBritish government. This widespread plague throve and prospered by\nreason of the fierceness and audacity of certain classes and the\ntimidity and submissiveness characteristic of others. \u201cIn Bengal\nproper,\u201d says Sir Richard Temple, \u201cit was a crime with an extensive\norganisation, having professional ringleaders followed by gangs of\nenrolled men.\u201d It was repressed and to a great extent broken up by\nthe strong administrative machinery of the British government, but\nthe crime still crops up in a milder form and is \u201cone of the earliest\nsymptoms of impending scarcity, political excitement or any social\ntrouble.\u201d\n\nWe may pause to examine some of the earlier records of Dacoity. A\ncommission to consider its suppression was instituted in India in the\nyear 1837. Hitherto but little had been ascertained of the character\nor methods employed by this class of criminal. Although Dacoities were\nevery day committed and reported by the magistrates, it was thought\nthat these gangs resided for the most part between the Ganges and\nJumna rivers and in the kingdom of Oude, but information regarding\ntheir habits and location was vague and uncertain. Everyone talked of\nBudhuk Dacoits and their daring robberies, but no one knew who or what\nthey were, whence they came or how their system was organised. In the\ncourse of this inquiry, the magistrate of the Gorruckpore district,\nwhich borders on the kingdom of Oude, informed the government that the\nDacoits were not inhabitants of any part of the British territories\nbut organised banditti from Oude, and that to deal effectively with\nthis crime was altogether beyond the power of the magistrates of the\ndistrict and the local police. He instanced in proof of the strength\nand daring of the Dacoits the details of an attack made upon a party\nof government treasure-bearers in 1822. This story was related long\nafterward to an English official by one of the Dacoits concerned in the\naffair and is given in his own words as follows:\n\n\u201cAbout eighteen years ago Lutee Jemadar sent a messenger to me to say\nthat he should like to join me in an expedition, and I went to him with\nJugdeum and Toke to settle preliminaries. The first day was spent in\nfeasting and nothing was settled about business. On the following day\nhe told me that remittances of government treasure went every month\nfrom Peprole to Gorruckpore, and if we were prudent we might get some\nof it. It had, however, become known that an escort of troopers and\nfoot-soldiers always accompanied these remittances and unless the\nattack was in the nature of a surprise some casualties were likely to\noccur. After exploring the ground, it was seen that the way passed\nthrough an extensive jungle, so thick that horsemen could not safely\nleave the high road.\u201d A point in this jungle was selected for the\nattack and to facilitate it strong ropes were fastened across the\nroad ahead, while other ropes were in readiness to block it behind\nso soon as treasure and escort had passed through. A gang of forty\nwas collected for the robbery, ten matchlock-men, ten swordsmen and\ntwenty-five spearmen, who proceeded to lie in ambush awaiting news of\nthe approach of their prey. On the third morning it was near at hand,\nthe ropes ahead were fixed and a number of men posted, armed with\nmatchlocks loaded with shot, as the Dacoits did not desire to take\nlife. As soon as the trap was laid and the time of retreat intercepted,\nfire was opened from all sides. The escort was thrown into confusion,\nthe foot soldiers sought refuge in the bush, the horsemen tried to\nescape by jumping over the ropes, while the thieves broke in upon the\ntreasure and took possession of some 12,000 rupees.\n\nDaring attacks of this kind by gangs drawn from this great family\nof professional and hereditary robbers were frequent in all parts\nof India. No district between the Berhampootra, the Nurbudda, the\nSutlej and the Himalayas was free from them, and no merchant or\nmanufacturer could feel himself secure for a single night from\nthe depredations of Budhuk Dacoits. In 1822, in the district of\nNursingpoor in the Nurbudda valley, in the dusk of evening, a party\nof about thirty persons, apparently armed with nothing but walking\nsticks in their hands, passed the picket of Sepahees, who stood with\na native commissioned officer on the bank of a rivulet separating\nthe cantonments from the town of Nursingpoor. On being challenged\nby the sentries, they said they were cowherds who had been out with\ntheir cattle which were following close behind. They walked up the\nstreet, and having arrived in front of the houses of the most wealthy\nmerchants, they set their torches in a blaze by a sudden blow upon the\npots containing combustibles; everybody who ventured to move or to make\nthe slightest noise was stabbed; the houses were plundered, and in ten\nminutes more the assailants fled with their booty, leaving about twelve\npersons dead and wounded on the ground. A magistrate close at hand\ndespatched large parties of foot and horse police in all directions,\nbut no one was seized nor was it discovered whence the gang had come,\nor any particulars as to their identities. This occurred in the month\nof February, when marriage processions take place every day in all\nlarge towns; the nights are long, and much money is circulated in the\npurchase of cotton in all cotton districts like that of Nursingpoor.\nThere was a large police guard within twenty paces of the Dacoity on\none side, and this picket of Sepahees within a hundred paces on the\nother. Both saw the blaze of the torches and heard the noise, but both\nmistook it for a marriage procession, and the first intimation given\nof the real character of the party was by a little boy, who had crept\nalong a ditch unobserved by the Dacoits, and half dead with fright,\nwhispered to the officer commanding them that they were robbers and had\nkilled his father. Before the officer could get his men ready, all were\ngone and nothing more was heard of them until twenty years later, when\nthe perpetrators of the attack were detected and brought to justice.\n\nThe Dacoits sometimes assumed disguises to hide the real nature of\ntheir business. In 1818 a notorious leader named Maheran with a gang\nof fifty Budhuks, set out from Khyradee in the Oude Terai under the\ndisguise of bird catchers. They had with them falcons, hawks of all\nkinds, well-trained, also mynas, parrots and other varieties of\nspeaking and mocking birds. At Bareilly, in Oude, they were joined\nby another small gang, and all proceeded in pursuit of some treasure\non its way from Benares westward, carried by ponies under charge of\ntwenty-four _burkundazes_, \u201cnative watchmen,\u201d and policemen. They\ndetermined to attack the treasure party at their halting place between\nAllahabad and Cawnpore. A boat had been purchased to keep along the\nbank of the river, ready to help the party across after the attack,\nand by this the women and children were all landed on the Oude side\nof the river opposite the Serai. Maheran with two or three selected\nmen in disguise remained with the treasure until they saw it safely\nlodged for the night, when he returned to his gang to make arrangements\nfor the attack. Ladders, torches and handles for the spear-heads and\naxes had been provided in the usual way, and two hours after dark they\nscaled the wall of the Serai. Meanwhile confederates within broke open\nthe gate from the inside and stood over it to prevent interruption,\nwhile the rest attacked the escort and secured the treasure. They\nkilled six persons of the guards, wounded seventeen and secured 70,000\nrupees.\n\nMaheran was captured in a later expedition and hanged, but his widow\nMoneea took his place as leader of the gang and shortly afterward\nfitted out another expedition to Junnukpoor in the Nepal territory\nseveral hundred miles to the east of their bivouac, to intercept\nsome treasure on its way to the capital, Khatmandu. This expedition\nconsisted of eighty chosen men and seven women. After taking the\nauspices they set out in small parties toward the appointed place\nof rendezvous. On the way, one of the parties, under a leader named\nJohuree, fell in with fifteen bullocks laden with treasure under the\ncharge of eighty Gorkhas. The Dacoits, being in disguise, managed\nto join the escort without exciting suspicion and ascertained that\nthey were carrying a treasure to the value of 64,000 rupees from the\ncollector\u2019s treasury in the plain to the capital. Johuree ordered two\nof his men to continue with the escort and went on himself with the\nrest to join the other leaders at the appointed place and to consult\nwith them. He found that only a part of the gang had arrived and these\nthought it wiser to postpone an attack until the rest came up, saying,\n\u201cIf we succeed in taking the treasure, many of our friends must be\nseized on suspicion and beaten into confessions that may lead to the\nruin of all, whereas if we forbear this time we shall be all collected\nbefore the next monthly remittance goes up, and we may secure it with\nlittle hazard to our friends or to ourselves.\u201d\n\nJohuree urged that one bird in the hand was worth two in the bush\nand at length prevailed upon the others to accept his counsel. They\nmustered fifty men and prepared to follow the treasure. The two scouts\ncontinued with the treasure escort in the disguise of pilgrims, and\nwhen they had seen it safely lodged at a spot under the first range of\nhills and had carefully reconnoitred the position, one of them hastened\nto Johuree with his report. All now set out and reached the village\nof Bughalee in the evening. From this place Johuree went forward to\nreconnoitre and found the treasure lodged in a fortified place with a\nwall and ditch all around it. A party of four or five hundred traders\nwho carried goods from the plains to the hills were encamped on the\nedge of the ditch. After carefully surveying the position, Johuree\nreturned to his friends and ordered that a couple of stout ladders\ntwenty feet long should be made out of wood cut in the forest.\nAdvancing in silence, they placed these ladders and got over the ditch\nand wall close to where the treasure lay. It was about midnight, with\na good moon and clear sky, but still they thought it necessary to\nlight their torches, and under the blaze they commenced the attack.\nThe escort was taken by surprise and made but a feeble resistance. The\ngang took the whole amount of 64,000 rupees and effected their retreat\nwithout losing a man. On reaching a retired spot two or three miles\nfrom the scene of action, they divided the spoil, but every man had\ntoo much to admit of rapid travelling, so 17,000 rupees were buried at\nthis place, and with the remaining 47,000 rupees the party moved on\nthrough the forest. As soon as news of the loss of the treasure reached\nthe Nepal cantonments at Jalesar, whence it had been despatched, every\nsuspicious person that could be found was seized. Two regiments then\nstationed at Jalesar were despatched through the forest to the westward\nto intercept the robbers, and fell in with some of Johuree\u2019s party,\nfrom whom they recovered a portion of the treasure, while Johuree got\nsafely home with the rest.\n\nThe precision with which veterans remembered and described Dacoities\nat which they had assisted during their lives was often wonderful. One\nof the leaders of the Oude Terai gangs named Lucke, when arrested,\ndescribed forty-nine Dacoities at which he had been present during\nhis career of twenty-five years. The local authorities to whom his\nnarratives were sent endorsed his account of forty-one as having been\nperpetrated precisely as he described them, though many of them had\ntaken place near Calcutta, some four or five hundred miles from the\nbivouac in Oude forest from which the gang had set out.\n\nReference has been made to the disguises assumed by the Dacoits. The\nmost suitable to the locality in which they were about to work were\nas a rule selected. Thus, north of the Jumna they became carriers of\nGanges, or holy water, because men of that class were continually to\nbe met with on those roads. South of the Jumna they pretended to be\npilgrims journeying to some sacred shrine, or relatives sadly conveying\nthe bones of the departed to the banks of the Ganges, or the friends\nof a bridegroom sent to fetch and bring home his bride. The r\u00f4le of\nfuneral mourners was very popular because out of respect for their\nsorrowful business they were treated with much deference and subjected\nto no inconvenient inquiries as to whence they came or whither they\nwere going. The bones they carried were commonly those of inferior\nanimals, wild or domestic; they were kept in bags,--red for male\nbones, white for female,--and at their halting places these bags were\nsuspended from the apex of a triangle formed by three stout poles, to\nbe used later as the handles for the spear-heads concealed in their\nwaistbands. Another favourite disguise was that of the Brinjaras, the\ntraditional carriers of grain and salt, who travel long distances\nconveying the grain to the sea coast and returning with the salt. These\nBrinjaras were a peculiar and distinct race, who were much employed by\nthe Duke of Wellington (when Sir Arthur Wellesley) as food-carriers\nin his Indian campaigns. Their appearance was distinctive and their\ncostume peculiar; of intelligent countenance and strongly knit, wiry\nframes, they dressed--the women especially--in fantastic parti-coloured\nclothes; the women\u2019s arms were completely encased from shoulder to\nwrist in bracelets of bone or ivory; they wore coins round their\nnecks and curiously interwoven in their hair, which gave a strange,\nflighty, wild air to their always expressive and sometimes good-looking\nfaces. The Brinjaras strictly adhered to certain customs; they did not\nintermarry, and lived in no fixed abode, although they halted often\nin the same encampment for some time; they observed the stars and\nscrupulously followed omens; they spoke the languages of most of the\nplaces they visited, but had a peculiar dialect of their own. They had\nno defined religion.\n\nA good account of the Brinjaras is given by Reginald Heber, Bishop of\nCalcutta, in his \u201cIndian Travels.\u201d \u201cWe passed a large encampment of\n\u2018Brinjaras,\u2019\u201d he writes, \u201cor carriers of grain, a singular wandering\nrace, who pass their whole time in transporting this article from\none part of the country to another, seldom on their own account, but\nas agents for more wealthy dealers. They move about in large bodies\nwith their wives, children, dogs and loaded bullocks. The men are all\narmed as a protection against petty thieves. From the sovereigns and\narmies of Hindustan they have no apprehensions. Even contending armies\nallow them to pass and repass safely, never taking their goods without\npurchase, nor even preventing them, if they choose, from victualling\ntheir enemy\u2019s camp. Both sides wisely agree to respect and encourage a\nbranch of industry, the interruption of which might be attended with\nfatal consequences to both.\u201d\n\nThe Brinjaras\u2019 disguise not only served as a convenient cloak for\nthe Dacoits, but they sometimes followed the nefarious business on\ntheir own account. The larger number no doubt were fairly honest and\nindustrious people, but some succumbed to the temptation of their\nroving life and the facilities offered for criminal acts in their\nextensive wanderings, taking to Dacoity and to the kidnapping of\nchildren, a profitable business, especially of female children for\nwhom there was a ready sale. General Charles Hervey, the famous Indian\npolice officer, had but a poor opinion of the Brinjaras, whom he called\nformidable robbers. His account of them is, however, interesting as\nsupplementing Bishop Heber\u2019s. He came across them in large numbers\nat the Sambhur Salt Lake not far from Jeypore, which they visited\nfrom the most distant regions, with immense droves of pack bullocks,\nbringing grain and taking away salt. He says: \u201cTheir animals may be\nseen tethered in hundreds on the wide shores of the extensive lake,\neach _tanda_ or company of their sort being camped under a distinct\nNaik, or headman, in the centre of the drove appertaining to it, with\ntheir bullock packs or panniers neatly collected in piles of hundreds\nin their midst. In the daytime, when halted, their cattle are taken\nout to pasture wherever pasture may be obtained, tended by the fewest\nmen, often mere lads, and not infrequently by girls; at evening they\nare driven home, when a piece of oil-cake is given to each animal,\ncalled by name, and it is curious to watch the process, how well each\nanimal knows its name and waits expectantly for its turn to be called.\nAt night the bullocks are tethered by means of a rope passed round\ntheir front feet and entwined with another rope fixed to the ground\nwith strong stakes. They are picketed in this manner with their heads\nturned inwards, in a circle round the resting place of their owners in\ntheir midst, and fires are kept burning throughout the night to scare\naway tigers or other beasts of prey. I have come upon the encampments\nof these roving people, in the wildest jungles, or threading their\nway with their long straggling lines of laden cattle through the most\nintricate ground, whether of rock, forest, sand-hills, or marsh, and\nhave been quite fascinated by the strangeness of their manner and their\nquaint wild ways.\u201d\n\nAnother successful disguise made use of by the Dacoits in Central\nIndia was that of the garb and appearance of Alkuramies, a peculiar\nclass of pilgrims who travelled in small parties accompanying a high\npriest, who was represented as the leader of the gang. \u201cThey had four\nor five tents, some of white and some of dyed cloth, and two or three\npairs of _nakaras_, or \u2018kettle drums,\u2019 and trumpets, with a great\nnumber of buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep and ponies. Some were clothed,\nbut the bodies of the greater part were covered with nothing but shoes\nand a small cloth waistband. Those who had long hair went bareheaded\nand those who had nothing but short hair wore a piece of cloth round\nthe head.\u201d The pretended Alkuramies always took the precaution of\nhiring the services of half a dozen genuine Byragees or ascetics, whom\nthey put forward in difficult emergencies.\n\nThey are strange people, these Byragees, or religious devotees, whether\npretended or real. There are many classes of them with various names:\nJogis, Sunyasis, Byragis, Aghunhotas, and mostly all incorrigible\nrogues. When travelling in bands they are stalwart naked fellows,\nstrong-limbed and sturdy, unpleasant to meet abroad despite their sham\nsanctity. Their solicitation of alms is more like a threat as they\noffer their begging bowls, peremptorily demanding contributions. They\ndo not whine or fawn like ordinary beggars, but lift their voices in\nexecration when their appeals are not readily met and with their naked\nslate-coloured bodies raised to their full height, they cast dust into\nthe air to emphasise their maledictions. Whether by alms or thefts, the\nmendicant leads an easy, lazy life, his needs are well cared for by the\ncharitable who firmly believe they \u201cacquire merit\u201d by ministering to\nthem.\n\nGeneral Charles Hervey has given a graphic account of a Byragee he\ncame across at Thunjna on the edge of Rajputana, whose lair or _mhut_\nwas on one of the hills above the town. It was \u201cerected nearly at\nthe very top of it among several overhanging rocks, and reached only\nby a long parapeted causeway, all substantially constructed of solid\nmasonry, but not yet completed. The ascetic in possession was in the\nusual nude condition, four square inches of rag forming his entire\npersonal apparel. His body was covered with ashes, his head folded\nround and round with his own braided hair like a tall tiara, and\nhis face and forehead plastered with white symbolic daubs. Sleek he\nwas, and in good condition withal--not at all a starving mendicant,\nwhatever his penances; and he had a fat pony too, in a well-littered\nshed close by his own comfortable den, to get up to and scramble into\nwhich must cause the good little beast some trouble. I asked the man\nwhy thus disfigure himself? I was rebuked for the impertinence by no\nreply, as, silently beholding me, he squatted on his upraised hams\non the stone-built terrace of the lofty spot.... He had, like most\nof his kind throughout India, wandered to many distant regions and\nsacred spots, famed from olden times as places to be visited, whatever\nthe difficulties of the pilgrimage.... He had, indeed, been a mighty\ntraveller and persistent pilgrim, this nude, besmeared gymnosophist,\nof small wants and great energy, and the naked hermit became quite\nattractive, rapt as he was, however unclothed and unbeauteous, as he\nnarrated his \u2018painful marchings\u2019 and the wondrous sights he had beheld\nand bowed down to.\n\n\u201cOther equally devoted and fanatic individuals, leading, like this man,\neremitical lives in caves and hovels in wild and unfrequented spots and\ninaccessible places on crags or rocky eminences by side of river or\nsea, or on temple-topped hill or difficult mountain peak, held sacred\nas the abode of their Devi and not to be profaned, may be met with,\n... but few so observant or so communicative and friendly.... Many\nare their devices of evil-doing when abroad; and here I confine the\nremark to those who are not what they seem to be. Thugs, poisoners and\nkidnappers are to be found among Jogis. When visiting Dwarka many years\nago, I was loudly cursed by a Byragee for not readily enough yielding\nto his demand for alms, and as I put off from the shore, to give\npoint to his execrations, the angered fellow, stark and gray, seemed\na very blue devil, as, standing to his full height and with both arms\nstretched upwards, he flung dust into the air while uttering his direst\nmaledictions.\u201d\n\nProfessional poisoning in carrying out highway robbery was at one time\nspread over every portion of the province of Bengal, and there is no\ndoubt it was equally prevalent in Bombay and Madras. Murders were\nconstantly committed along the road upon unwary travellers who rashly\njoined company with strangers deliberately purposing to kill and rob\nthem; and numbers of thefts were also perpetrated by the administration\nof drugs to render their victims insensible and at their mercy.\n\nThe crime was greatly aided by the facility with which poison in some\nform or other could be obtained. Many shopkeepers traded in poisons,\nselling these goods openly and with the most reckless indifference.\nEven when the law laid restrictions on the sale of poisons, the evilly\ndisposed could provide himself from the roots of trees in the jungle,\ngarden or wayside, or they might be bought from the numerous travelling\nquacks, and the local _hakims_ or \u201cnative doctors\u201d were often not\nunwilling to supply the noxious drugs. Moreover, in almost every\nvillage some hag of evil repute, half-witch, half-midwife, given to\ncriminal practices and commonly believed to be a professional poisoner,\ndid a systematic business in supplying drugs. Upon one old woman, who\nwas arrested near Sasseram in 1835, were found letters and credentials\nfrom numerous members of the poisoning community at large who dealt\nwith her.\n\nThe drug most commonly used by the road poisoners is produced from\nthe datura plant, _stramonium_, both the purple flowered and the white\nflowered, and is prepared from the seeds or the leaves. Its noxious\neffects were well known to the ancients. In \u201cPurchas: His Pilgrimage,\u201d\nthat most famous series of seventeenth century travels, we read, \u201cThey\nhave (in India) an Herbe called Durroa which causeth distraction\nwithout understanding anything done in a man\u2019s presence; sometimes\nit maketh a man sleepe as if hee was dead for the space of four and\ntwenty hours and in much quantity it killeth.\u201d It is referred to in\nBurton\u2019s \u201cAnatomy of Melancholy.\u201d Garcias ab Horto makes mention of\n\u201can herbe called daturah, which if it be eaten, for twenty-four hours\nfollowing takes away all sense of grief, makes them incline to laughter\nand mirth.\u201d As an instrument in facilitating theft and other criminal\ndesigns its properties were widely recognised. In Bengal it was usually\ngiven as an ingredient of sweetmeats, or mixed with bread or coffee,\nsherbet, milk, _tari_, \u201cnative spirits,\u201d or introduced into tobacco.\nIt was relied upon to stupefy; not necessarily to kill, but to produce\nintoxication or delirium, or profound lethargy resembling coma, with\ndilated pupils but natural respiration. Even when life is not seriously\nendangered, the effects of the poison upon the person are such that\nthey seldom recover their bodily vigour. One was still a cripple after\na dose taken seven years before; another continued unable to articulate\nand was like a man stricken with paralysis. Memory is long impaired\nand often never recovered; idiocy sometimes supervenes. The detection\nof the crime is thus prevented. If death occurs, it may be attributed\nto disease, suicide or wild beasts; if the patient survives, he has no\nclear idea what has happened to him.\n\nThe action of datura is generally an indication that it has been\nadministered. It is not only a powerful narcotic, but there are quite\nunmistakably characteristic symptoms. The patient, if not incapable\nof movement, will perform the most fantastic antics, will exhibit\ngreat excitement, ramble in his talk, fly into a violent rage when\nquestioned. As it takes effect, the sufferer grows very thirsty, and\ndry in the throat. There are three stages or sets of symptoms observed:\nFirst, headache, dryness of the mucous membrane, difficulty in walking,\nlanguor, impairment of vision, with the pupils greatly dilated; second,\nmaniacal delirium, flushed face, eyes glistening, violent perspiration\nfrom incessant motion; third, insensibility, coma and possibly collapse\nwith fatal results. In the last condition the sufferer becomes giddy,\nstaggers, falls and dies.\n\nSome of the cases of poisoning by datura may be quoted here to show the\nboldness with which it was practised. One crime was committed in a Jain\ntemple near Bhagalpur in Bengal, where the victims were the priest and\ntwo of his attendants. The latter were found one morning in a state of\nmad intoxication, reeling about the ground, and the priest was missing,\nbut his body was picked up three days afterward in a dry well. It was\nthe work of a gang of professional poisoners who had visited the temple\nostensibly to make an offering to the god but in reality to murder the\npriest. One of them bought sweetmeats which were doctored with powdered\ndatura-seed, and handed them over to the priest for presentation.\nAccording to custom, he ate some of the sweetmeats, giving a part also\nto the two temple attendants. The poisoners waited till the drug had\ntaken effect and then attacked the priest who was lying unconscious\nnear the shrine; one of them throttled him; a second sat heavily upon\nhis chest; a third held his hands, and a fourth trampled him underfoot.\nThe helpless victim soon died in convulsions. The next act was to rifle\nthe secret treasury kept in an inner chamber, and the plunder was\nstowed in sacks and carried away in a cart. In the end by the aid of\n\u201capprovers\u201d seven of the robbers were arrested. Three were sentenced to\ndeath, and the others to transportation for life to the Andaman Islands.\n\nNumerous victims of the crime of road poisoning were found among the\nPowindahs or Afghan traders who travel down every year from above the\npasses on the northwest frontier and who brought their strings of\ncamels laden with merchandise and products of the soil, or drove a good\nbusiness in horse-dealing. They sold cloth and shawls, condiments,\nsun-dried fruits, sweetmeats, valuable furs, long-haired Persian\ncats, strong, surefooted little horses called _yaboos_. They visited\nall parts of India as far as Cape Comorin, and when their goods were\nsold, congregated at certain points for the homeward journey, and with\ntheir wallets well-lined, they were a likely prey for the poisoners.\nAlthough shrewd bargainers, they are an unwary lot not difficult to\ndupe and cajole. These \u201cCabulis,\u201d as they were styled, were at one time\nthe constant victims of datura poisoning in Bombay, where they often\ncollected to enjoy the proceeds of their trading and purchase goods to\ncarry home. Numbers of them were admitted to the hospital suffering\nfrom poison, the fatal effects of which they had escaped, thanks to\ntheir robust constitutions.\n\nOnce at Patna, in Bengal, a horse-dealer from Cabul, who had disposed\nof his stud profitably, rashly made friends with a couple of rogues\nwhom he met by the way and who had so ingratiated themselves with him\nas to be accepted as travelling companions. On reaching Benares one of\nthem, who passed as the other\u2019s servant, went on ahead to a Serai to\nprepare food, which was ready on the arrival of the party and of which\nthe Afghan partook with the others. All were seized with the usual\nsymptoms, and while insensible the horse-dealer was robbed. Again, a\nparty of five, travelling from Calcutta, were beguiled on the way by an\nobliging stranger whom they presently engaged to go out and buy food\nfor them in the bazaar and prepare it for them. They left the Serai\nwith him to continue their journey by rail, but were found unconscious\non the way to the station, having been robbed of their money and most\nof their apparel.\n\nGeneral Hervey quotes a curious instance of the heredity of the\ncriminal instinct which showed itself in the descendants of the old\nThugs settled at Jubbulpore, in the days of the active pursuit of these\nmurderers by Sir William Sleeman. A generation of young Thugs had\ngrown up around the School of Industry, a kind of reformatory for the\noffspring of the captured criminals, and the careers of some of these\nhave been followed. Many of the youths found employment with European\ngentlemen as private servants, and in one particular instance the\ninherited propensity was curiously illustrated. A railway engineer, Mr.\nUpham, employed in the construction of the Indian Peninsula Railway,\nwas stationed at Sleemanabad near Jubbulpore. Returning home one\nevening, much fatigued after a long tour of inspection, he lay down\nto rest on his bed and from his tent, the curtain of which was raised\nfor ventilation, he saw two of his table servants--both of them lads\nfrom the reformatory--engaged in cooking his dinner. He presently\nnoticed that they squeezed into the pot on the fire certain green pods\nthey had plucked from a neighbouring bush, and presuming they were\nherbs of some sort added for flavour, he said nothing, but he was\ncurious and having little appetite he dined very lightly, chiefly on\nrice and milk. He picked some of the pods, however, and put them in\nhis pocket, where they remained till next day, when he became ill and\nrode over to see the doctor. He fainted when he reached the doctor\u2019s\noffice. Restoratives being promptly applied, he so far recovered as to\nbe able to produce the pods which the doctor at once pronounced to be\nof datura. Suspicion thus aroused, the two servants were arrested and\nbrought to trial, when the head cook was convicted and sentenced to six\nyears\u2019 imprisonment. This boy was of the old Thug stock, and obviously\nthe desire to destroy human life was in his blood, brought out by\ngreed; for the object was, of course, to rob Mr. Upham while he was\nunconscious.\n\nThey were apparently irreclaimable, these Thug children. One boy was\ndetained in prison until grown up in the hope that he would prove\nwell-conducted. All his relations had been Thugs; his father (who\nhad been executed), his uncles, brothers and forebears for several\ngenerations, and numbers of them had suffered the extreme penalty. He\nwas cognisant of their misdeeds and the retribution that overtook them,\nbut his own inclinations lay the same way, and no sooner was he at\nlarge than he embraced the evil trade and was soon known as a _jemadar_\nwith an increasing reputation as a daring leader of Dacoits. Eventually\nhe was won over to the side of justice and did good service as an\n\u201capprover.\u201d\n\nA noted Thug poisoner of later days was a certain Rora, the Meerasee--a\nclass of hereditary singers--who was long criminally active and\nin the end was sentenced to transportation for nineteen years on\nseveral counts. His favourite victims were the drivers of bullock\nhackeries, which with an accomplice he would hire, and after they\nwere taken several stages, he would become friendly with the driver,\noffering food, drink or tobacco, which was, of course, drugged and\nproduced the usual narcotic effects. When the driver fell off his box\ninsensible, they left him to lie there and made off with the vehicle\nand its beasts, disposing of them at the first chance. This process\nwas repeated with other carts and conveyances plying for hire, and in\nall cases datura was the drug employed. This Rora was arrested on one\noccasion, and having to pass his own house got permission to go in;\nafter which he came out with a gift of poisoned sweetmeats for his\nescort, and easily escaped when his custodians yielded to the potency\nof the datura.\n\nA form of highway robbery was the \u201cMegphunnah Thuggee,\u201d--the poisoning\nof parents to remove them and allow of the kidnapping of their deserted\nchildren. The motive of this crime was to become possessed of the\njewels and ornaments worn by the children, or to sell the latter\nat distant places or to wanderers who would carry them to far-off\ncountries for questionable purposes. Brinjaras bought male children\nto bring up in their trade, and nomadic gipsies with travelling shows\nwanted females to be reared to their performing business. Thus a gang\nof Megphunnah thieves assembled for a feast fell upon a family of Yats,\nfather and mother, with two girls and a boy, and having strangled the\nparents in good old Thug fashion and sold the children, repeated the\nprocess continually as they wandered on. The gains were small, but the\nmurders were many and numbers were sold into slavery of the worst sort.\n\nDacoity was practised on a large scale in many districts by whole\ngangs under well-known leaders with adherents or well-wishers and\ninformants in every village. At each religious festival in the autumn,\nthe band assembled at the summons of its acknowledged chief in some\ndeserted fort or temple, and settled a plan for the coming season,\nwhen operations were discussed; the names of the selected victims,\nthe nature of the expected booty, the chances of resistance or the\ninterference of the authorities. New members were affiliated and sworn\nin at these meetings and the work went on gaily by the various parties\ntill the approach of the monsoon, when the whole band reassembled,\ndivided the spoil and went into winter quarters. One member of the gang\nwas always a goldsmith, who melted down the ornaments acquired, while\nsilks and clothes were disposed of to friendly shopkeepers.\n\nA long list might be drawn up of the predatory peoples of India. \u201cThese\ncriminal tribes,\u201d says Sleeman, \u201cnumber hundreds of thousands of\npersons and present a problem almost unknown in European experience.\nThe gipsies, who are largely of Indian origin, are perhaps the only\nEuropean example of an hereditary criminal tribe. But they are not\nsheltered and abetted by the landowners as their brethren in India\nare.\u201d Most prominent among these peoples were the Meenas, or Meena\nRhatores, who were found chiefly in Rajputana, but who practised\ntheir infamous trade in many parts of India. The name Rhatore is\nsynonymous with Rajput and signifies \u201cof royal race,\u201d but the blue\nblood was drawn from a family living by plunder and Dacoity. They\nwere settled in considerable numbers at Shajanpore near Gurgaon, and\nlived outwardly respectable lives, but their propensities were well\nknown. Although they went far afield to carry out their robberies, they\noccupied substantial stone houses, cultivated the soil and possessed\nlarge flocks and herds with many swift camels, mostly hidden away\ntill the time arrived for an expedition to pilfer and despoil. These\nMeenas were rich and prosperous and wanted nothing but to be let\nalone; they habitually lived well, ate flesh, drank much, wore fine\nraiment, and their women disported many trinkets and gorgeous clothes;\ntheir rejoicings and festivals were celebrated with much feasting and\nrevelry. They followed no ostensible occupation; they hired servants\nto till the ground, and their villages had often a deserted appearance\nbecause most of the men were absent on some raid. The remaining few,\nwary and watchful, looked out for possible detection and interference;\nthe women, even when drawing water at the well, were ready to give the\nsignal of alarm or send a word of warning to their friends engaged in\nsome illegal pursuit. The Meenas hung closely together, and if any one\nwas by mischance arrested, he might count upon assistance and upon\nfunds raised by subscription to provide bribes to secure his release,\nif in the native states, or for the payment of fees for his defence.\n\nAnother criminal class very formidable in their time were the Moghyas,\nwhose home was in Meywar in and about the direction of Neemuch. They\nwere notorious for the wide range of their depredations, and being of\na treacherous character, they inspired great dread in the regions they\ninfested. They did not confine themselves to their own country, but\nspread far and wide, and their robberies were so repeated that at one\ntime the high road between Indore and Gwalior was patrolled by parties\nof irregular cavalry in support of the inefficient local police. These\nMoghyas came from a common stock of tribal thieves, such as the Budhuks\nand Khunjurs, and were notable for their favourite custom of taking\nservice as village watchmen or _chowkeydars_, a strange practice very\ngeneral throughout India and based upon the old idea of setting a\nthief to catch a thief.\n\nThe Budhuks were professional Dacoits who always murdered their\nvictims; the Khunjurs were wanderers who robbed in many widely\nseparated districts both in Madras and Bombay, and in times far back in\nJalna, Bolarum near Secunderabad, at Bellary (Madras) and Sholapore.\nThe Mooltani robbers were assiduous in attacks on convoys of cargoes of\npiece goods, opium and sugar. There were also Bedowreahs, freebooters\nand desperados of the North-western Provinces, Kaim Khanees, camel\npostilions, who were also Dacoits, and Khaikarees and Lambanees, much\ngiven to crime in the Dharwan district and so determined in their\nmisdeeds that no severity short of perpetual banishment had any effect\non them. After a large capture, the native magistrate sentenced every\noffender to have his right hand chopped off. Yet they at once resumed\ntheir depredations when set free and were long recognised as members of\nthe \u201clop-handed\u201d gang.\n\nThe Ooreahs, or men of Orissa, were poisoners by descent, adepts\nat dissimulation and low cunning, much given to the despoiling of\nunsuspecting females of the oldest profession in the world, the\nhereditary dancing girls who were brought up to the business by their\nmothers. A troupe of these girls were often maintained privately by\nrajahs and wealthy natives, and for ceremonial purposes at Hindu\ntemples. Despite the taint of ill-repute attaching to their trade,\nthey were often modest in manner and of refined tastes, very much like\nthe old Grecian \u201cHet\u00e6r\u00e6\u201d; but when living at large in their public\ncapacity, they were often the victims of greedy miscreants who coveted\ntheir possessions, their plentiful ornaments and jewelry, for many\nwere personally rich. The Ooreahs worked in gangs and three of them\nvisited the house of some of these women in Dum-Dum and brought with\nthem a present of food, curry cooked by themselves and drugged. This\nhad the usual effect and ended in a great robbery. Again, four Ooreahs\ntook lodgings with a woman in the Sham Bazaar, near Calcutta, and\nestablished friendly relations, exchanging sweetmeats. Those given by\nthe Ooreahs soon produced insensibility, and the poisoners cleared out\nthe place.\n\nIn 1869 information reached a gang of Dacoits on the look-out for booty\nthat a large consignment of treasure had been received at Agra by\nrailway from Calcutta. It was to be transferred at Agra to camel-back,\nto be forwarded to its destination at Jeypore. The leader of the\nDacoits and many others were lurking around drawn by the scent of rich\nprey on the skirts of the great Durbar then in progress. They prudently\nresolved to delay attack until the spoil was upon native territory,\nand it was watched from stage to stage until the convoy had entered a\npass or hilly gorge one march from Jeypore. The party halted for the\nnight to bivouac in the bazaar of a place called Molumpoona, where they\nwere challenged by pretended revenue officers, who were Meena Dacoits\ndisguised, and accused of trying to evade the transit dues. The real\ncharacter of the officials was soon made manifest when the escort, who\nwere soldiers or policemen, ran off, and the plunder was secured. It\nconsisted of a large amount in rupees and silver in bricks, coral beads\nand other valuables.\n\nThe audacity of these Dacoits reached to greater heights. The royal\nmails were not safe from their interference. By maintaining spies\nin the various post-offices, news was always forthcoming of the\napproaching despatch of a valuable prize by the government mail carts\nor Dak runners from Agra to the adjacent native states. Almost at the\nsame time as the last named robbery took place, a detachment from the\nmain gang stopped the mail cart and seized its contents, carrying off a\nquantity of bullion in British sovereigns. A second similar robbery was\nalso effected on the Ajmere frontier, in which the post-office employee\nwas wounded. These treasure Dacoities were no doubt facilitated by the\nniggardliness of the transmitters, who sought to save the expense of\nhiring a special escort notwithstanding the enormous amount at stake,\nas much as thirty lacs of rupees, or \u00a3300,000, having been passed at\ntimes from Bombay to Indore.\n\nOn one occasion in 1864, a police confederate gave notice of a\nconsignment of treasure, 30,000 rupees, from Bombay, passing through\nBerar, which was intercepted and attacked in a ravine near Mulkapore.\nThe mail cart arrived about dusk, when the robbers fell upon it and the\ndrivers, and the small escort of four matchlock men fled. The bullion\nwas loaded quickly on camels, carried away and buried in the jungle\nbefore the news of the theft reached Mulkapore. A month later, when the\nbooty was about to be divided among the different gangs engaged, they\nquarrelled fiercely over the shares and one of the party stole away and\nbrought the police upon the scene. The treasure was thus recovered and\nmany important arrests were made.\n\nThis money had been forwarded up country to be employed in the purchase\nof cotton at a time when the great American War of Secession had\nparalysed the cotton industry, and great enterprise was being shown in\nobtaining the scarce commodity. This \u201ccotton hunger\u201d extended to India,\nand the productive cotton fields there were being despoiled to meet\nthe demand. Heavy remittances in cash were in consequence constantly\ntransmitted up country, and the temptation was great to highway\nrobbers. It was the same with regard to opium, largely produced in the\nprovince of Malwa. Not only was the drug itself plundered in transit to\nBombay, but the purchase money of the goods was intercepted on its way\nto pay the cultivators.\n\nMany noted Dacoits rose into prominence when the crime was most\nprevalent. One was Jowahirra Durzee, a thief of the boldest type who\nwandered through Central India planning and executing robberies. There\nwere thirteen such crimes to his credit in the province of Berar and\neight more around Poona. He was a fine-looking man who was caught by\nthe Nizam of Hyderabad and sentenced to be beheaded, but who escaped\nfrom gaol with the connivance of the native guard. He renewed his\nactivity and made a great haul in Berar, robbing a couple of country\ncarts conveying cash to the value of 66,000 rupees sent from Bombay for\nthe purchase of cotton. The thieves had only time to bury their plunder\nand disperse, but returned a month later to dig it up and divide it.\nAfter making Poona the centre of operations, he was again arrested and\ncommitted to the British lock-up at Jalna, from which he was rescued by\na daring comrade, Kishen Sing, who forced an entrance into the prison\nby climbing the wall and overpowering the sentry.\n\nAfterward Jowahirra, when retaken, described what had occurred. Two\nsteel clasp knives with file blades had been conveyed from Bombay and\nsmuggled into the prison. With these the prisoners cut through their\nleg-irons in six days, after which their friends came and carried them\noff to where three swift camels were waiting for them outside the town.\nThe Indian criminals are ingenious in dealing with their fetters to\ncompass escape. They are independent of files. Thirty of the worst\nprisoners confined in the central gaol of Agra contrived to cut through\ntheir irons by means of threads manufactured from their clothing and\nthickly coated with pounded glass or emery powder. The threads were\nfirst anointed with gum to which the powder adhered, thus forming a\nsawing instrument equal to a file. Jowahirra\u2019s subsequent depredations\nwere on a large scale. He was often associated with the notorious\nDacoit Jeewun Sing, (of whom more directly), and they controlled large\nnumbers of tribal thieves, Meenas and Rhatores and Rohillas, who were\nat one time computed to amount to nearly four hundred. Jowahirra was\nin due course tried as a professional Dacoit and sentenced to fourteen\nyears\u2019 transportation to the Andaman Islands.\n\nJeewun Sing was a native of Bikaneer and a camel carrier who conveyed\nspecie and other consignments for the bankers of Berar, and as such he\nenjoyed a reputation for honesty and fair dealing in the delivery of\ngoods entrusted to him. Yet he was in collusion with Meena Dacoits who\ncame down from the country in quest of plunder, and whom he harboured\nand hid in two temples near Oomraotee until news came of treasure on\nthe move. Jeewun Sing, who had taken service with the Mypore police for\nhis personal safety, secretly directed these gangs and was concerned\nin several of the heaviest robberies, receiving always his share of\nthe proceeds,--a fourth or fifth. He did not join personally in the\nwork, but sent agents to represent him. He was a general carrier, whose\ncamels travelled to Bombay, Indore, Jeypore, Jubbulpore, and who was\ntrue to his employers as a cloak to his proceedings against others.\nThis police inspector, so long the confederate of robbers, lived under\na cloud and his arrest was often strongly urged, but he was spared\nthrough the protection of his police superiors, and not a little on\naccount of his usefulness in securing the conviction of others. But\nthis double traitor, disloyal to his sect and the betrayer of his\nconfederates, was in the end dismissed from the service.\n\nKishen Sing, the noted Rhatore leader of Dacoits who rescued Jowahirra\nDurzee, was one of the chief agents of this same Jeewun Sing. Kishen\nSing was informed against by his confederate, Choutmull, for declining\nto submit to his demands and was supposed to have died in custody at\nAboo. The story of this fictitious death so admirably illustrates\nEastern duplicity that it deserves mention. Kishen Sing was a desperate\ncharacter whose crimes were many and atrocious. He murdered one of his\nassociates in a mail cart robbery; he attacked two sepoys going on\nfurlough, and in the fight which ensued slew one while he himself was\nwounded; and he was in the habit of disguising himself as an officer\nin the Nizam\u2019s cavalry in order to carry out his robberies. One of\nhis most daring deeds was rifling a treasure convoy on the high-road\nbetween Sholapore and Hyderabad. The money was 30,000 rupees in\nspecie and some chests of bullion, and was carried in the wagons of a\ntransit agency under escort of some Arab mercenaries. A fierce conflict\nwas fought, but the Dacoits got the best of it and carried off the\ntreasure. Later Kishen Sing was arrested and laid by the heels at Mount\nAboo to await trial.\n\nHe was resolved to escape his fate of certain transportation. First\nhe tried to commit suicide with a piece of glass, then he simulated\nmadness and at last took to malingering. He was seized with a terrible\nhacking cough and grew visibly worse, so that his release as incurable\nwas all but recommended. Then he apparently died. Leave was sought from\nthe local authorities to bury him and not burn him as was the usual\nprocedure with a Hindu corpse. His body was handed over for interment\nto four or five low caste men engaged by an old and faithful follower\nof his who had taken the garb of a mendicant and occupied a small\nhut just outside the gaol gates. The undertakers were in the secret,\nand they placed the living corpse in a shallow grave face downward,\ncovering it with thorns and brushwood, on the top of which a thin\nlayer of earth was laid. The defunct made no move, and after dark\nthe faithful Gosaen, who had been on the watch, came and dug up the\n\u201cdead\u201d Kishen Sing. It was thus clearly proved that burial did not mean\ndeath and that, provided a person is placed faced downwards with no\nsuperincumbent weight of earth, life may be safely prolonged for hours.\nThe escape of Kishen Sing was not realised until he was discovered\nalive and well in his native village. How he imposed upon the medical\nofficer whose duty it was to furnish a certificate of death does not\nappear upon the record.\n\nA curious feature in Indian Dacoity was that gangs were led in more\nthan one instance by female _jemadars_ or captains. One of the most\nnotable was a certain Tumbolin whose husband had met his deserts in\nthe Madras territory and had been executed. After his death, his wife\nwas installed in his place by the universal acclaim of his followers,\nand she fully justified her appointment. She became a most capable\nchief, ably managed all the affairs of the gang, sought out the needful\ninformation as to the promise of spoil, the best methods of attack,\nand settled every preliminary. She went with her men to the point of\naction, but did not join personally in the fray, leaving the actual\ncommand to a trusty lieutenant, by name Himtya, chosen by herself, and\nwho became her right hand man.\n\nOne of the boldest operations ever attempted by Dacoits was the\nattack made by Tumbolin\u2019s gang upon a military treasure in the heart\nof the military cantonments of Sholapore. In quest of booty, she had\nbrought her party down in person from Central India and had encamped\nat Nuldroog, about fifteen miles from Sholapore, a wild spot within\nthe territory of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Accompanied by her faithful\nHimtya and others, disguised as wandering minstrels, she explored the\nneighbourhood and penetrated the military quarter of Sholapore. They\nsang their songs before the officers\u2019 bungalows and at last boldly\nentered the general\u2019s garden in which a sentry was posted. Over the\nhedge they saw a sentry, and more to the purpose, saw that he was in\ncharge of the treasure chest of the military force. Meanwhile Himtya\nhad gone off independently and had marked down as a hopeful prey the\nhouse of a wealthy tobacconist and banker in the town of Sholapore.\n\nThe two enterprises were discussed that night on return to camp, and\nalthough the banker\u2019s promised to be the easiest job, an attack upon a\nmilitary force was the most audacious and, if successful, would secure\nthe largest prestige. It was decided to attempt the latter enterprise,\npausing for a day or two in order to reconnoitre their ground, the\nbest means of approach, and the surest line of retreat if pursued. The\nBritish garrison was large and consisted of a native infantry and a\ntroop of European horse artillery. It was an important station where\nmany high officials resided, judge, collector and magistrate, and a\nlocal gaol was established within the fort. It was a hard nut to crack,\nbut Tumbolin did not despair. First removing their encampment to some\ndistance, the rendezvous was fixed on some broken ground near the\ndeposited treasure, which was last seen by Himtya when being locked up\nin the right hand compartment of the tumbril.\n\nAt nightfall the sepoy sentry guard retired into their guard room,\nleaving a double sentry to guard the treasure. Himtya\u2019s first step was\nto secure the guard by locking them into their quarters; then he and\nhis men crept up under cover of a tall cactus hedge until they reached\nthe tumbril, when two of the Dacoits rushed simultaneously upon the two\nsentries and speared them, while a third robber broke off the padlock\nof the tumbril and laid open the right compartment of the treasure\nchest. It was empty, for the money had been transferred that very day\nto the other side. By this time, the alarm had been raised. The sentry\nin the general\u2019s garden adjoining opened fire, and some of the officers\nran up with shot-guns, by which one of the robbers was wounded. The\nattack had failed and the tables were turned. The bugles rang out with\na general call to arms and the baffled Dacoits hastily decamped.\n\nPursuit followed, but the robbers were fleet of foot and arrived safely\nat their encampment, where all was in readiness for flight, ponies were\nmounted, Tumbolin astride on her favourite piebald, and they galloped\naway through the night and the next day until the party reached and\ncrossed the Kistna, after which they were beyond pursuit. Great\ncommotion had been caused in Sholapore. The troops stood to their arms\nall night and patrols of cavalry scoured the whole country round. The\nEnglish general in command reported that Sholapore had been attacked\nby a numerous and well-organised banditti, but, as a matter of fact,\nTumbolin\u2019s whole gang numbered no more than sixteen persons.\n\nTumbolin long continued her depredations and her success was great. Ten\nyears after the attack on Sholapore, her gang visited the city of Poona\nat a moment when the chief of police was being married and the entire\nforce was in attendance upon the marriage procession. Himtya seized the\noccasion to break into the house of a rich Marwaree merchant and rifle\nhis strong room. The attack was made with flaring torches and a great\noutcry and succeeded, but two of the robbers were captured as they fled\nthrough the town, one of them Himtya himself. Tumbolin escaped and was,\nindeed, never taken, although a large price was put upon her head. She\nretired at length at a good old age to die peacefully among her own\npeople in the fastnesses of the Oude Terai.\n\nGrassia was a famous leader of Khunjur Dacoits who had become an\napprover after capture. When he died his widow, a woman of fine\npresence and masculine gait, consecrated her children by a solemn oath\nto their father\u2019s profession. She seemed to anticipate that the boys\nwould be worth little at the work, but relied upon her one girl to\nturn into a capable leader such as Tumbolin. Grassia\u2019s daughter grew\nup into a fine woman, with no particular good looks, but of imposing\naspect. She never married, bearing in mind her mother\u2019s injunctions to\ndevote herself to the care of her brothers, and to keep Tumbolin before\nher as a model for imitation, and she no doubt led her gang with much\nenergy and success. In older times there were female Thugs, women who\naccompanied their husbands on expeditions, and one is mentioned by\nSleeman who was the _jemadar_ of a gang of her own.\n\nA horrible story of a Dacoit\u2019s revenge is told by Mr. Arthur Crawford.\nAfter an outbreak of the Bheels in October, 1858, which was commenced\nby one of their number, Bhagoji Naique, shooting the superintendent\nof the police near Sinnur, the majority of the Bheels took to Dacoity\nunder the leadership of Bhagoji. At this time an old Bheel named\nYesoo, a friend of Bhagoji\u2019s, was living in the same neighbourhood\nin a village which was a favourite camping ground for Europeans on\naccount of the facilities it offered for sport. Yesoo was on very\nfriendly terms with the sportsmen and endeavoured to dissuade Bhagoji\nfrom his traitorous designs, but without success. After the murder of\nthe police official, Yesoo refused to join the rebels, and was excused\non account of his age and lameness and left to live in peace in his\nvillage, Bhagoji little thinking that all the while he was secretly\nsupplying the English with valuable information concerning the plans\nand whereabouts of the Dacoits. When the disturbance had been quelled\nand an amnesty proclaimed, one of Bhagoji\u2019s most faithful adherents\nreturned to his home and settled down quietly in his native village\nnot far from Yesoo, who by this time was well known to have been a\ngovernment informer and was very proud of the fact. This apparently did\nnot affect Hanmant, who tried to be on good terms with the old man,\nand frequently visited him, inviting him to bring his family over to\nhis (Hanmant\u2019s) village. But Yesoo was wary and kept the young man at\narm\u2019s length. Hanmant, finding all attempts to lure the old man away\nfrom the security of his own village in vain, conceived a diabolical\nplot to bring about his revenge. \u201cTaking some fifteen or twenty of\nhis own people and a few more Bheels who had sworn to be revenged on\nYesoo, he repaired one night to Yesoo\u2019s village, silently surrounded\nthe Bheel quarter, and then sent one of his men to fire the village\nstackyard at the other side of the village. Just as he anticipated, the\nalarm was no sooner given than every male Bheel in the \u2018Warra\u2019 (their\nquarters outside the village proper), including Yesoo and his two sons,\nwent off at best speed to the fire, the women and children collecting\noutside their huts to view the blaze. In an instant the revengeful\ngang surrounded the \u2018Warra,\u2019 and with his own hand Hanmant cut down\nand horribly mutilated Yesoo\u2019s two wives and daughters, the other\nwomen were gagged and bound, and then Hanmant and a select few, armed\nwith matchlocks, lay in ambush by the path Yesoo and his sons must\nreturn by. Yesoo he shot with the muzzle of his gun nearly touching\nhis body, and the sons and one Bheel who showed fight were disposed\nof by his comrades; the other Bheels dispersed, while Hanmant and his\ngang quietly returned home. Suspicion, of course, immediately fell upon\nHanmant. One of his confederates peached. Hanmant escaped into the\njungle, but was caught half-famished about a week afterward. Ultimately\nhe and two accomplices were executed at the scene of the murder,\nHanmant exulting up to the last moment in the dreadful deed, which he\nhad been brooding over for nearly five years.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nCHARACTERISTIC CRIMES\n\n    Extended use of poison--Horrible stories--The Gaekwar of Baroda\n    charged with attempted poison of British resident, Colonel\n    Phayre--Diamond dust--Modern instances in Bombay--Murders\n    numerous--Police practices tending to concealment of\n    evidence--Decapitation--Strangulation--Stinging to death--Crushing\n    to death by an elephant--Leading traits in Indian criminals--Frauds\n    and forging--Story of the Black Hole of Calcutta.\n\n\nThe crime of secret poisoning as a lethal agent has ever largely\nprevailed among a timid and deceitful people inclined to prefer\ntreachery to open violence. Under the Mussulman dynasty, assassination\nby poison flourished exceedingly. It was effective in removing a\npestilent competitor or a too ambitious minister, a jealous or\nuntrustworthy wife or a hateful husband. The action of poison was\noften mysterious and its symptoms obscure in countries where the light\nof medical knowledge burned dimly, and when fatal might easily be\nattributed to the noxious effect of the narcotics so largely indulged\nin. The facility with which poison could be administered is constantly\nindicated in the ancient writings; the Shastras or sacred books of\nthe Hindus, illustrating and explaining the Vedas, enlarge upon\nthe precautions that should be taken to protect the life of the rajah\nor ruler from the subtle attacks of those around him. The danger of\ndeath by poisoning lurks commonly in the domestic relations; a great\ncrowd of servants fill the purlieus of the palace, actively engaged\nin the preparation of food and often at liberty to pass freely to and\nfro. One Shastra lays down the necessary qualities of a cook as skill,\ncleanliness, good character and even temper so that neither greed nor\nrevengeful feeling should incite him or her to mix something poisonous\nin the pot. Another goes further and enlarges thus upon the methods\nof detecting the personal characteristics of any one likely to give\npoison,--\u201cHe does not answer questions, or only gives evasive answers;\nhe speaks nonsense; rubs the great toe along the ground and shivers;\nhis face is discoloured; he rubs the roots of the hair with his\nfingers; and he tries by every means to leave the house.\u201d\n\n\n_Execution in India_\n\n    A common mode of execution in India, for which the elephant is\n    easily trained. In the early times of uprising or rebellion,\n    elephants were also used against the enemy, and would make short\n    work of piling up great pyramids of human heads.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSome horrible stories are preserved of the ruthless administration\nof poison by the Mohammedan sovereigns in India. Thus Tavernier, the\nFrench traveller in the seventeenth century, says of the great state\nprison of Gwalior that the emperor Aurungzeb was so sensitive lest he\nshould be stigmatised as a cruel prince he never suffered any great\nsubject to survive long in prison; at the end of the ninth or tenth\nday the captive was removed by poison. No doubt Hyder Ali poisoned\na number of his English prisoners, and the inhuman murder of General\nMathews by Tippoo Sing is told by James Bristowe, who suffered a long\ncaptivity under the same merciless monarch. The general was poisoned\nunder the most abominable circumstances. He was starving himself to\ndeath rather than partake of the food issued to him, which he had\ndiscovered contained poison. He studiously abstained from food for\nseveral days until at length, tortured by overmastering hunger, he\ndevoured a plate of poisoned victuals and expired a few hours later in\nviolent convulsions. Another officer, Captain Romley, who saw himself\nconstrained to swallow poison, preferred to commit suicide by some\nother means. Yet again, Lieutenant Fraser had poison forcibly poured\ndown his throat.\n\nThe traditions of the native states as to poisoning were preserved in\nat least one till a late date in the last century. In Baroda, a Rajput\nruler, the Gaekwar Mulhar Rao, was the centre of a nest of criminal\nintrigue rivalling anything in the past, as great a miscreant as any\none in his depraved court and more guilty than any of his subjects\nin the use of his despotic power. Crime was the very breath of his\nprincely house; its members hated one another with bitter animosity;\nassassination, largely by secret poisoning, was the chief avenue to\nthe throne, but all kinds of flagitious means were employed to secure\nsuccession; charges backed by elaborate perjury were as often used to\nupset a rival aspirant, as powdered arsenic or diamond dust to remove\nhim permanently to another sphere.\n\nIn the generation to which Mulhar Rao belonged, violent deaths had\nconstantly paved the way to the throne. One of five sons reigned in\n1847. Two of his brothers died suddenly, and the prince himself a few\nyears later. He was succeeded by the fourth brother, Khander Rao, whom\nthe fifth, Mulhar Rao, at once attempted to poison, but he was detected\nand taken into custody. Then Khander Rao sought to protect himself by\nappealing to sorcery and black arts, and finding no certain security,\nconsulted a Brahmin who strongly recommended human sacrifices.\nWhereupon Khander Rao selected thirty-five prisoners in his gaol of\nBaroda, whom he ordered for execution at the rate of five daily.\nTwenty-five had suffered before the butchery ceased. Mulhar Rao still\nlived, and recourse was had to simpler methods; his cook was suborned\nand provided with powdered arsenic, the most commonly tried drug, but\nthe poison failed in effect because, although the noxious food was\nconsumed, remedies were applied in time.\n\nFalse testimony was next adduced, and Mulhar Rao was accused by\nperjured witnesses of plotting to have his brother Khander Rao shot\nby a European soldier, and on this flimsy pretence he was closely\nconfined in the prison of Cadra. He had sympathisers and they soon felt\nthe weight of Khander Rao\u2019s hand. Four of them were seized, accused\nof holding secret communication with the prisoner, and sentenced to\nvarious forms of capital punishment. One was hanged, another beheaded,\na third blown from the mouth of a gun and the fourth was thrown under\nthe feet of an elephant to be trodden to death. Suddenly Khander Rao\nhimself died, not without suspicion of foul play, and Mulhar Rao walked\nstraight from the gaol to the throne, where he was soon to emulate the\nmisdeeds of his predecessors.\n\nThe new Gaekwar had no claims upon the regard of his subjects. Almost\nwholly uneducated and with no mental gifts, he failed to inspire\nrespect or devotion. He was not without astuteness, but was obstinate\nas a mule and fierce as a tiger. His person was unattractive; he was\nundersized, of mean appearance, with a coarse, swarthy complexion;\nhe squinted, and from his large sensual lips black teeth protruded\nsavagely. Unlike his brother Khander Rao, he had no taste for field\nsports, and he had converted the race course at Baroda into a carriage\ndrive for the ladies of his zenana.\n\nMulhar Rao\u2019s private life was desperately evil. In his early years\nhe was often thought to be mad on account of his passionate and\nungovernable temper. Even as a child he committed crimes, impelled by\nfierce hatred and lust for revenge. His youth was made up of poisonings\nand attempts to poison. When he came to power he destroyed his\nenemies, real or fancied, wholesale. His gaolers collected victims in a\nrow, and one by one poison was poured forcibly down their throats. One\nof those he most cordially detested was offered poisonous pills, and\nwhen he refused to swallow them he was despatched in a more expeditious\nfashion by being squeezed to death in a special machine. This man\u2019s\nchief crime was that he had been a creature of Khander Rao\u2019s.\n\nThe new Gaekwar\u2019s victims were so numerous that it was a current phrase\nin the city, \u201cHas he killed many to-day?\u201d He spared no man in his\nanger, no woman in his lust. Justice was bought and sold, the claimant\nwho had the longest purse always won his case; public business was\nneglected; the most unworthy were advanced; bribery and corruption\nwere the rule in every branch of administration. The crown and finish\nto Mulhar Rao\u2019s offences was his alleged plot to poison the British\nresident, Colonel Phayre.\n\nThere had long been distrust between the Gaekwar and the representative\nof the British government, whose profound disapproval of the prince\u2019s\nproceedings was soon made manifest. A more serious difference arose\nwhen the Gaekwar insisted that his infant son, born of his latest\nmarriage, should be recognised as the next heir to the throne. There\nwere grave doubts of the child\u2019s legitimacy. His mother, Luxmeebee, had\nbeen forcibly abducted from another husband who was still alive at the\ntime of its birth. Colonel Phayre refused to acknowledge the child and\nMulhar Rao vowed vengeance. One of his first dastardly attempts was to\npoison all the inmates of the residency by causing a pound of arsenic\nto be mixed with the ice sent in for daily consumption. This device\nfailed, and the next attack was aimed directly at the resident through\nhis own body servants.\n\nColonel Phayre was in the habit of drinking a glass of sherbet every\nmorning when he came home from an early walk. It was awaiting him on\nthe hall table and was prepared with sugared water and fresh pumelo\njuice. One day he swallowed only a mouthful of this drink, disliking\nits taste, and threw the rest out of the window, when he detected a\nsmall amount of sediment in the bottom of the glass. When analysed\nsubsequently, this was found to contain arsenic and diamond dust.\nSuspicion was at once aroused, and the possession of the powder charged\nwith these ingredients was traced to a _havildar_ of the military guard\nof the residency, who kept it concealed in his waist belt. It was\nnot believed that any subordinate and impecunious person could have\nafforded to buy diamond dust, and attention was at once diverted from\nthe _havildar_ to the prince, whose bitter feeling toward the resident\nwas well known.\n\nEvidence so damnatory against Mulhar Rao was collected that the\ngovernment of India attached his person and decided to prosecute him.\nA special court of inquiry was appointed, composed of three English\nand three native commissioners, the first three leading lights on the\nIndian bench, the second three Maharajas of the highest rank. The\nGaekwar was permitted to engage counsel, and was defended by one of the\nmost eminent of British barristers at that time, Sergeant Ballantine.\nThe arraignment of a reigning prince for the crime of murder by the\nsupreme power to whom he owed allegiance caused a great sensation in\nIndia, and the issue of the protracted trial was watched with great\ninterest at home. In the end the three English commissioners were of\nopinion that the Gaekwar was guilty through his paid agents of an\nattempt to poison Colonel Phayre, and on the other hand, their three\nnative colleagues considered that the charge was not proved. The result\nwas much criticised and indeed condemned, but the adverse finding was\naccepted by the then viceroy, Lord Northbrook, who forthwith deposed\nMulhar Rao and deprived him and his issue of all rights to the throne.\nThe decision was based upon \u201chis notorious misconduct, his gross\nmisgovernment of the state and his evident incapacity to carry into\neffect the necessary reforms,\u201d the chief of all being the reform of his\nown evil nature and personal character.\n\nSergeant Ballantine dissented from the view taken by the English\ncommissioners and disapproved of Lord Northbrook\u2019s action. Following\nthe old legal axiom that the best course of an advocate whose case is\nbad is to abuse the other side, the learned counsel threw the blame\nchiefly upon Colonel Phayre. \u201cHe (Colonel Phayre) was fussy, meddlesome\nand thoroughly injudicious,\u201d the sergeant wrote in his memoirs. \u201cThere\nwere two adverse parties in the state, and instead of holding himself\naloof from both, he threw himself into that opposed to the Gaekwar and\nwas greedy to listen to every accusation and complaint that with equal\neagerness was gossiped into his ears.\u201d But these last were by no means\nimaginary. Mulhar Rao\u2019s vile conduct was never in doubt, and it was\nclear that he had tampered with the resident\u2019s servants.\n\nAs regards the diamond dust which played a somewhat exaggerated part\nin the affair, there is nothing to substantiate the common belief\nthat it is a deadly poison, any more than ground glass, which has an\nequally bad name. It is an old and exploded superstition. The notorious\n\u201csuccession powder\u201d of the old Italian poisoners was supposed to be\ndiamond dust. Voltaire tells us that Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans,\ndied of acute irritant poisoning, the poison being diamond powder mixed\nwith pounded sugar and strewn over strawberries.\n\nIt may be noted here that the abominable practice of widow-burning\nseems to have originated as a check upon the wife\u2019s desire to get rid\nof her husband. The practice dates back to the time of Strabo, who\ngives the above origin for it. It was so common, says Mr. William\nMethold, that a law was passed insisting that the wives should\naccompany their deceased husbands to the funeral pyre. According to one\nauthority, poisoning by wives was so frequent that, in any one year,\nfour men died to every woman. Originating as a deterrent, the burning\nof widows became in due course an act of pious devotion, a deed of\nself-immolation acceptable to their bloodthirsty gods. But the original\nreason is often quoted in the ancient writings, and the remarks of\na traveller, Robert Coverte, may be quoted in point. \u201cThe cause why\nthis law was first made was for that the women there were so fickle\nand inconstant that upon any slight occasion of dislike or spleen they\nwould poison their husbands; whereas now the establishing and executing\nof this law is the cause that moveth the wife to love and cherish her\nhusband and wisheth not to survive him.\u201d It is very much to the credit\nof the old East India Company that it sternly suppressed the practice\nof _suttee_ with the other iniquitous forms of wrong-doing, such as\nThuggee, sacrificial suicide, infanticide and so forth. A crime so\nlargely practised through the ages by rulers and prominent personages\nwas likely to be generally imitated by commoner people.\n\nThe general use of drugs to compass murder which still commonly\nobtains is not a little due to the facilities with which poisons may\nbe procured, not only from the unchecked sale, but because they may\nbe picked up, so to speak, on every hedge. Quoting Dr. Cheevers, the\nvarieties of poison used are very limited and may be briefly described.\nThe most common are the preparations of arsenic, aconite, nux vomica,\nopium, oleander, datura and ganja, or Indian hemp. Many more drugs are,\nhowever, procurable in Indian bazaars, and Dr. Cheevers has compiled a\nlist, more or less incomplete, of upwards of ninety, including those\nalready mentioned. Of late years the large increase in dispensaries and\nthe wide importation of chemicals has led to poisoning by sulphate of\nzinc, Prussic acid, strychnine, cyanide of potassium, belladonna and\nchlorodyne.\n\nSome remarkable cases of poisoning were brought to light in Bombay\na few years ago, chiefly through the strenuous efforts of highly\nintelligent native detectives. A diabolical plot to destroy a whole\nfamily, of which four died and several were nearly killed, was the\nso-called De Ga conspiracy in 1872. An unknown messenger delivered two\nconfectionery cakes as a gift with the compliments of a near relation.\nFatal results ensued with all who partook of the sweets. Suspicion at\nlast fell upon a brother of the De Ga family who hated his relations\nand who accomplished the deed, assisted by an accomplice and especially\nby his father who pretended to invoke the aid of sorcery.\n\nTwenty years later a family of five persons was destroyed by one of the\nsons, Bachoo, a spendthrift and gambler, who wished to expedite his\ninheritance. Strychnine was the drug used, and it was administered\nby the cook in the food he prepared. Bachoo\u2019s father was the first to\nsuccumb, and he was quickly followed by the rest of the family. When\nthe strychnine was found in the exhumed bodies, the police cleverly\ntraced its purchase by Bachoo from the druggists, and he and his\nconfederate were tried, convicted and hanged.\n\nThe quick-witted Hindu criminal soon adopted the European method of\nsecuring ill-gotten gains by the insurance and murder of unsuspecting\nvictims. Palmer of Rugeley and La Pommerais of Paris had many imitators\nin the East. A poor creature of weak intellect, Anacleto Duarte by\nname, was done to death in this way by a friend and patron who pandered\nto his vices and often lent him small sums to be spent in drink.\nAt last the latter, who was a bailiff in one of the Bombay courts,\ncontrived that Duarte should be insured in the Sun Life Office of\nCanada for the sum of 10,000 rupees. Fonseca, the bailiff, paid the\npremiums and was named in the policy as the beneficiary to receive the\namount insured if it became payable. After Duarte\u2019s death the agent of\nthe insurance company, suspecting foul play, refused to hand over the\namount and the police were called in. It now appeared that Fonseca and\nDuarte had visited a liquor shop together; that when two glasses of rum\nwere served to them, Duarte complained that his had a bitter taste,\ncaused no doubt by the addition of a pill which he had seen Fonseca\nput into his glass. When Duarte\u2019s body was exhumed, the existence of\nstrychnine in the viscera was verified, and it was shown that Fonseca\nhad bought it ostensibly as a poison for rats. Fonseca was found guilty\nand duly hanged.\n\nThe criminal operations of the Dacoits who relied upon datura have\nbeen already detailed. There were also gangs in Bombay who made it\ntheir business to arrange marriages for well-to-do men with suitable\nspinsters of great attractions supposed to belong to respectable\nfamilies. After the marriage the happy bridegroom found to his cost\nthat he had been deceived, and he woke up one fine morning without\nhis wife, who had fled with her accomplices, carrying off all his\njewels. In these cases datura again had been the drug used. A company\nof poisoners long flourished in the province Scinde. These villains\nwere in the habit of disguising themselves as _fakirs_ who visited\npeople of known wealth and offered them food in God\u2019s name. It was\ngenerally accepted and piously consumed with fatal results, after which\ntheir houses were plundered. The impunity with which this crime was\neverywhere perpetrated was one of the greatest evils from which India\nhas suffered.\n\nIt is generally believed that many more brutal murders are committed\nthan are actually brought to light. The police custom of dragging\nwitnesses from their houses for long periods encouraged those dwelling\nin the neighbourhood of the crime to combine in concealing the\ncircumstances and, if possible, the actual fact. It was the habit\nof the police at one time to pounce down upon a suspected village,\nassemble the residents, and harangue, browbeat and threaten them with\npains and penalties to extort unwilling confessions. Worse still,\nthese witnesses were dragged great distances, a hundred or a hundred\nand fifty miles, to appear before the courts to give evidence. A great\nimprovement has, however, taken place in recent years. Good roads and\nrailways have greatly facilitated communication, the magistracy is\nactive and efficient and criminal sessions are held monthly even in the\nmost remote districts.\n\nMurder by violence was quite as common in India as by poisoning and\ncommitted often by peculiar and unconventional means. Various kinds of\nweapons were employed. Among them were the bludgeon and the club or\n_lathi_, the stout and weighty bamboo staff which, when the thick end\nis bound with iron, becomes a tremendous weapon of offence. The head\nis most frequently assailed, and deadly blows result in broken scalps\nor crushed-in skulls with frightful injuries affecting also the heart,\nliver and spleen. The club is made of hard wood and in shape is not\nunlike an exaggerated rolling pin. In one case a stone pestle was used\nto pound in the victim\u2019s head.\n\nThe favourite cutting weapon was the _tulwar_, or curved sword, which\ncould slash a person almost to pieces with clean-cut saucer-shaped\nwounds. The _tulwar_ has a sharp point, but was seldom used to stab.\nThe halberd had a crescent blade set in a heavy wooden handle. A\nchopper could do terrible mischief, the axe likewise, and the bill or\nhatchet with a hooked point. Death could be given with a spear head,\narrow or dagger, the kris or the _aro_, a three-pronged striking\ninstrument like a trident. Fatal wounds have been inflicted by a strip\nof split bamboo long and sharp pointed.\n\nStrangulation has been practised in other ways than by throttling with\nthe handkerchief. It was the custom when killing children for their\nornaments to squeeze or compress the throat with the hands, assisting\nthe process with the pressure of the knee or foot, and more violence\nwas often employed than was necessary to cause death. Sometimes one\nbamboo stick was placed over the throat and another under, so that the\ncompression between became fatal.\n\nSuicide by hanging is common in India, and sometimes murderers, having\naccomplished their purpose by cruel blows, have been known to suspend\ntheir victims by the neck to give the impression of self-destruction.\nMurder by hanging is not unknown in India. There are several cases on\nrecord where persons, after being cruelly misused, were hanged while\nstill alive.\n\nHomicide by exposing the victim to be bitten by poisonous snakes\nwas practised in the olden times and was known to the penal code\nas a method of inflicting capital punishment. \u201cWitches were crammed\ninto a small chamber full of cobras, where they first half died of\nfright and then quite died of snake bites.\u201d A Gentu prisoner in 1709,\nafter inconceivable torture in the scorching sun by day, was cast by\nnight into a dungeon with venomous snakes to keep him company. It is\nmentioned in history that Hannibal during a naval action with the\nRomans launched earthen pots filled with snakes into the enemy\u2019s ships.\n\nThe high intelligence of the elephant enabled the native to train it\nto become the executioner of criminals in India. The great beast would\nobey the orders of his _mahout_, whether to kill instantly by the\npressure of his foot or to protract the culprit\u2019s agony by breaking his\nbones one by one and leaving him to die by inches. A parricide, bound,\nwas fastened by his heels with a small iron chain to the hind leg of an\nelephant and dragged two miles across country till all the flesh was\nworn from his bones. At Baroda, in 1814, a slave who had murdered his\nmaster was similarly made fast to the right hind leg of an elephant,\nand at every step of the beast it jerked the victim forward so that\nin a few moments every limb was dislocated. He was as much broken as\non the wheel after being dragged five hundred yards. The man, covered\nwith mud, still showed signs of life, and was suffering excruciating\ntortures. In the end the elephant, as he had been trained to do,\nplaced his foot on the criminal\u2019s head and at once killed him.\n\nThe criminal records are full of the forgery of banknotes, the coining\nof false money, of daring robberies committed when houses are broken\ninto, bank premises invaded and iron safes are forced. Sharpers and\nswindlers, rivalling the most astute in Europe or America, have\nflourished and defied the pursuit of the police. Some very notable\nmanufacturers of spurious currency notes have spread dismay in\nfinancial circles. One of the most active and successful was a certain\nVancutta Chellummyab, whose arrest in Madras in 1872 caused a great\nsensation throughout India. A vast amount of false Madras currency\nnotes were in circulation in the three presidencies, to the total face\nvalue, it was said, of four lacs of rupees. The fraud was discovered at\nBenares, when a pretended agent of a Madras rajah paid for extensive\npurchases of jewelry with spurious notes. The chief forger, Vancutta\nChellummyab, when finally arrested in Madras, had notes in his\npossession concealed in an old portmanteau to the value of upwards of\ntwo hundred thousand rupees. A few years later Bombay was the centre of\noperations, and a large quantity of the most perfectly imitated notes\nwere fabricated and in circulation. Information was given by one of\nthe principals in the fraud to divert attention from himself, and a\ndescent made by the police secured a quantity of tools and materials\nfor engraving counterfeit notes and coining bad Australian sovereigns.\nThere were dies, moulds and stamps and a number of coins, foreign and\nnative, manufactured out of the baser metals.\n\nOne of the most expert forgers of any age or country was a man named\nGovind Narayen Davira of Bombay. He came of a family of forgers, the\nson and grandson of forgers, and did a large business in his nefarious\nart. A single scrap of handwriting sufficed to enable him to fabricate\na whole document. He knew all about the action of chemicals on paper\nand could erase all traces of original writing to give a clean sheet\nfor a fresh fraudulent statement. He was known to have converted a\ngovernment promissory note of 5,000 rupees into one of double the\namount. His frauds extended over a period of five or six years and were\nfinally exposed by the failure of an attempt to blackmail.\n\nDavira was a popular person because he was liberal to his poorer\nconfederates. But he fell at last into the hands of the police and was\nlodged in Poona gaol. Here, being resolved to avoid trial, he compassed\nself-destruction in a very reckless fashion. A kerosene oil lamp was\nkept constantly burning in his cell, rather rashly. He contrived to\nsaturate his clothing with the oil and then set fire to himself with\nthe result that he was practically burned alive.\n\nOne of the cleverest frauds was the forgery of postage stamps in\nBombay. A forged stamp came into the possession of a London collector,\nby whom the fact was reported to the postmaster-general in Bombay.\nThe forgery was the work of one of Davira\u2019s gang and was traced to a\nBrahmin, Shrida, who had succeeded in producing an excellent imitation\nwith the clumsiest implements. He first printed the stamp on a\nlithographer\u2019s stone and then coloured it so exactly that it deceived\neven experts. Many hundreds of these stamps were seized when Shrida was\narrested.\n\nThe ingenuity of the cheats and swindlers in planning their frauds\nwas only equalled by the simplicity of their victims. Over and over\nagain the revelation of hidden treasure was made to dupes, who paid\nfor the knowledge of the whereabouts of the secret hoards, said to be\nthe property of dead rajahs, or the proceeds of great robberies which\nhad to be temporarily abandoned. Credulous fools were imposed upon\nby fictitious _fakirs_ claiming the alchemist\u2019s power to transmute\nthe commoner metals into gold and silver, or religious impostors\nplayed upon their superstitious disciples to acquire a similar power.\nThere were at one time thirty-five different gangs of swindlers who\npreyed upon goldsmiths, pawnbrokers and money changers. One of these\nconfederacies was called the \u201cgolden gang,\u201d the members of which\nuttered false money or made large purchases of jewelry for imaginary\ngovernors and rajahs, for which they evaded payment, or raised money\nupon sealed packets, the valuable contents having been spirited away by\nsleight of hand.\n\nUntil the middle of the last century very extensive frauds were\npractised by the misappropriation of timber in the large forests of\nIndia. The natives seemed to have believed in their prescriptive rights\nto what was really the exclusive property of the state. Thousands of\npeople were engaged in cutting down trees for firewood, when it was\nwithin paying distance of removal by road or rail to some neighbouring\ncity. These depredations have now been checked by the establishment\nof an effective, well-organised forest department, the officers of\nwhich control and supervise large tracts of timber, cutting down when\ndesirable and planting afresh to ensure future supply. The reader will\nremember Rudyard Kipling\u2019s graphic account of the Indian forest officer\nand his remarkable native assistant, Mowgli, of the story, _In the\nRukh_, in the volume entitled, \u201cMany Inventions.\u201d\n\nHousebreaking is among the minor crimes of India which is especially\ntroublesome. Earthen walls and foundations facilitate the operations\nof the thieves who are commonly known as \u201cwall-piercers.\u201d These\ndepredators are in the habit of making a hole through the walls,\ndriving a gallery, in fact, into the interior of a house through which\nthey can wriggle into the strong room, generally situated about the\ncentre. As it is always understood that the owner of the house may\nbe on the alert and in waiting to receive the thief, as a matter of\nprecaution he will either emerge feet foremost or push before him an\nearthen vessel having something of the shape of a man\u2019s head to receive\nthe first blow of the _tulwar_, or other defensive weapon. The Indian\nhousebreaker is a slippery customer, difficult to seize, for he is\nusually naked, and has carefully oiled his person so as to easily slip\nthrough the fingers of any one who lays hold of him.\n\nI cannot bring this account of crime in India to a close without\nmention of an atrocity which is unequalled in the annals of human\noppression.\n\nWhat imprisonment may mean in the East, when inflicted in defiance of\nthe most elementary conditions of health in a tropical climate, has\nbeen recorded in letters of blood in the awful story of the Black Hole\nof Calcutta. The miscreant responsible for the crime was the Nabob of\nBengal, Surajah Dowlah, who had gained a fleeting triumph over the\nearly English settlers, and having captured Fort William at the mouth\nof Hugli, and made all the occupants prisoners, he turned them over\nto his savage followers. For security they were incarcerated in one\nsmall room or chamber some eighteen feet square. The season was the\nheight of summer; the room was closed to the eastward and southward by\ndead walls and to the northward by a wall and door, so that no fresh\nair could enter save by two small windows, strongly barred with iron.\nInto this limited space 146 human beings were crammed, already in a\nstate of exhaustion by a long day spent in fatiguing conflict, and\nseveral of them seriously wounded. Piteous entreaties were made to the\nguards on duty to diminish the numbers imprisoned by removal elsewhere;\nlarge sums were offered as the price of this boon, but with no effect.\nNo step could be taken without the permission of the Nabob, who was\nasleep, and none dared wake him. After vain attempts to break open the\ndoors and fruitless appeals to the mercy of the sleeping Nabob, \u201cthe\nprisoners went mad with despair.\u201d The rest of the story can best be\ntold in the words of one of the masters of the English language, Lord\nMacaulay. \u201cThey trampled each other down, fought for the places at the\nwindows, fought for the pittance of water with which the cruel mercy of\nthe murderers mocked their agonies, raved, prayed, blasphemed, implored\nthe guards to fire among them. The gaolers in the meantime held lights\nto the bars, and shouted with laughter at the frantic struggles of\ntheir victims. At length the tumult died away in low gaspings and\nmoanings. The day broke. The Nabob had slept off his debauch, and\npermitted the door to be opened. But it was some time before the\nsoldiers could make a lane for the survivors, by piling up on each side\nthe heaps of corpses on which the burning climate had already begun to\ndo its loathsome work. When at length a passage was made, twenty-three\nghastly figures, such as their own mothers would not have known,\nstaggered one by one out of the charnel house. A pit was instantly dug.\nThe dead bodies, a hundred and twenty-three in number, were flung into\nit promiscuously and covered up.\n\n\u201cBut these things which, after the lapse of more than eighty years,\ncannot be told or read without horror, awakened neither remorse nor\npity in the bosom of the savage Nabob. He inflicted no punishment on\nthe murderers. He showed no tenderness to the survivors. Some of them,\nindeed, from whom nothing was to be got, were suffered to depart; but\nthose from whom it was thought that anything could be extorted were\ntreated with execrable cruelty. Holwell, unable to walk, was carried\nbefore the tyrant, who reproached him, threatened him, and sent him\nup the country in irons, together with some other gentlemen who were\nsuspected of knowing more than they chose to tell about the treasures\nof the Company. These persons, still bowed down by the sufferings\nof that great agony, were lodged in miserable sheds, and fed only\nwith grain and water, till at length the intercessions of the female\nrelations of the Nabob procured their release. One Englishwoman had\nsurvived that night. She was placed in the harem of the prince at\nMoorshedabad.\u201d\n\nIt is told in history how the merciless Nabob was eventually called\nto strict account. The English at Madras vowed vengeance, and an\nexpedition was forthwith fitted out for the Hugli, small in numbers,\nbut full of undaunted spirit, and led by one of the most famous\nof British soldiers, Lord Clive. The victory of Plassy, which\nconsolidated the British power in India, overthrew Surajah Dowlah, who\nexpiated the crime of the Black Hole when captured and put to death by\nhis successor Meer Jaffier.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE ANDAMAN ISLANDS\n\n    Revived as a penal settlement after the Indian Mutiny in\n    1857--Now holds some twelve thousand convicts--Port Blair system\n    established--Graduated treatment--Well-selected marriages--Lapses\n    from good order--Cases and causes--Assassination of Lord Mayo--The\n    aboriginal Andamanese--The Tarawas--Escapes constantly effected\n    by Burmese prisoners--General results achieved--Development by\n    cultivation--Clearance of forests--Tea plantation--Numerous\n    exports--Deportation from the Straits Settlements to\n    Bombay--Ratnagiri gaol.\n\n\nThe Indian government long practised transportation beyond the seas\nas a punishment for the most determined criminals. The terrors of\ncrossing the \u201cblack water\u201d were very potent to the native mind,\nalthough the effect of the penalty as a deterrent was never marked\nand the practice gradually fell into desuetude. But it was revived in\n1857 as a solution of the difficulty in dealing with the great body\nof rebels and mutineers in custody charged with participation in the\ngreat Indian Mutiny, a special commission was despatched to visit the\nAndaman Islands and report upon their fitness for the establishment of\na great penal settlement. To the student of penal science, the results\nachieved in the Indian Ocean, or more exactly, the Sea of Bengal, must\nbe extremely interesting. The system of transportation has succeeded\nbetter there than anywhere else, whether in the Australian colonies,\nwhere it resulted in the creation of a great nation at the cost of much\nhuman misery, or in the French experiment in New Caledonia. Russia has\nalso tried transportation on a gigantic scale with the most deplorable\nresults in Siberia and on the island of Saghalien.\n\nThe settlement on the Andamans, or more precisely upon the northern\nand principal island, has by this time accomplished a very distinct\nwork in penal colonisation. Many causes, natural and artificial, have\ncontributed to this gratifying result: a fertile soil, a good, albeit\ntropical climate; an intelligent administration, which has been backed\nup by the willing efforts of convict labourers, alive generally to\ntheir own benefit in making the best of the system in practice. The\nforce available for the cultivation and development of the main island\nhas always been large.\n\nIt is an industrious, self-supporting and for the most part peaceable\npopulation, where good order and a quiet demeanour are enforced by\nstringent discipline, although the inherent evil nature of so many\ncriminals cannot be invariably held in check, and ghastly occurrences\nhave from time to time been recorded in almost every nook and corner\nof Port Blair, the headquarters of the penal settlement. The Andaman\nconvict has committed some heinous offences; he is a murderer in some\nform or other, deliberate, vindictive, or moved by sudden ungovernable\npassion; he has been a highway robber or persistent Dacoit; he has\nforged notes or securities on a great scale. He has betrayed a\nserious trust, has been a wrecker and desperado, and has more than\nonce deserved the extreme penalty of the law. Beneath the surface the\ncommunity is a seething mass of depravity, of wickedness, generally\nlatent, but breaking out often in the most violent and bloodthirsty\nexcesses.\n\nTo have held the dangerous elements continually in check, to have\nlargely modified and counteracted their evil tendencies, and to have\nreturned the worst characters to their homes cured and reformed is\na subject for congratulation by those who achieved it, and some\naccount of the system employed at the Andamans is worth giving here.\nIt is right, however, to admit that this system is not entirely\nefficacious. All are not amenable to better influences and a certain\nsmall percentage remains incorrigible. Some four per cent. of the total\npopulation have shown themselves so desperately bad that it has been\ndeemed unsafe to suffer them to leave the precincts of the gaol.\n\nEvery convict on first arrival is relegated to the close confinement\nof the cellular prison by way of breaking him in, and he is detained\nthere under the most irksome conditions for an unbroken period of six\nmonths. He remains in his cell all day and all night, save for a brief\nspace spent at exercise with others, but in strict silence. His next\nstep is to an associated gaol where gang labour of a severe character\nis enforced, and is imposed for a year and a half. Then come three\nyears of unremitting toil, the exact counterpart of penal servitude as\nunderstood in Great Britain--hard labour under supervision, unpaid,\nunrewarded, but he is well fed, well housed and cared for, and always\nclosely guarded. Five years have thus elapsed in a painfully monotonous\nand irksome existence, after which his employment is pleasanter and his\npersonal capacity is studied; the more intelligent are selected for\npositions of trust and authority.\n\nComparative freedom comes at the end of ten years, the convict gains\nhis ticket-of-leave and is called in local language a \u201cself-supporter.\u201d\nHe has done, more or less, with prison restraints; he lives in some\nsmall village in a house of his own and earns his living his own\nway; he farms; he keeps cattle; he moves about freely unguarded and\nunwatched; he sends home to the mainland for his wife and children;\nor, if single, he may marry a female convict in the same position as\nhimself. His condition is to a certain extent enviable. If industrious,\nhe may make and put by money, but still he is tied and bound by\nregulation; he has no civil rights, and is in the hands of a paternal\nauthority which prescribes his place of residence and will suffer him\nto move to and fro within his village, if well conducted, but he cannot\nleave the settlement and he must not be idle under pain of the loss of\nprivileges and relegation to enforced labour. Existence nevertheless is\ntolerable, and in this way he completes ten or fifteen years more until\nat length the time for absolute release arrives. In the earlier period\nof this last stage he has received assistance in the shape of free\ngifts of food and tools and a roof to cover him, but his self-reliance\nis stimulated by the obligation in later years to fend for himself\nand accept all the public burdens of the community. He must pay rent\nand taxes and all charges exacted from the free population. All the\ndisabilities are equally imposed upon female convicts with permission\nto marry or enter domestic service after five years of conditional\nliberation.\n\nWe see in this system a consistent effort to encourage self-help and\nself-restraint. Moral improvement is its great aim; good conduct is\nencouraged; retrogression, or lapse into wrong-doing, is punished by\nthe withdrawal of privileges and a return to irksome restraint. On\nthe other hand, substantial reward is offered to those who have made\nthe best use of their ticket-of-leave, and the old convict, purged\nof his original offence, emerges, and, backed by the small capital\nhe has saved, has become an orderly and reputable member of society,\nthoroughly reformed, broken to harness and reasonably certain to\ncontinue in the straight road. He is neither pauper nor gaol-bird;\nhe is no unwelcome burden on his relatives, no menace to public\nsecurity, but a source of strength rather than weakness to the body\npolitic. Penal exile has never before achieved such excellent results.\nSteady industry, as we have seen, is the general rule, and morality is\ngreatly encouraged. Convict marriages, such a fruitful source of evil\nelsewhere, as in New Caledonia and Saghalien, where they have fallen\nlargely into disuse, are preceded by so many precautions that the bond\nwhen entered into is seldom broken. The fitness of the contracting\nparties is personally inquired into by the chief authority of the place\nwho must give his sanction or no marriage can take place. Permission\nis refused in certain cases as when a husband in India declines to\ndivorce his convict wife, or when the applicants are of bad character\nor the male is an hereditary Dacoit, or when there is a difference in\ncaste. Great care is also taken of the children when any are born.\nThe young are well cared for; primary education is compulsory and\ntechnical instruction is free to all. Thrift is steadily inculcated in\nthe rising generation and stimulated by the example of the elders. No\ninstitution is more flourishing at Port Blair than the savings bank,\nand the self-supporting convicts are often considerable depositors from\nthe economies made in their allowance and the profits on their labour.\nSanitation receives the very best attention in the islands, and both\ndeath and sick rate are, for the East, exceptionally low. The public\nhealth is seldom, if ever, affected by malignant epidemic disease;\ncholera is a rare visitant, and small-pox is constantly kept in check.\nThere is an abundant and most efficient medical staff, and the convicts\nat large, as well as those actually in durance, can count upon the\nofficial doctor\u2019s unremitting care.\n\nAlthough the general tone of the settlement is excellent, and good\norder is preserved, there are occasionally lapses among the convicts\nwhose manners and dispositions are by no means mild and submissive, nor\ncan their evil impulses be easily repressed, or still less entirely\nstamped out. The convict temper is irritable and breaks out often into\nresistance to authority and bitter quarrels of one with another which\nsometimes end in murderous affrays. There is a seamy side to Port\nBlair which is often shown in resistance to authority exercised, as\nit mostly is, by fellow convicts advanced to positions of trust; for\nsome six per cent. of well-conducted convicts are regularly employed\nas warders, guards and overseers. This is in accordance with the\ngeneral practice in India, although entirely condemned by modern penal\nscience. Nevertheless, mutiny and insubordination are uncommon on any\nlarge scale, although vindictive feelings are aroused and cherished at\nreal or fancied injustice and oppression, and in the annals of murders\ncommitted one or two convict officials killed by comrades figure\nannually.\n\nThe causes of murder in the Andamans hardly differ from those inciting\nto it elsewhere. Murderous passion is swiftly aroused among men with\nsavage, irritable tempers, quick to quarrel, quicker still to strike;\nconsuming thirst for revenge will be slaked only in blood; and greed\nand covetousness are easily awakened in people whose self-control\nis weak. A small reason often suffices for the infliction of death.\nA convict asked a village woman to be allowed to husk his rice in\nher mortar and killed her brutally with an axe when she refused.\nAn old Dacoit, who had been refused permission to marry, killed a\nmore fortunate rival to whom the woman of his choice was given. Two\nconvicts, about to be granted tickets as self-supporters, were eager\nto obtain sufficient funds to give them a good start; they discovered\nthat a convict, who was a notorious miser, had a secret hoard, and\nhis fate was sealed. His body was picked up in a running stream with\nhis head broken in. A somewhat similar case was that of a labouring\nconvict who was in possession of a sum of money lent by a friend; he\nfirst was inveigled into a lonely spot and there knocked down by a\nblow on the eye, after which he was strangled. A convict employed as\na petty officer in hospital incurred the deadly enmity of a patient\nfor reporting him to the doctor, and the patient gave vent to his\nhatred by killing his enemy with a thrust of a pointed bamboo. The\nsame weapon was used by another convict who beat out the brains of a\npetty officer for slapping him on parade in the presence of a hundred\nmen. One convict had caught another hanging about the barrack room bent\nupon thieving, and having expressed his intention of denouncing him was\nmurdered while asleep on his bed. A convict warder supervising a party\nof sail-makers had reason to find fault with one of his charges for\nidling, and at the first opportunity, before anyone had time to suspect\nor prevent him, the labourer picked up a knife and stabbed the overseer.\n\nAny weapon would serve to give effect to the homicidal frenzy;\nsometimes it was a rice pounder, sometimes a wooden crutch, sometimes\nan axe for cutting firewood, sometimes a heavy mallet used in\nwool-teasing. The convicts were known to commit the capital offence\nin order to draw down the death penalty when they were tired of life\nfrom long brooding over fancied unjust treatment. Sentence of death by\nhanging was the invariable requital of murder when clearly proved, and\nit was passed by a sessions\u2019 judge, subject to subsequent confirmation\nby a court of reference. Lesser punishments were sometimes imposed,\nsuch as prolonged transportation or relegation to the chain gang, while\ncorporal punishment was ordered for lesser offences.\n\nAn atrocious murder which echoed through the whole world was that of\nthe viceroy of India, Lord Mayo, who was killed by an Andaman convict\nin 1872. The viceroy had visited Mount Harriet, a finely wooded\nslope rising above Port Blair and looking out over Viper Island with\na glorious view eastward, in order to judge of its suitability as a\nsanatorium. He had just finished the descent. \u201cThe ship\u2019s bells had\njust rung seven; the launch with steam up was whizzing at the jetty\nstairs; a group of her seamen were chatting on the pier-end. It was\nnow quite dark, and the black line of the jungle seemed to touch the\nwater\u2019s edge. The viceroy\u2019s party passed some large loose stones to\nthe left of the head of the pier, and advanced along the jetty; two\ntorchbearers in front.\u201d The viceroy, preceding the rest, stepped\nquickly forward to descend the stairs to the launch. The next moment\nthe people in the rear heard a noise, as of \u201cthe rush of some animal\u201d\nfrom behind the loose stones; one or two saw a hand raised and a\nknife blade suddenly glisten in the torchlight. The viceroy\u2019s private\nsecretary heard a thud, and instantly turning round, found a man\n\u201cfastened like a tiger\u201d on the back of Lord Mayo.\n\n\u201cIn a second twelve men were on the assassin; an English officer was\npulling them off, and with his sword-hilt keeping back the native\nguards, who would have killed the assailant on the spot. The torches\nhad gone out; but the viceroy, who had staggered over the pier-side,\nwas dimly seen rising up in the knee-deep water, and clearing the hair\noff his brow with his hand as if recovering himself. His private\nsecretary was instantly at his side in the surf, helping him up the\nbank. \u2018Burne,\u2019 he said quietly, \u2018they\u2019ve hit me.\u2019 Then, in a louder\nvoice, which was heard on the pier, \u2018It\u2019s all right, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m\nmuch hurt,\u2019 or words to that effect. In another minute he was sitting\nunder the smoky glare of the re-lit torches, on a rude native cart at\nthe side of the jetty, his legs hanging loosely down. Then they lifted\nhim bodily on to the cart, and saw a great dark patch on the back of\nhis light coat. The blood came streaming out, and men tried to staunch\nit with their handkerchiefs. For a moment or two he sat up on the cart,\nthen he fell heavily backwards. \u2018Lift up my head,\u2019 he said faintly, and\nsaid no more.\u201d\n\nThe assassin, Sher Ali, was a very brave man belonging to one of\nthe Afridi tribes, who had done excellent service to more than one\ncommissioner at Peshawar and distinguished himself as a soldier. He\nwas completely trusted by Colonel Reynolds Taylor, one of the best of\nour Indian officers, when at Peshawar, and was often in attendance on\nhis family; in fact, he was the confidential servant of the house.\nThis man, however, belonged to a society in which tribal feuds were\na hereditary custom. Some such feud existed in his family and he was\ncalled upon to take his part in exacting a bloody vengeance for a\nquarrel. Had he committed the murder on his own side of the frontier,\nno notice could have been taken of it; and it would have been esteemed\na legitimate deed sanctioned by the religious feelings and customs\nof the tribe; but his offence was committed within British territory\nand must be tried by British laws. He was convicted and sentenced to\ntransportation to the Andamans instead of death, which he would greatly\nhave preferred. Continually brooding under a sense of wrong, he took\nthe first opportunity that offered for murderous retaliation and found\nthe death he desired, on the gallows.\n\nAttempts to escape from the islands were at times frequent, encouraged\nby the easy access to the sea and the facility with which boats\ncould be seized. But recaptures were also constantly made, and there\nwere other chances against the fugitives, especially that of being\nrun down by the aboriginal Andamanese. The natives of these islands\nare savages of a Nigrito race allied to the Papuans, but who, from\nhaving had no connection with the outer world for several centuries,\nhave kept their blood absolutely pure. They are of small stature,\nthe males a little under five feet in height, but finely made and\nwell proportioned. In colour they are a jet black, and are among\nthe darkest hued specimens of mankind. They are inveterate smokers,\nmen, women and children, and are bright and intelligent, somewhat\nchildish, petulant and quick tempered, but merry and light-hearted.\nThey constitute a good unofficial guard, and as they constantly prowl\nround the convict settlements are a great deterrent to escape.\nBeing well used to jungle life, they are very successful trackers,\nwho frequently bring back fugitives dead or alive. If by chance the\nevading convicts fall into the hands of the Jarawa tribe, their fate is\nsealed. These Jarawas are and always have been utterly irreclaimable;\nneither kindness nor force has had any appreciable effect in overcoming\ntheir unconquerable dislike to strangers, even of their own blood\nbelonging to other tribes. Armed with bows and arrows, they show fight\nwhenever encountered, and when pressed and punishment is attempted,\nthey retire into the impenetrable jungle. With the exception of these\nirreconcilables, the Andamanese have been trained, like other wild\nanimals, by patience and kindness to treat us with entire confidence\nand trust.\n\nThe strong yearning to escape torments more especially the natives of\nBurmah, a large number of whom are deported to the Andamans. They are\na semi-amphibious race, largely brought up to a life on the water,\nexpert boatmen and tireless swimmers. Precise rules are in force at the\nAndamans that only a limited number of Burmese may be included in any\none boat\u2019s crew. More than half the escapes by water were accomplished\nby Burmese, who boldly ventured out into the open sea, risking all\nits perils to win across to their dearly loved native land. It is a\ncurious fact that the Burmese Dacoit, who would face the death penalty\nwith fortitude, has always dreaded imprisonment or deportation with\novermastering terror. One explanation of this consuming dread is the\nnot uncommon fear of the unknown. Again, the treatment of prisoners in\nBurmah under the native r\u00e9gime was merciless; the most excruciating\ntortures were the rule, and protracted life was worse than a thousand\ndeaths. Exile to the Andaman Islands was anticipated with nameless\napprehension. The case of a famous Dacoit may be quoted in proof of\nthis. He had been long in custody; he awaited his trial with patience\nand resignation, and he would have heard a sentence of death unmoved,\nbut he was quite overcome when a short term of transportation to the\nAndamans was passed upon him, although it was accompanied by a promise\nof early conditional liberation. When the time came for his departure,\nhe refused to move off with his escort, kicking and even biting\neveryone within reach, and eventually he had to be tied with ropes and\ncarried along.\n\nIn this connection, Major E. C. Browne, in \u201cThe Coming of the Great\nQueen,\u201d tells the following:\n\n\u201cIt was the same with other Dacoits who had been taken red-handed.\nTwo or three were shot, others flogged and released and several were\ndetained for deportation. These were the gloomiest of all and begged\nto be killed or released. One fellow actually succeeded in evading his\nsentence. He had got hold of a soldier\u2019s boot-lace and with this he\nstrangled himself during the night. I should scarcely have been able\nto credit this story if the witness of the dead man in the morning,\nwith the boot-lace drawn so tight that it had actually penetrated the\nskin, had not been an officer of my own regiment whose veracity was\nunimpeachable.\u201d\n\nThe best general account of the results obtained in the Andamans is\nfound in the address to the Society of Arts by Colonel Temple, sometime\nchief commissioner to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Andaman\npenal system \u201cis the result of the constant attention of the government\nwhich created it, and is the outcome of the measures of practical men,\ndevised to meet the difficulties with which they have found themselves\nface to face, and reduced to order and rule by some of the keenest\nintellects that have worked in India for many years past.\u201d Repeatedly\ntinkered and patched and recast and remodelled though it has been, the\nAndaman system is still inchoate, still on its trial, as it were. It\ncould not well be otherwise, for in dealing with the criminal we are\nattempting to solve a mighty problem as old as criminality itself.\n\nFrom the best estimates at hand we may take it that the permanent\nconvict strength of the settlement may be placed at about twelve\nthousand, of whom about eight hundred are women, and the rule is that\nonly life convicts are sent from India and life and long-term convicts\nfrom Burmah. The people received, therefore, are the murderers who\nhave for some reason escaped the death penalty, and the perpetrators\nof the more heinous offences against person and property, the men of\nbrutal violence, the highwaymen, the robbers, the habitual thieves and\nthe receivers of stolen goods, the worst of the swindlers, forgers,\ncheats, coiners and, in fact, the most unrestrained temperaments of\na continent. These considerations show the scale of the work and the\nnature of the task. Any one observing the work of the English in\nthe East may possibly be struck with the idea that the reason for\nthe acknowledged capacity of the race for colonial enterprise and\nthe maintenance of empire is the ability and the willingness of the\naverage Englishman to put his hand to any kind of work that may come\nhis way, without any special training, from framing suitable laws and\nregulations and creating suitable organisations to making roads and\nditches, building houses and clearing land and ploughing it. Here in\nPort Blair, the officers entrusted with the creation and organisation\nhad no training for the work and were without any special guidance\nand teaching, yet they managed, with the worst possible material to\nwork upon, to create in little more than forty years, upon primeval\nforest and swamp, situated in an enervating and, until mastered, a\ndeadly climate, a community supporting itself in regard to many of its\ncomplicated wants.\n\nThey began with the dense forests, the fetid swamps and the\npestilential coral banks of tropical islands, and have made out of\nthem many square miles of grass and arable lands, supporting over\nfifty villages besides convict stations. Miles upon miles of swamp\nhave been reclaimed, the coral banks have been controlled and a place\nwith regard to which the words climate and pestilence were almost\nsynonymous has been turned into one favourably spoken of as to its\nhealthiness. The settlement now grows its own vegetables, tea, coffee,\ncocoa, tapioca and arrowroot, some of its ordinary food grains and most\nof its fodder. It supplies itself with the greater part of its animal\nfood and all its fuel and salt. In other lines of work, it makes its\nown boats and provides from its own resources the bulk of the materials\nfor its buildings which are constructed and erected locally. Among\nthe materials produced are all the timber, stone, bricks, lime and\nmortar, and most of the iron and metal work are made up there from raw\nmaterial. In the matter of convict clothing, all that is necessary to\nbe purchased elsewhere is the roughest of cotton hanks and wool in the\nfirst raw condition, every other operation being performed on the spot.\nIt provides much of its own leather.\n\nIn achieving the results, the officers have had first to learn for\nthemselves as best they could how to turn out the work to hand and then\nto teach what they had learned to the most unpromising pupils that can\nbe imagined for the work required of them in Port Blair. And they have\nbeen hampered all along by the necessities of convict discipline, by\nthe constant release of their men and their punishment for misconduct.\nIt is under such conditions that the corps of artificers and other\nconvicts have had to be utilised. Nevertheless, the roads and drains,\nthe buildings and boats, the embankments and reservoirs, are as\ngood and durable as are the same class of structures elsewhere. The\nmanufacturers are sufficient for their purpose, and there are among the\ntaught those who are now skilled in the use of many kinds of machinery.\nCultivation is generally fair and some of it very good; the general\nsanitation is literally second to none.\n\nFirst of all the industries of the Andamans is that of timber, and\nto accelerate and increase it a steam tramway has been instituted\nand there are now some fourteen miles of line connecting the forests\nwith the shores of Port Blair. As a further adjunct steam saw-mills\nwere erected in 1896 and a forest department that employs from five\nto six hundred men daily under its own officers, not only supplies\nthe settlement with all of its requirements in timber from the local\nforests, but also exports timber and forest produce to various places\nin India and Europe. Of these latter exports, rattans and gurjun oil\nare the chief; other natural products of the islands are trepang,\ntortoise-shell and edible birds\u2019 nests, but they are collected only\nin small quantities. The principal cultivations in which convicts\nand ex-convicts are engaged are paddy, sugar cane, Indian corn and\nturmeric; cocoanuts have during the past thirty-five years been\nextensively planted, and besides the agricultural products previously\nmentioned, vegetables and fruits of various kinds are grown. The larger\nindustries in which the penal community is engaged have already been\nalluded to, but there are many minor employments, the products from\nwhich also go toward making the settlement self-supporting. Among these\nare to be found the manufacture of all kinds of furniture, cane chairs,\nbaskets, many varieties of bamboo work and ornamental woodcarving,\nwoven articles from serviettes to saddle-girths, and blankets, pottery,\nrope and mats, silver, tin, brass and iron work, shoes, rickshaws and\ncarts, besides the production of such materials as lime, bricks and\ntiles. Port Blair is in communication three and often four times a\nmonth with Calcutta, Madras and Rangoon by the vessels of the Asiatic\nSteam Navigation Company. The distances between the settlement and the\nports named are 796, 780 and 387 miles respectively.\n\nThe earliest penal settlement on the Andamans was in the southern\nisland, where it was founded on the present site of Port Blair in 1792.\nIt was known as the \u201cold harbour.\u201d After three years the establishment\nwas moved to the present Port Cornwallis on the northern island, but\nthis proved to be most unhealthy and it was closed, the convicts,\nnumbering some two hundred and seventy, being removed to Penang, at the\nextremity of the Malay Peninsula. In the early \u201cfifties\u201d the Straits\nSettlements sometimes sent their long-term convicts to Bombay, from\nwhere they were usually drafted to such moist and congenial climates as\nTannah and Ratnagiri. By good behaviour they earned tickets-of-leave to\nthe hill stations, Mahabuleshwar and Matheran, where they became the\nmarket-gardeners of the place, many preferring to remain after their\ntime had expired, respected and respectable citizens, often possessed\nof considerable wealth. At one time the Ratnagiri gaol contained about\nthree hundred and sixty convicts; \u201cat least two-thirds were Chinamen\nand Malays from the Straits, great ruffians, each with a record of\npiracy or murder, or both combined. Many of them were heavily fettered\nand carefully guarded by armed police when at their ordinary work in\nthe \u2018laterite\u2019 quarries, for they were mostly powerful men;\u201d the tools\nthey used were formidable weapons and as there were known to be deadly\nfeuds always present among them, serious disturbances and outbreaks\nwere constantly dreaded. Nevertheless, misconduct was exceedingly rare;\nbreaches of gaol discipline were much fewer among these desperadoes\nthan among the milder Hindus in the work-sheds within the gaol. The\nfact having in due course created much surprise, inquiries were\ninstituted as to why pirates and murderers, usually so insubordinate in\nother places, were so well-conducted and quiet at Ratnagiri.\n\nThe riddle was presently solved. \u201cFor some years one Sheik Kassam had\nbeen gaoler. Belonging to the fisherman class and possessed of very\nlittle education, he had, nevertheless, worked his way upward through\nthe police by dint of honesty, hard work and a certain shrewdness\nwhich had more than once brought him to the front. At last, toward\nthe end of his service, the gaolership falling vacant, he was, with\neveryone\u2019s cordial approval, nominated to the post.\u201d With comparative\nrest and improved pay, the old gentleman waxed fatter and jollier\nand was esteemed one of the most genial companions the country could\nproduce. The cares of state, and the responsibility of three hundred\nmurderous convicts, weighed lightly on Sheik Kassam. He developed a\nremarkable talent or predilection for gardening, almost from the first.\n\u201cHe laid out the quarry beds, brought water down to irrigate them,\nproduced all the gaol required in the way of green stuff, and made\ntapioca and arrowroot by the ton. The better plot of land belonging\nto the gaol lay between Sheik Kassam\u2019s own official residence, a\ntiny bungalow-fashioned dwelling, and a walled courtyard near to the\nhighroad. The sheik had no difficulty in obtaining permission to erect\na high wall of rubble from the quarries along the whole road frontage,\nso that, as he urged, the convicts at work in the garden would not be\ngazed at by passers-by, and that forbidden articles, such as tobacco,\nsweetmeats, liquor, and the like, should not be passed or even thrown\nover to them.\u201d\n\nPresently this favourite slice of garden was safely boxed in from the\npublic view by an enclosure some eight feet high, extending from the\ngaol itself round to the gaoler\u2019s house, the only entrance to it being\na little wicket-gate by the side of the sheik\u2019s back-yard.\n\nAt last the head-superintendent of the Bombay prison heard that\nSheik Kassam\u2019s disciplinary system consisted in his bringing the\nmost dangerous of the Chinamen and Malays quietly into his back-yard\nfrom the adjoining garden, and there regaling them with plenty of\nsweetmeats, sugar, drink in moderate quantity, and adding even the\njoys of female society of a peculiar sort. If any one became unruly\nor saucy, he was liable to get a dozen lashes, but if they behaved\ndecently they all had their little festivals with regularity. After\nthis discovery, poor old Sheik Kassam\u2019s character as a model gaoler was\ngone; he was dismissed, but with a full pension which he did not live\nlong to enjoy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nPRISONS OF BURMAH\n\n    British acquisition of Burmah--Quarrels with the king in 1824--His\n    reprisals--British subjects seized and sent to prison--Mr. Henry\n    Gouger\u2019s narrative--The \u201cDeath Prison\u201d--Gigantic stocks--Filthiness\n    of prison--Tortures inflicted--Barbarous trials--Horrible\n    life--Rats and vermin--Smallpox--Tobacco a valuable\n    disinfectant--Another \u201cBlack Hole\u201d--Chained to a leper--Released\n    by the advance of British troops--Penal code of Burmah--Ordeals\n    and punishments--Treading to death by elephants--Dacoity the last\n    form of resistance to British rule--Prison life--The Burmese\n    gaol-bird--An outbreak.\n\n\nThe acquisition and annexation of Burmah by Great Britain, first the\nlower province with three-fourths of the seaboard, and then the entire\nkingdom, were accomplished between 1824 and 1886, in a little more\nthan half a century, that is to say. Until this took place the country\nwas generally in a state of anarchy, the king was a bloodthirsty\ndespot, and the state council was at his bidding no better than a\nband of Dacoits who plundered the people and murdered them wholesale.\nThe ruling powers were always anxious to pick a quarrel with their\npowerful British neighbours, and were so unceasingly aggressive that\nthey brought on a war in 1824, which ended in the capture of Rangoon\nand the occupation of Pegu and Martaban with the cession of the coast\nprovince of Aracan.\n\nThe outbreak of hostilities led to cruel retaliation by the king of\nBurmah upon all Europeans who resided in the country, whether as\nmissionaries or merchants engaged in trade. One of them, an Englishman,\nMr. Henry Gouger, was arrested as a spy and arraigned before a court\nof justice with very little hope of escaping with his life. He was\nfortunately spared after suffering untold indignities and many positive\ntortures. Eventually he published his experiences, which remain to this\nday as a graphic record of the Burmese prisons as they then existed.\nHe was first committed to the safe keeping of the king\u2019s body guard,\nand confined with his feet in the stocks; then he was transferred to\nthe \u201cdeath prison,\u201d having been barbarously robbed and deprived of his\nclothing. He was not entirely stripped, but was led away with his arms\ntied behind his back, bare-headed and bare-footed to the _Let-ma-yoon_,\nthe \u201cantechamber of the tomb.\u201d\n\nLet me proceed now in the narrator\u2019s own words:--\n\n\u201cThere are four common prisons in Ava, but one of these only was\nappropriated to criminals likely to suffer death. It derived its\nremarkably well-selected name, _Let-ma-yoon_, literally interpreted,\n\u2018Hand, shrink not,\u2019 from the revolting scenes of cruelty practised\nwithin its walls. This was the prison to which I was driven. My heart\nsank within me as I entered the gate of the prison yard which, as it\nclosed behind me, seemed to shut me out forever from all the interests\nand sympathies of the world beyond it. I was now delivered over to\nthe wretches, seven or eight in number, who guarded this gaol. They\nwere all condemned malefactors, whose lives had been spared on the\ncondition of their becoming executioners; the more hideous the crime\nfor which he had to suffer, the more hardened the criminal, the fitter\ninstrument he was presumed to be for the profession he was henceforth\ndoomed to follow. To render escape without detection impossible, the\nshape of a ring was indelibly tattooed on each cheek, which gave rise\nto the name they were commonly known by, _pahquet_, or \u2018ring-cheeked,\u2019\na term detested by themselves as one of reproach and one we never\ndared to apply in addressing them. The nature of his qualification\nfor the employment was written in a similar manner across the breast.\nThe chief of the gang was a lean, wiry, hard-featured old man whom we\ntaught ourselves to address under the appellation _aphe_, \u2018father,\u2019\nas did all his subordinates. Another bearing an appropriate motto had\nmurdered his brother and had hidden his body piecemeal under his house.\nA third was branded _thoo-kho_, \u2018thief.\u2019 This troop of wretches were\nheld in such detestation that the law prohibited their entering any\nperson\u2019s house except in execution of their office. It happened, soon\nafter I entered, that the exigencies of this brotherhood were great\nfrom an increase of business, and no brave malefactor (inhumanity\nwas always styled bravery here) being ready to strengthen the force,\na young man convicted of a petty offence was selected to fill the\nvacancy. I beheld this poor youth doomed to the most debasing ignominy\nfor the rest of his life by these fatal rings, his piteous cries at the\ndegradation he was undergoing being drowned by the jeers and ridicule\nof the confederates. They soon made him as much a child of the devil as\nthemselves.\n\n\u201cThe \u2018father\u2019 of this interesting family received me at the gate with a\nsmile of welcome like the grin of a tiger, and with the most disgusting\nimprecations hurried me to a huge block of granite embedded in the\ncentre of the yard. I was made to sit down and place my ankles on the\nblock of stone while three pairs of fetters were struck on with a maul,\na false blow of which would have maimed me forever. But they were too\nexpert for this, and it was not a time to care for minor dangers. Thus\nshackled, I was told, as if in derision, to walk to the entrance of the\nprison-house not many yards distant; but as the shortness of the chains\nbarely permitted me to advance the heel of one foot to the toe of the\nother, it was only by shuffling a few inches at a time that the task\nwas accomplished. Practice, however, soon made me more expert.\n\n\u201cIt is not easy to give a correct idea of the prison which was\ndestined to be my dwelling place for the first year of my captivity.\nAlthough it was between four and five o\u2019clock on a bright sunny\nafternoon, the rays of light only penetrated through the chinks and\ncracks of the walls sufficiently to disclose the utter wretchedness\nof all within. Some time elapsed before I could clearly distinguish\nthe objects by which I was surrounded. As my eyes gradually adapted\nthemselves to the dim light, I ascertained it to be a room about forty\nfeet long by thirty feet wide, the floor and sides made of strong\nteak-wood planks, the former being raised two feet from the earth on\nposts, which, according to the usual style of Burmese architecture,\nran through the body of the building, and supported the tiled roof as\nwell as the rafters for the floor and the planking of the walls. The\nheight of the walls from the floor was five or six feet, but the roof\nbeing a sloping one, the centre might be double that height. It had no\nwindow or aperture to admit light or air except a closely woven bamboo\nwicket used as a door, and this was always kept closed. Fortunately,\nthe builders had not expended much labour on the walls, the planks of\nwhich here and there were not very closely united, affording through\nthe chinks the only ventilation the apartment possessed, if we except\na hole near the roof where, either by accident or design, nearly a\nfoot in length of decayed plank had been torn off. This formed a\nsafety-valve for the escape of foul air to a certain extent; and, but\nfor this fortuitous circumstance, it is difficult to see how life could\nhave been long sustained.\n\n\u201cThe only articles of furniture the place contained were these:--First\nand most prominent, was a gigantic row of stocks similar in its\nconstruction to that formerly used in England, dilapidated specimens\nof which may still be seen in some of the market places of our country\ntowns. It was capable of accommodating more than a dozen occupants.\nSeveral smaller varieties of the same species lay around, each holding\nby the leg a pair of hapless victims consigned to its custody. These\nstocks were heavy logs of timber bored with holes to admit the feet\nand fitted with wooden pins to hold them fast. In the centre of the\napartment was placed a tripod holding a large earthen cup filled with\nearth oil to be used as a lamp during the night watches; and lastly, a\nsimple but suspicious looking piece of machinery, whose painful uses\nit was my fate to test before many hours had elapsed. It was merely a\nlong bamboo suspended from the roof by a rope at each end and worked by\nblocks or pulleys to raise or depress it at pleasure.\n\n\u201cThe prison had never been washed, nor even swept, since it was built.\nSo I was told, and I have no doubt it was true, for, besides the ocular\nproof from its present condition, it is certain no attempt was made to\ncleanse it during my subsequent tenancy of eleven months. This gave a\nkind of fixedness or permanency to the fetid odours, until the very\nfloors and walls were saturated with them. Putrid remains of castaway\nanimal and vegetable stuff which needed no broom to make it \u2018move\non\u2019--the stale fumes from thousands of tobacco pipes--the scattered\nejections of the pulp and liquid from their everlasting betel, and\nother nameless abominations still more disgusting, which strewed the\nfloor--and if to this be added the exudation from the bodies of a crowd\nof never-washed convicts, encouraged by the thermometer at 100 degrees,\nin a den almost without ventilation--is it possible to say what it\nsmelled like? As might have been expected from such a state of things,\nthe place was teeming with creeping vermin to an extent that very soon\nreconciled me to the plunder of the greater portion of my dress.\n\n\u201cWhen night came on, the \u2018father\u2019 of the establishment, entering,\nstalked towards our corner. The meaning of the bamboo now became\napparent. It was passed between the legs of each individual and when it\nhad threaded our number, seven in all, a man at each end hoisted it up\nby the blocks to a height which allowed our shoulders to rest on the\nground while our feet depended from the iron rings of the fetters. The\nadjustment of the height was left to the judgment of our kind-hearted\nparent, who stood by to see that it was not high enough to endanger\nlife nor low enough to exempt from pain. Having settled this point to\nhis satisfaction, the venerable chief proceeded with a staff to count\nthe number of the captives, bestowing a smart rap on the head to those\nhe disliked, whom he made over to the savage with a significant hint of\nwhat he might expect if the agreed tally were not forthcoming when the\nwicket opened the next morning. He then took his leave, kindly wishing\nus a good night\u2019s rest, for the old wretch could be facetious; the\nyoung savage trimmed his lamp, lighted his pipe, did the same act of\ncourtesy to all who wished to smoke, and the anxious community, one by\none, sought a short oblivion to their griefs in sleep.\n\n\u201cIn vain, however, did our little party court that blessing; passing by\nthe torment of thought, the sufferings of the body alone were enough to\nprevent it. I had youth on my side, and my slender frame enabled me to\nbear the suspension better than my fellow sufferers. The tobacco smoke\nwas a mercy, for it robbed the infliction of half its torment. A year\nafterward, when we had to undergo a punishment somewhat similar, though\nin a purer atmosphere, we found the sting of the mosquitos, on the\nsoles of our undefended feet, \u2018without the power to scare away\u2019 these\nvenomous little insects, was intolerable; whereas in this well-smoked\napartment a mosquito could not live. We were not aware at the time\nwhat a happy exemption this was. What a night was that on which we\nnow entered! Death, in its most appalling form, perhaps attended with\nthe agony of unknown tortures, was thought by all to be our certain\nlot. Kewet-nee, who occupied the next place on the bamboo, excited a\nhorrible interest by the relation of a variety of exquisite tortures\nwhich he had known to be perpetrated under that roof.\n\n\u201cThe rays of the morning sun now began to struggle through the chinks\nof the prison walls and told us that day dawned, bringing life and\nhappiness to the world outside, but only the consciousness of misery to\nall within. The prisoners being counted and found to tally correctly\nwith the reckoning of overnight, symptoms of the routine of the day\nbegan to attract attention. Our considerate parent made his appearance\nand with his customary grin lowered down the bamboo to within a foot of\nthe floor, to the great relief of our benumbed limbs in which the blood\nslowly began again to circulate. At eight o\u2019clock the inmates were\ndriven out in gangs of ten or twelve at a time, to take the air for\nfive minutes, when they were huddled in again, to make way for others;\nbut no entreaty could secure a repetition of the same favour that day,\nthough a bribe, which few could promise, might effect it. Fresh air,\nthe cheapest of all the gifts of Providence, was a close monopoly in\nthe hands of the \u2018sons of the prison,\u2019 who sold it at the highest\nprice, and with a niggard hand.\n\n\u201cAfter breakfast the business of trying the prisoners began, and\neach was brought in turn before the _myo-serai_, or assistant to the\ngovernor. The first was a young man accused of being concerned in the\nrobbery of the house of a person of rank. Whether the accusation was\nwell founded or not I had no means of judging except by the result; but\ncertainly the man had not the appearance of a robber. As a matter of\ncourse, he denied the crime; but denial was assumed to be obstinacy,\nand the usual mode of overcoming obstinacy was by some manner of\ntorture. By order of the _myo-serai_, therefore, he was made to sit\nupon a low stool, his legs were bound together by a cord above the\nknees and two poles inserted between them by the executioners, one of\nwhom took the command of each pole, the ground forming the fulcrum.\nWith these the legs were forced upwards and downwards and asunder, and\nunderwent a peculiar kind of grinding, inflicting more or less pain as\nthe judge gave direction. Every moment I expected to hear the thighbone\nsnap. The poor fellow sustained this torture with loud cries but still\nwith firmness until the agony became so intense that he fainted. \u2018The\ntender mercies of the wicked are cruel.\u2019 To restore animation they\nresorted to cold water and shampooing. Thus revived, he was again\nthrust back into his den with menaces of fresh torture on the morrow,\nas no confession had yet been wrung from him. I may as well finish the\nrevolting story at once.\n\n\u201cTrue to his word, the _myo-serai_ returned the next day to renew his\ndiabolical practices. This time the culprit was tied by the wrists\nbehind his back, the rope which bound them being drawn by a pulley just\nhigh enough to allow his toes to touch the ground, and in this manner\nhe was left until he should become more reasonable. At length, under\nthe pressure of agonising pain, just in time to save the dislocation\nof the shoulder, the criminal made his confession and criminated two\nrespectable persons as accomplices. From what followed I presume this\nwas all that was wanted. The man of justice had now two men in his\ntoils who were able to pay. The unfortunate man, who, when relieved\nfrom the pain of the torture, acknowledged he had accused innocent\npeople, was returned to gaol fearfully mangled and maimed; but instead\nof meeting a felon\u2019s fate, when time had been given to fleece the two\nvictims, he was released.\n\n\u201cWithin the walls nothing worthy of notice occurred until the hour of\nthree in the afternoon. As this hour approached, we noticed that the\ntalking and jesting of the community gradually died away. All seemed\nto be under the influence of some powerful restraint, until that fatal\nhour was announced by the deep tones of a powerful gong suspended in\nthe palace yard, and a deathlike silence prevailed. If a word was\nspoken it was in a whisper. It seemed as though even breathing were\nsuspended under the control of a panic terror, too deep for expression,\nwhich pervaded every bosom. We did not long remain in ignorance of the\ncause. If any of the prisoners were to suffer death that day, the\nhour of three was that at which they were taken out for execution.\nThe manner of it was the acme of cold-blooded cruelty. The hour was\nscarcely told by the gong when the wicket opened, and the hideous\nfigure of a spotted man appeared, who, without uttering a word, walked\nstraight to his victim now for the first time probably made acquainted\nwith his doom. As many of these unfortunate people knew no more than\nourselves the fate that awaited them, this mystery was terrible and\nagonising; each one fearing, up to the last moment, that the stride\nof the Spot might be directed his way. When the culprit disappeared\nwith his conductor and the prison door closed behind them, those who\nremained began again to breathe more freely; for another day, at least,\ntheir lives were safe.\n\n\u201cIt is not my intention to make this narrative a chronicle of all\nthe diabolical cruelties in this den of abominations, but the first\nspecimen which greeted our eyes on the morrow may serve as a fair\nsample of the practices which it was our fate to behold almost daily.\nThe routine was generally this:--The magistrate takes his seat in the\nfront of the shed in which we occupy the background, as though the\nspot had been selected for our convenience, as spectators to behold an\namusing exhibition. A criminal is now summoned from the interior. He\nhobbles out and squats down in terror before the judge; the crime of\nwhich he is accused is stated to him. He denies it; he is urged by\nvarious motives to confess his guilt; perhaps he knows that confession\nis only another word for execution; therefore he still denies. The\nmagistrate assumes an air of indignation at his obstinacy and now\nbegins the work of his tormentor, the man with the ringed cheek who has\nhitherto stood by waiting the word of command. He has many means at his\ndisposal, but the one selected for the present instance was a short\niron maul. It would simply excite disgust were I to enter into detail.\nSuffice it to say that after writhing and rolling on the ground and\nscreaming with agony for nearly half an hour, the unfortunate wretch\nwas assisted to his den, a mass of wounds and bruises pitiable to\nbehold, leaving his judge not a whit the wiser.\n\n\u201cBy degrees we settled down into the habits of the prison and were\nbecoming familiar with such scenes as I have recounted. We began also\nto speculate on the length of time nature could hold out, if we were\nleft to test it. How long could we live in such a plight without the\nuse of water or other means of cleanliness? Would habit reconcile us to\nit as it apparently had done many of our fellow prisoners? Some of them\nhad lived there for years. We gradually became acquainted with them\nand with their crimes, real or imputed. There were many cases in the\ncalendar that were almost incredible and showed that accident, caprice,\nsuperstition and even carelessness occasioned their confinement. One\ngrimy, half-starved old man had been kept there three years and neither\nknew why he was there nor who sent him. The crime of another must have\nbeen that of a madman, or more probably it was a false accusation,\npreferred to gratify private revenge. He was said to have made an\nimage of the king and to have walked over it. The mere imputation of\npractising necromancy against the sacred person of the king was a fatal\ncharge. The poor fellow was taken from among us at the hour of midnight\nand despatched by breaking his spine. Why this singular method of\nslaughter was resorted to, as well as the manner of carrying it into\nexecution, was as mysterious as the crime itself; they were not at\nall particular as to the mode of depriving their victims of life, but\nseemed to be guided altogether by caprice.\n\n\u201cThe plan of the prison yard shows that there were a number of small\ncells used by the ringed brotherhood, and the pleading of our amiable\nprotectress secured for us the liberty to occupy them. It is true they\nwere very small, the one I inhabited being about five feet wide with\njust enough length to lie down in; it was so low that I could not stand\nupright except in the middle where the roof was highest; but it was\nElysium when compared with the suffocating choke of the inner prison.\nNor could it be called altogether solitary confinement, for one of\nour gaolers had a pretty daughter about sixteen years old, who took\na wonderful fancy to me and was a frequent visitor in my cell. She\nsupplied me, too, with an unspeakable luxury, water for ablution. Oh,\nwho can appreciate the gift but those who have been long deprived of\nit? A scrap of rag, moistened with some of the water given us to drink,\nonly served to smear the grime like a plaster over our bodies. Now,\nonce again I could call myself comparatively clean. My cell had other\nadvantages. My eyes escaped many scenes of revolting cruelty; my ears,\nmany foul anathemas and gross abuse; my lungs and olfactories, all\nsorts of abominations. The chief loss was the society of my friends.\nThe rats, too, were numerous and troublesome at first; but these,\nthough a disgusting nuisance, I managed to turn to account by the fancy\nof the _pahquets_ for their flesh. The Burmese hold rats in about\nthe same estimation as we do hares, and sell them commonly in their\nmarkets for about their own weight in lead. My cell, therefore, might\nbe regarded as a well-stocked preserve for game. The burrows ran in all\ndirections, and hardly a day passed without my bagging a few heads of\nthis novel kind of game and handing them over to my pretty visitor\u2019s\nfather, who willingly lent me his spear for the purpose of destroying\nthem. The bait of a few grains of boiled rice at the entrance of the\nburrows brought them out in shoals and gave me the opportunity of\nspearing them. \u2018What do you expect will be your fate?\u2019 said this pious\nBuddhist as he once took the struggling vermin from the spear, \u2018when\nthe time comes for me to serve you as you are serving that creature?\u2019\nThey all looked forward to the pleasure of decapitating us, and when in\na mild humour would promise me as a favour, to use their greatest skill\nso that I should scarcely feel it. What a consoling thought!\n\n\u201cShut up close in my little cell, I thought that at all events my\nfeelings would no longer be harrowed with the sight of deeds of blood.\nTo a certain extent it was so; but even here there was no abiding peace\nand quietness. One night as I was vainly endeavouring to coax myself\nasleep, the screams of an unfortunate wretch in the inner prison fell\nupon my ear, and the door of my cell being at the time unfastened and\nthe prison wall not more than three feet off, curiosity prompted me\nto peep through a crack to see what fresh mischief was on foot. Never\nshall I forget the foul assassination I witnessed. The inmates were\nbreathlessly silent, evidently expecting some evil. The cries proceeded\nfrom a young man who lay stretched on the floor with his feet in the\nstocks. The lamp was burning dimly, giving just enough light to show\nthe form of a grim _pahquet_ striding toward his victim. Without a\nword, he stamped several times on the mouth of the youth with his heavy\nwooden shoes with a force which must have broken his teeth and jaws\ninto fragments. From my hiding place, where I stood trembling with\nterror, I heard the bones crack and crash. Still the cries were not\naltogether silenced, when the monster seized the club of the savage,\nand with repeated blows on the body and head pounded the poor sufferer\nto death. The corpse was then taken from the stocks and buried in the\nprison yard.\n\n\u201cNow news came of the defeat of the Burmese troops in the field, and\nthe governor wreaked his vengeance on us. We were all hustled again\nfrom our cells into the inner prison, to await any fresh orders that\nmight be issued from the palace. A merciful Providence again averted\nthe danger. For a few days, probably a week, we were kept in the old\nden of corruption, when time, as before, softened down asperities,\nthe rage of the governor and of our keepers began to evaporate, and\na little renewed coaxing, backed by such insignificant bribes as our\npeople could yet afford to pay, regained for us the favour of the cells\nin which we were once more installed, and my war of extermination\nagainst the rats recommenced.\n\n\u201cWhile we were passing this week in the inner prison, a frightful\nevent took place, which threatened the immediate destruction of\nthe whole community; indeed, it is wonderful that the instinct of\nself-preservation did not deter our parent of the prison from executing\nhis order. A woman was brought in covered with the pustules of the\nsmall-pox. Our doctor looked aghast and so did we all, as well we\nmight. It was a case quite beyond his treatment, though it is strange\nthe versatile doctor did not undertake the cure. Even the Burmese\nprisoners themselves expressed their astonishment, but remonstrance\nwas useless. The gaolers, however, showed a little common sense by\nplacing the unfortunate creature in a clear spot by herself to avoid\ncontact with the other inmates of the prison, with delicate threats\nof punishment if she moved from it. We never heard what induced this\nbarbarity, but she was most likely suffering for the misconduct of some\nrelative in the war, and the authority who sent her there could not\nhave been aware of the disease, for she had not been among us more than\ntwenty-four hours when she was again taken away.\n\n\u201cBut by what means was infection averted? Inoculation or vaccination\nwas unknown. Here were about fifty persons living in the same confined\nroom without ventilation, and yet not one of them took the disease. The\nfact seems almost miraculous, and I should have doubted the nature of\nthe malady had it not been acknowledged and dreaded by everyone, the\nnatives as well as ourselves. I can only account for our immunity by\nthe free use of tobacco.\n\n\u201cAfter an engagement with the British troops, many were taken prisoners\nand were brought to the prison. Unfortunately, it so happened that one\nof the freaks, already noticed as common to the gaolers, had at this\ntime consigned all our party to the inner prison, and we beheld with\nhorror about a hundred of these men step one after another through\nthe wicket into our already well-filled prison, one of the ringed\nfraternity remaining inside to see that they were packed as close as\npossible. The floor was literally paved with human beings, one touching\nand almost overlapping the other on every side. It soon became evident\nwhat must follow. Difficulty in breathing, profuse perspiration and\nother disagreeables, overcame the natural terror of their tormentors,\nand the suffering multitude began to cry aloud for air and water.\nThe horrors of the notorious \u2018black hole of Calcutta\u2019 must have been\nre\u00ebnacted had the building been of brick, but the manner of its\nconstruction, before explained, fortunately prevented it. At length the\nclamour of the captives, working probably on the fears of the gaolers\nthemselves, induced them to open the wicket door for the night, some of\ntheir number keeping ward outside as sentinels. By this means a general\ndisaster was avoided.\n\n\u201cThis temporary influx of prisoners was the cause of greater anxiety\nto me than to my companions from a peculiar circumstance. The stock\nof fetters in the establishment ran short, and to provide for this\nunexpected demand our three pairs of fetters were taken off for the\nnight, one ring only being left on the ankle, and by this we were\nchained one to another, two by two, like hounds in couples, only by the\nleg instead of the neck. Perhaps the reader may think this was, at all\nevents, a slight respite, for which we ought to have been thankful. So\nit was, to all except myself, for the luxury of being able once more\nto stretch the legs apart was, no doubt, a most grateful refreshment.\nBut--my flesh creeps when I think of it--I was chained to a leper.\nMy companion was an unfortunate Greek, whose ankles had by this time\nbroken out into unmistakable open leprous sores, with which a few\ninches of chain alone prevented contact, while at the same time it kept\nme in terrible proximity. The chain was kept at its full length all\nnight, as may be supposed, and sundry nervous jerkings from time to\ntime on my part to assure myself that it was so, indicated the nature\nof my alarm to the poor man, who was not unconscious of his malady,\nthough he would not openly admit it. He grew irritated at my studied\navoidance of him, and raised the question himself only to deny it. This\nvoluntary allusion to it by himself, notwithstanding his denial, only\ntended to confirm the fact. With what joy did I submit myself the next\nday to the hands of my worthy parent, while he again invested me with\nmy wonted complement of irons. With what anxiety, too, did I watch for\nweeks, searching diligently my ankles for the first symptoms of the\ncontagion, fearing I might unwittingly have rubbed against the infected\nman and become inoculated with his loathsome disease. Happily I escaped\nwithout accident.\u201d\n\nThis horrible imprisonment was protracted into the sultry months of\nMarch and April, and the wretched sufferers were left throughout\nheavily laden with five pairs of fetters in a gloomy filthy dungeon,\nwithout air or light, or even water to wash their fevered bodies,\nconstantly associated with the worst felons and sharing their dreadful\nexpectation to be taken out and executed. Finally, as the relieving\narmy approached, they were removed from Ava further into the country,\nand the scene changed for the better as regards personal treatment.\nThe prisoners had at least fresh air, freedom from vermin, lighter\nchains, water to wash in, exercise in the yard when their wounded feet\nwere sufficiently healed to allow them to walk, and as much comfort\nas possible in a Burmese prison. But fresh terrors were caused by\nthe importation of a huge lioness into the prison enclosure. It was\nconfined in a strong cage, but was kept in a state of constant fury\nand grew more and more ferocious, being kept continually without food.\nThe luckless prisoners began to believe that they were to be thrown as\na prey to the wild beast, but it grew visibly weaker and weaker and\npresently died of starvation. The reason for shutting up the lioness\nwith the human victims of the terrified king was never explained.\nMeanwhile the British troops pressed on and threatened shortly to\ncapture the capital by storm. The last and most terrible ordeal of all\nwas now impending. It was openly announced that the white prisoners\nwere to be sacrificed to save the king by being buried alive before\nthe broken and dispirited Burmese army. But another decisive battle\nintervened, the prisoners were hastily released from gaol and carried\nto Ava, whence they were borne by water to meet the British flotilla on\nits way up stream, and the painful captivity was at an end.\n\nThe penal code of old Burmah in the pre-English days was primitive and\nof ancient origin, being based largely upon the laws first promulgated\nby Menu. Trial by ordeal was a very general rule, and many forms were\nsimilar to those obtaining in other parts of the world. One was to\nplunge a finger wrapped in a thin palm leaf into molten tin; again,\naccused and accuser were immersed under water and the case was won by\nthe party who could remain the longest time below. Or two candles made\nof equal portions of wax, carefully weighed, were lighted by the two\nlitigants, and the one which burned longest was adjudged to have won.\n\n\u201cIn the Indies,\u201d says one old authority, \u201cwhen one man accuses another\nof a crime punishable by death, it is customary to ask the accused if\nhe is willing to go through trial by fire, and if he answers in the\naffirmative, they heat a piece of iron till it is red hot; then he is\ntold to put his hand on the hot iron, and his hand is afterward wrapped\nup in a bay leaf, and if at the end of three days he has suffered no\nhurt he is declared innocent and delivered from the punishment which\nthreatened him. Sometimes they boil water in a cauldron till it is\nso hot no one may approach it; then an iron ring is thrown into it\nand the person accused is ordered to thrust in his hand and bring up\nthe ring, and if he does so without injury he is declared innocent.\nSometimes an iron chain or ball is used instead of the ring. Sometimes\na vessel of oil is heated, and a cocoanut is thrown in to test the\ntemperature, and if it cracks, then the suspected person may prove\nhis innocence by taking copper coins out of the boiling oil.\u201d Another\nordeal was to take the accused to the tomb of a Mohammedan saint and\nwalk past, having first loaded him with heavy fetters. If the fetters\nfall off, he is declared to be clear. \u201cI have heard it said,\u201d is the\ncomment of one authority who had little confidence in the good faith\nof the tribunal, \u201cthat by some artful contrivance the fetters are so\napplied as to fall off at a particular juncture.\u201d\n\nThe rich expiated any offence by the payment of a fine, while the\nimpecunious suffered imprisonment, stripes with a rattan, mutilation,\nendless slavery, and in the extreme case, death. The sentence to\nslavery extended to all a man\u2019s belongings and to his descendants\nforever. Capital punishment was performed by decapitation, and a\nfiendish executioner often prolonged the agony of the condemned\nconvict. To throw a victim to be devoured by wild beasts or trodden to\ndeath by elephants was a practice only surrendered in recent times. In\nthe northern provinces crucifixion was common, but the instrument was\nnot in the shape of an ordinary cross. It was more like a double ladder\nconsisting of three upright bamboos crossed by three horizontal bars,\nand upon these two more were laid in the shape of a St. Andrew\u2019s cross.\nThree scaffolds were commonly erected on river banks or on sand banks\nin the stream, and were constantly seen on the Irrawady. Sometimes the\nculprit was killed before he was affixed to the cross; sometimes he was\ntied up and rendered helpless by a few spear thrusts, or disembowelled\nby a sword cut across the stomach. In any case, the body was left\nsuspended until the flesh was pecked off by vultures and the bones fell\noff by decay. When the mouths of the Irrawady were Burmese territory,\nthe criminal was lashed to a tree stump at low water and left to be\ndrowned by the incoming tide. The fishes, more voracious than the\nvultures, were often more expeditious than the sea and ate their prey\nalive. The tree, one of the undeveloped growth in the mangrove swamps,\nwas familiarly known as the \u201cstump of hell.\u201d\n\nImprisonment, as we have seen from the previous pages, was often\nworse than death. But there might be some relaxation of durance.\nWith money a prisoner might appease his gaolers. He could by payment\nsecure release daily to go home, eat his meals and pass his time in\ncomfortable idleness, provided he came punctually back at night and\nallowed himself to be again incarcerated. Nevertheless, the friendless\nand impecunious preferred to suffer a public flogging, inflicted on the\nculprit at all the street corners. Bribery and corruption, buying ease\nfrom dishonest gaolers, speedily disappeared under the British rule.\nAn equable uniform system has been adopted for all prisoners, and the\ndemeanour of even the worst is outwardly quiet. They are for the most\npart irreclaimable gaol-birds, with all the traits and characteristics\nof the congenital criminal.\n\nThe predatory instinct predominates in the character of the Burman. He\nis consumed with a desire to lay violent hands upon his neighbours\u2019\ngoods and possessions. He is a Dacoit, a thief and highwayman by\ninheritance. One who knew Burmah intimately was convinced that the evil\npropensity was inborn in every Burmese child, and was stimulated as he\ngrew up by Dacoit stories. The example of others who had taken to the\nbusiness and become famous for enterprising raids, was always before\nthe youth of every generation. It was no disgrace to a young fellow\nto be concerned in a Dacoity attack upon a neighbouring village, but\nvery much the reverse, and the most successful robbers were generally\ntreated with much consideration and respect.\n\nA Dacoit band for the most part numbered five or six; they were not all\narmed with firearms, but they fired a few shots on making a descent\nto give warning of their approach, and no resistance was offered as\nthey swooped down with loud shouts and much waving of swords. Ransom\nwas demanded or the village, if deserted, was looted, and the Dacoits\nfled before the outrage became known to the police. Then pursuit was\norganised, but was generally fruitless. The Dacoits were close at hand,\nin the very village, and might be easily seized, but no one would give\ninformation, as that would be deemed an unpardonable offence. To betray\nan offender into the hands of justice is a sin against religion much\nmore than against morality. There is the utmost difficulty, therefore,\nin tracing crime in Burmah. British police officers were driven to\ndeath in ceaseless efforts to catch Dacoits, hunting them perpetually\nfor months and months and seldom, if ever, laying hands on a single\noffender.\n\nSummary vengeance was meted out to \u201cinformers.\u201d On one occasion, a\nwell-to-do villager in Lower Burmah had assisted in the capture of a\nnotorious Dacoit. Some of the prisoner\u2019s friends, without waiting for\nthe issue of the trial, visited the traitor\u2019s house and upbraided him\nwith being the cause of the Dacoit\u2019s apprehension. \u201cWe mean to punish\nyou for this,\u201d they said. \u201cYou shall be burned alive; which do you\nprefer, that the fire should be lighted here in your own house, or\noutside the village?\u201d His wife offered a thousand rupees to buy him\noff, but it was sternly refused, and he was forthwith put to death. In\nanother instance, a man who received a reward for securing the arrest\nof a band was obliged to surrender the money to other Dacoits, who\ncalled him to account, and to prevent his repeating the offence, his\nhead was cut off and exhibited on a pole.\n\nDacoity, when the complete pacification of Burmah was so long delayed,\nbecame the last form of resistance of the people. The one time thieves\nwere promoted into rebels and insurgents. The Burmese did not all\naccept British rule very willingly, and the government resolved to\nfinally crush opposition by exterminating the dissidents under the name\nof Dacoity. Many serious encounters, costly in human life, were fought;\nmany leaders of small bands long evaded pursuit and gave much trouble.\nBut vigorous measures persistently carried out gradually put down all\nopposition, and the most active Dacoits ended on the gallows or found\ntheir way to prison or to the penal settlements. A good picture has\nbeen preserved of one prominent Dacoit who had long ravaged the country\nand been guilty of many crimes; and upon whom a sentence of penal\nservitude for life was at length passed. \u201cA small, spare, thin-visaged\nman, whose features have nothing in them that would bear out his\ncharacter of a cruel ruffian and leader of men ... yet such was the\npower of his name that a sum large enough to be a fortune to any three\nnatives was offered to whoever should kill or capture him, before his\ncareer was checked.\u201d Every gaol in Burmah has its complement of such\nlife convicts, reckless desperadoes, a source of constant anxiety to\nthose in charge of them.\n\nTo follow this man on his reception and through his treatment will give\na good idea of prison life in Burmah. His clothing was first issued to\nhim; a loin cloth of coarse brown stuff and a strip of sacking to serve\nas his bed. His hair was close cut and his head was as smooth as the\npalm of his hand, save for one small tuft left on the crown; his name\nwas registered in the great book, and he was led to the blacksmith\u2019s\nshop, where his leg irons were riveted on him, anklets in the form of\na heavy ring to which a connecting ring with two straight iron bars\nwas attached. At the same time a neck ring of iron as thick as a lead\npencil was welded on, with a plate attached, nine inches by five, on\nwhich a paper recording the personal description of the individual\nwas pasted. This was called the _thimbone_, and its adoption became\nnecessary through the frauds practised by the convicts.\n\nAt one time every new arrival was given a tin medal stamped with his\nnumber, which was hung round his neck with a string. But it was found\nthat these records were frequently exchanged among the prisoners. A\nprisoner sentenced to a long term often assumed the identity of a\nshort term convict, who accepted the more irksome penalty for a money\nconsideration. At the present time, with the irremovable _thimbone_,\nthese exchanges are rendered impossible. It is strange that such a\nsimple process of preserving identities is not enforced in Siberia,\nwhere Russian convicts have long made a practice of fraudulent\nexchanges.\n\n\u201cIf there is a type of revolting human ugliness, it is the Burmese\ngaol-bird,\u201d says the same authority, \u201cwith his shaven head and the\nunmistakable stamp of criminal on his vicious face. All convicts\nseem to acquire that look of low, half-defiant cunning from their\nassociates, and a physiognomist would not hesitate to describe\nnine-tenths of the men before us as bad characters if he saw them in\nany society. Many of this gang are Dacoits, and their breasts, arms\nand necks are picture galleries of tattooed devices, fondly cherished\nby the owners as charms against death or capture. Some have rows of\nunsightly warts, like large peas, upon the breast and arms which mark\nthe spots where the charms have been inserted,--scraps of metal and\nother substances inscribed with spells known only to the wise men who\ndeal in such things. One or two natives of India are amongst the gang,\nand these are conspicuous by the absence of the tattooing universally\nfound on the Burman\u2019s thighs. A powerfully built convict at the end of\nthe rank, in addition to the usual irons, has his ankle rings connected\nby a single straight bar, so that he can only stand with his feet\ntwelve inches apart. \u2018Look at that fellow,\u2019 says the superintendent;\n\u2018he is in for five years, and his time would have been up in three\nmonths. A week ago he was down at the creek with his gang working\ntimber, and must needs try to escape. He was up to his waist in water\nand dived under a raft, coming to the surface a good fifty yards down\nthe stream. The guard never missed him until a shout from another man\ndrew their attention, when they saw him swimming as hard as he could\ngo, irons and all, towards a patch of jungle on the opposite side.\u2019\nAmongst a repulsive horde this man would take first place without\ncompetition. \u2018Reckless scoundrel,\u2019 is written on every line of his\nscowling face, and such he undoubtedly is. After the severe flogging\nhis attempted escape earned for him, he assaulted and bit his guards\nand fellow prisoners, and the bar between his anklets was the immediate\nresult.\n\n\u201cConspiracies to break out are not uncommon, although they are\nseldom matured, owing to the system of never allowing one batch of\nmen to remain together for more than a night or two in succession. A\ndetermined attempt to \u2018break gaol\u2019 took place in the great central\nprison at Rangoon a few years ago, resulting in a stand-up fight\nbetween warders and convicts. Some twenty \u2018lifers\u2019 confined in a large\nstone cell, whose gate opened upon their workyard, were the culprits.\nThe hammers and road metal which provided their daily labour were kept\nin this yard, and the first aim of the convicts was to obtain access\nto the shed where these weapons lay. About midnight the attention of\nthe sentry was called to the illness of one of the occupants of the\ncell by another man, who was apparently the only wakeful member of\nthe gang besides the sham invalid. A Madrassee apothecary was called\nto the grated window of the den, and obtained sufficient information\nto enable him to prepare some remedy. On his return with the potion,\nseeing that all the convicts were sound asleep, he did not attempt to\ngive the medicine to the sick man through the window, but against the\nrules caused the guard to open the gate intending to take it into the\ncell himself. The instant the gate was opened, the slumbering convicts\nsprang to their feet, rushed at the apothecary and knocked him down in\nsuch a position that his recumbent form effectually prevented the guard\nbehind from closing it. They quickly made their way into the workshed,\nand arming themselves with hammers and stones, prepared to resist the\nwarders who had been attracted by the noise and the shouts of a sentry\non the wall. A furious conflict now ensued between the warders, big,\nmuscular Punjabees armed with heavy cudgels, and the convicts with\ntheir extemporised weapons. The warders were reinforced until both\nparties were fairly matched, and the rough and tumble fight in the dark\nprogressed amid extraordinary confusion. The workyard was overlooked by\ntwo huge wings of the gaol in which a large number of prisoners were\nconfined; these men, roused to a frantic pitch of excitement by the\nuproar below, dashed about their wards like caged animals with screams\nand yells of encouragement to their fellows; while the sentries in\nthe watch towers on the main wall kept up a desultory fire in the air\nto prove to the convicts the impossibility of escaping, even if they\nshould succeed in scaling the high spiked iron railing of their yard.\n\n\u201cThe combatants fought hand-to-hand for some time, neither side gaining\nany advantage, whilst above the roar of human voices and the sickening\ncrash of heavy clubs on the convicts\u2019 shaven skulls the alarm bell\nclashed out warning that military assistance from the distant barracks\nwas required. Warders had been summoned from all parts of the gaol,\nand a general outbreak seemed imminent when the appearance of the\nsuperintendent with a revolver suddenly decided matters. Panic seized\nthe convicts; they dropped their weapons with one accord and crowded\nback into the cell, leaving two of their number dead in the yard. It\nwould be impossible to conceive a more ghastly sight than that row\nof naked, trembling convicts as the warders now ranged them in the\nvault-like den to be counted. The dim light of oil-lanterns fell upon\nupturned faces, before repulsive enough, but now positively startling\nin their hideous disfigurement of dust and clotting blood. Every man\nwas streaming with blood from wounds about the head, more or less\nsevere, for the convicts had fought with the desperation of men to whom\nsuccess meant liberty. They were doomed to drag out their lives in\nthat earthly hell; a flogging was the worst that could happen to them\nif their attempt failed, possible freedom the reward if it succeeded.\nWho would not risk the first for the slenderest chance of the second?\nThey took the risk and fate had gone against them. The excitement was\nover, and they huddled together against the wall of the cell in an\nagony of fear for the consequences their night\u2019s work would bring upon\nthem to-morrow, staring enviously at those whose wounds necessitated\ntheir removal to hospital. For them, at least, a few days\u2019 reprieve was\ncertain before they suffered lash and punishment drill.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nPRISONS OF CHINA\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nCRIME IN CHINA\n\n    Great cruelty in the administration of the law in China--Experience\n    of Lord Loch--Iron collar, chains and creeping vermin--Earth\n    maggot--The \u201cLing che,\u201d a slow ignominious death--Internal\n    arrangement of prisons--Whole families detained as hostages\n    for fugitive offenders--Mortality large; dead-house always\n    full--Military guard--Public flogging of thieves--The \u201cCangue\u201d\n    or heavy wooden collar--Six classes of punishment--Method of\n    infliction--Chinese punishment in the seventeenth century--Some\n    cruel practices of to-day.\n\n\nAccording to Chinese law, theoretically, no prisoner is punished until\nhe confesses his crime. He is therefore proved guilty and then by\ntorture made to acknowledge the accuracy of the verdict. The cruelty\nshown to witnesses as well as culprits is a distinct blot on the\nadministration of justice in China. The penal code is ferocious, the\npunishments inflicted are fiendishly cruel, and the prisons\u2019 pig-stys\nin which torture is hardly more deadly than the diseases engendered\nby the most abominable neglect. The commonest notions of justice and\nfair play are continually ignored. The story is told of a wretched\nold man who had been detained years in the filthy prison of Peking,\ndragging out a weary existence in the company of criminals of the\nworst description. According to his own account, he had been living on\nhis land with his wife and family. One night he took out his gun to\nscare crows and trespassers off his ripening crops, in the execution\nof which innocent design he let off his weapon two or three times. On\nthe following day a man was found murdered on the far confines of his\nland. Immediately he was apprehended, not as one might suppose, to\ngive evidence or relate what he knew, but to be made to confess that\nhe himself was the author of the crime. To extort this confession he\nwas cruelly and repeatedly tortured. \u201cOf course,\u201d he said, \u201cI shall\nnever leave this prison alive, for they will keep me here until,\nreduced to the last extremity by torture, I confess myself guilty of\na crime of which I am entirely innocent, and when I do confess they\nwill cut off my head on the strength of that confession.\u201d This is\nfounded on unimpeachable fact, and the case is constantly recurring\nunder different forms. \u201cIn China it is not the prosecution who prove\na prisoner guilty, but the prisoner who has to prove that he is not\nguilty.\u201d In this same prison of Peking a visitor once was permitted to\nenter a chamber in which was a barred cage eight feet by eight, and in\nit twenty-six human beings were incarcerated, of whom six were dying\nof gaol fever. He asked that they might be taken out of the cage \u201cin\norder that he might medically examine and if possible relieve them.\nThe gaoler opened the door of the cage and seizing the six by their\npig-tails, or by any other portion of their bodies that happened to\npresent itself, dragged them out one by one over the pavement into\nthe courtyard outside. No doubt several of these men were innocent\nof the crimes imputed to them and were waiting to be tortured into a\nconfession of guilt.\u201d\n\nFew Europeans have experienced imprisonment in China. One Englishman,\nLord Loch, has given an account of the sufferings he endured when\ntreacherously captured during the war of 1860. \u201cThe discipline of\nthe prison was not in itself very strict and had it not been for the\nstarvation, the pain arising from the cramped position in which the\nchains and ropes retained the arms and legs, with the heavy drag of\nthe iron collar on the bones of the spine, and the creeping vermin\nthat infested every place, together with the occasional beatings and\ntortures which the prisoners were from time to time taken away for a\nfew hours to endure, returning with bleeding legs and bodies and so\nweak as to be scarcely able to crawl, there was no very great hardship\nto be endured.... There was a small maggot which appears to infest all\nChinese prisons: the earth at a depth of a few inches swarms with them;\nthey are the scourge most dreaded by every poor prisoner. Few enter\na Chinese prison who have not on their bodies or limbs some wounds,\neither inflicted by blows to which they have been subjected, or caused\nby the manner in which they have been bound; the instinct of the insect\nto which I allude appears to lead them direct to these wounds. Bound\nand helpless, the poor wretch cannot save himself from their approach,\nalthough he knows full well that if they once succeed in reaching his\nlacerated skin, there is the certainty of a fearful lingering and\nagonising death before him.\u201d\n\nPunishment varies in cruelty and intensity with the crime; for the\nmurder of a father, mother, or several people of one family the\nsentence is \u201cignominious and slow death.\u201d This method is known as _ling\nche_, and the victim is attached to a post and cut to pieces by slow\ndegrees, the pieces being thrown about among the crowd. This cruel\ndeath was more than once publicly inflicted in Peking during the year\n1903. Some of the most horrible passages in the _Peking Gazette_ are\nthose which announce the infliction of this awful punishment on madmen\nand idiots who in sudden outbreaks of mania have committed parricide.\nFor this offence no infirmity is accepted, even as a palliation. A\nculprit condemned to _ling che_ is tied to a cross, and while he is\nyet alive gashes are made by the executioner on the fleshy parts of\nhis body, varying in number according to the disposition of the judge.\nWhen this part of the sentence has been carried out, a merciful blow\nsevers the head from the body. It is said that the executioner can be\nbribed to put sufficient opium into the victim\u2019s last meal to make\nhim practically unconscious, or even to inflict the fatal stab in the\nheart at first, which should ordinarily be the last. Common cases of\ncapital punishment are comparatively merciful, for the executioners\nare so skilful that they generally sever the head from the trunk with\none swift blow. The Chinese prefer death by strangulation to any other\nform, because it enables the body to appear unmutilated in the next\nworld. This feeling has such a hold on them that when four victims were\ndecapitated in Peking, their relatives instantly claimed the bodies and\nsewed on the heads. The permission to do this was regarded by them as a\ngreat privilege and a mitigation of the sentence.\n\nThe prisons of China are made up of a certain number of wards according\nto their class. Thus, for example, the prisons of the respective\ncounties of Nam-hoi and Pun-yu in the province of Kwang-tung, which\nare first-class county prisons, consist (besides chambers in which\nprisoners on remand are confined) of six large wards in each of which\nare four large cells, making in all twenty-four cells. The same\narrangements may be said to prevail in all county prisons. The walls\nof the various wards abut one upon another and form a parallelogram.\nRound the outer wall a paved pathway runs upon which the gates of\nthe various wards open. This pathway is flanked by a large wall\nwhich constitutes the boundary wall of the prison. The cells are of\nconsiderable size. The four cells in each ward are arranged two on a\nside so as to form the two sides of a square, and they much resemble\ncattle sheds, the front of each being enclosed in a strong palisading\nof wood which extends from the ground to the roof. They are paved\nwith granite, and each is furnished with a raised wooden platform on\nwhich the prisoners sit by day and sleep by night. They are polluted\nwith vermin and filth of almost every kind, and the prisoners seldom\nor never have an opportunity afforded them of washing their bodies\nor even dressing their hair, as water in Chinese prisons is a scarce\ncommodity and hair-combs are almost unknown. The approach to the prison\nis a narrow passage at the entrance of which there is an ordinary\nsized door. Above this entrance door is painted a tiger\u2019s head with\nlarge staring eyes and widely extended jaws. Upon entering, the\nvisitor finds an altar on which stands the figure of a tiger hewn in\ngranite. This image is regarded as the tutelary deity of the prison\ngates. The turnkeys worship it morning and evening, with the view of\npropitiating it and securing its watchfulness, gaolers in China being\nheld responsible for the safe custody of the miserable beings who are\nentrusted to their care. At the base of the large wall which forms the\nprison boundary there are several hovels--for by no other name can they\nbe designated--in some of which all the female felons are lodged and in\nothers whole families who are held as witnesses by the mandarins.\n\nThere is a law which admits of the seizure and detention as hostages\nof entire families, any members of which have broken the laws of the\nempire and fled from justice. Such hostages are not liberated until\nthe offending relatives have been secured, and consequently they are\nnot unfrequently imprisoned during a period of five, ten or twenty\nyears. Indeed, many of them pass the period of their natural lives in\ncaptivity. Thus the mother or aunt of Hung Sow-tsuen, the leader of\nthe Taiping rebellion, died after an imprisonment of several years\nin the prison of the Nam-hoi magistrate at Canton. The unoffending\nold woman grievously felt this long detention for no crime or offence\nof her own. Should the crime of the fugitive be a very aggravated\nand serious one, such, for example, as an attempt upon the life of\nthe sovereign of the empire, it is not unusual to put the immediate,\nalthough perfectly innocent, relations of the offender to death, while\nthose who are not so nearly related to him are sent into exile. In 1803\nan attempt was made to assassinate the emperor Ka-hing. The assassin\nwas no sooner apprehended than he was sentenced to be put to death by\ntorture; and his sons who were young children were put to death by\nstrangling. The mortality in Chinese prisons is very great. The bodies\nof all who die in prison are thrown into the dead-house and remain\nthere until the necessary preliminaries, which are of a very simple\nkind, have been arranged for their interment. In the prisons of Canton\nthese receptacles may be seen full of corpses and presenting the most\nrevolting and disgusting appearance. Some of the unhappy victims have\ndied from the effects of severe and often repeated floggings. Others\nhave fallen victims to one or other of the various diseases which such\ndens are only too well fitted to create and foster. In the prison\nof Pun-yu there were on one occasion in the dead-house five bodies,\nall with the appearance of death from starvation--a form of capital\npunishment which in China is frequently inflicted upon kidnappers and\nother grave offenders. Directly in front of the door of the dead-house\nand at the base of the outer boundary wall of the prison there is\na small door of sufficient size to admit of a corpse being passed\nthrough. The corpses of all who die in prison are carried through this\naperture into the adjoining street for burial. It would be paying\ntoo much reverence to the deceased prisoner to allow the remains to\nbe carried through the gates of the _yamun_ to which the prison is\nattached.\n\nIn point of appearance the unfortunate inmates of Chinese prisons are\nperhaps of all men the most abject and miserable. Their death-like\ncountenances, emaciated forms and long coarse black hair, which,\naccording to prison rules, they are not allowed to shave, give them\nthe appearance rather of demons than of men, and strike the mind of\nthe beholder with impressions of gloom and sorrow that are not easily\nforgotten. Prisoners in every ward with one exception only wear\nfetters. The exception is the prisoner who is supposed to be more\nrespectable and who conducts himself better than any of his fellows\nin crime. He is allowed the full freedom of his limbs and as a mark\nof confidence and trust the privilege is conferred upon him of acting\nas overseer and guardian of his comrades. The dress worn by Chinese\nprisoners consists of a coat and trousers of a coarse red fabric. On\nthe back of the coat is printed in large indelible characters the name\nof the prison in which its wearer is confined so that should he escape\nfrom durance he would at once be recognised as a runaway or prison\nbreaker, and his recapture facilitated. Each prison is presided over\nby a governor who has under him a considerable number of turnkeys.\nThus each large prison in Canton has a governor, twenty-four turnkeys,\nthirty-seven watchmen and fifteen spearmen. In a barrack beyond\nthe doors or gates of each prison is a resident guard of soldiers.\nThe turnkeys, watchmen, spearmen, and so forth, become the most\ncasehardened and incorrigible of the criminals from the great amount\nof misery which they daily witness. The policemen who are attached to\nthe _yamun_ are also men of vile character, and it is unfortunately\ntoo common for them to share the booty with the thief and hoodwink or\ndeceive the magistrate.\n\nThe governor of a Chinese prison purchases his appointment from\nthe local government. He receives no salary from the state and is\ncompelled, therefore, to recoup himself by exacting money from such\nrelatives or friends of prisoners as are in good circumstances and\nnaturally anxious that their unhappy friends should escape as far as\npossible the sad deprivations and cruelties for which Chinese prisons\nare so notorious. To each prison a granary is attached in which rice\nof the cheapest and coarsest kind is stored by the governor. This rice\nis one of his perquisites, and he retails it to the prisoners at a\nremunerative price. Vegetables and firewood for culinary purposes, both\nof which are daily offered for sale to the prisoners, are also supplied\nby him. As the government daily allowance to each prisoner does not\nexceed twenty-five _cash_, the prisoners who are without friends are\nnot often able to buy even vegetables and firewood.\n\nBesides the prison in which convicts are confined there is also within\nthe precincts of the _yamun_ a house of detention. This is neither so\nlarge nor so strongly enclosed as the common gaol. Generally, in such a\nhouse of detention there is a large chamber which is set apart for the\nreception of prisoners on remand, who have friends able and willing to\nsatisfy the demands of the governor. By this arrangement such prisoners\navoid the misery of being shut up in the same ward with men of the\nvilest character and often most loathsome condition, covered with filth\nor suffering from various kinds of cutaneous diseases. The arrangement\nis a great advantage to the governor of the gaol and to all prisoners\nwho can afford to pay for it, but a great disadvantage to other\ninmates. The space required for the convenience of prisoners who have\nfriends to look after their wants leaves very little room indeed for\nthe reception of the great majority of the poorer criminals, who are\nhuddled together in a common ward sometimes too crowded to allow its\noccupants to lie down. In the city of Canton, on the streets adjoining\nthe _yamuns_, there are other houses of detention, all densely crowded.\n\nImprisonment is not the only penalty inflicted; cases of petty larceny\nare generally dealt with by flogging. The culprit is handcuffed and\nwith the identical article which he stole, or one similar, suspended\nfrom his neck, is marched through the streets of the neighbourhood in\nwhich the theft was committed. He is preceded by a man beating a gong,\nand at each beat of the gong an officer who walks behind gives him a\nsevere blow with a double rattan across the shoulders, exclaiming,\n\u201cThis is the punishment due to a thief.\u201d As the culprit has to pass\nthrough three or four streets his punishment, although regarded by the\nChinese as a minor one, is certainly not lacking in severity, and is\noften accompanied by a considerable flow of blood.\n\nA thief who had stolen a watch from one of his countrymen was flogged\nthrough the Honam suburb of Canton, but the officer appointed to\nflog him was very corpulent, and from his great earnestness in the\ndischarge of his duty became quite breathless before the various\nstreets along which the culprit was sentenced to pass had been fully\ntraversed. The person from whom the watch had been stolen, seeing that\nthe thief might escape the full severity of his penalty, snatched the\ndouble rattan from the hand of the exhausted officer and applied it\nhimself most unmercifully to the thief\u2019s back. Women who are convicted\nof thieving are in some instances punished in this way. Occasionally\na long bamboo is used in cases of petty larceny. When this is the\ncase, however, the culprit receives his flogging in court in front of\nthe tribunal. He is at once denuded of his trousers and the number of\nblows varies according to the nature of the larceny, from ten to three\nhundred.\n\nMr. Henry Norman, who witnessed a most cruel flogging in court, which\nleft the prisoner in a pitiable state, asserts that when a policeman\nwas called to suffer the same punishment, it was seen that he had\nbound strips of wood on himself to catch the full force of the bamboo.\nThe prescribed number of strokes were administered, but the fraud was\nplainly apparent to the magistrate and all the spectators, and the\npoliceman, who was none the worse for the flogging, went about his\nduties as usual when the ordeal was over. Spectacles of this kind, says\nthe same authority, seem to be highly enjoyed by a Chinese audience.\n\n\n_Chinese Punishment_\n\n    The _cangue_, or square and heavy wooden collar, is one of the\n    modes by which petty offenders are punished in China. The weight\n    varies with the offence, and they are worn from a fortnight to\n    three months, during which time the _cangue_ is not removed by\n    day or night. This device inflicts severe punishment, preventing\n    the culprit from assuming any position of rest. The name of the\n    prisoner and the nature of his offence are written on the _cangue_\n    in large letters, so that \u201che who runs may read,\u201d and he is often\n    made to stand at one of the principal gates or in some other\n    conspicuous place as an object of universal contempt.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe _cangue_, or square, heavy wooden collar, is another mode by which\npetty offenders in China are punished. _Cangues_ vary in weight, some\nbeing considerably larger and heavier than others. The period for which\nan offender is sentenced to wear this collar varies from a fortnight\nto three months. During the whole of this time the _cangue_ is not\nremoved from the neck of the prisoner either by day or by night. Its\nform prevents the wearer from stretching himself on the ground at\nfull length, and to judge from the attenuated appearance of prisoners\nwho have undergone it, the punishment must be terribly severe. The\nname of the lawbreaker and the nature of his offence are written on\nthe _cangue_ in large letters, \u201cso that all the world may read.\u201d The\nauthorities often make the victim stand from sunrise to sunset at\none of the principal gates or in front of one of the chief temples\nor public halls of the city, where he is regarded as an object of\nuniversal scorn and contempt.\n\nAnother mode of punishing a criminal is that of confining him in a\ncage. The cages are of different forms, the worst being too short to\nallow the occupants to place themselves in a recumbent position and too\nlow to admit of their standing. To the top of one kind is attached a\nwooden collar or _cangue_ by which the neck of the criminal, which it\nis made to fit, is firmly held. Another cage resembles the former in\nall respects but one. The difference consists in its being higher than\nits occupant, so that while his neck is held fast by the wooden collar\nattached to the top of the cage, the tips of his toes barely touch the\nfloor. Indeed, the floor, which is only a few inches from the ground,\nis sometimes removed so that the prisoner may be suspended by the neck.\nThis punishment almost invariably proves fatal. The victims are as a\nrule thieves and robbers. They are often punished by being bound to\nstones by means of long chains passed round their necks. The stones are\nnot large, but sufficiently heavy to inconvenience them as they walk\nto and from the prison to the entrance gates of the _yamun_, in front\nof which they are daily exposed. These stones are their inseparable\ncompanions by night and by day throughout the whole period of their\nincarceration. In some instances they are bound to long bars of iron\nand are daily exposed to the scorn of all passers by.\n\nFor capital and other offences of a serious nature there are six\nclasses of punishment. The first, called _ling che_, has already been\nmentioned. It is inflicted upon traitors, parricides, matricides,\nfratricides and murderers of husbands, uncles and tutors. The criminal\nis cut into either one hundred and twenty, seventy-two, thirty-six or\ntwenty-four pieces. Should there be extenuating circumstances, his\nbody, as a mark of imperial clemency, is divided into eight portions\nonly. The punishment of twenty-four cuts is inflicted as follows: the\nfirst and second cuts remove the eyebrows; the third and fourth the\nshoulders; the fifth and sixth the breasts; the seventh and eighth\nthe parts between each hand and elbow; the ninth and tenth the parts\nbetween each elbow and shoulder; the eleventh and twelfth the flesh of\neach thigh; the thirteenth and fourteenth the calf of each leg; the\nfifteenth pierces the heart; the sixteenth severs the head from the\nbody; the seventeenth and eighteenth cut off the hands; the nineteenth\nand twentieth the arms; the twenty-first and twenty-second the feet;\nthe twenty-third and twenty-fourth the legs. That of eight cuts is\ninflicted as follows; the first and second cuts remove the eyebrows;\nthe third and fourth the shoulders; the fifth and sixth the breasts;\nthe seventh pierces the heart; the eighth severs the head from the\nbody. A great many political offenders underwent executions of the\nfirst class at Canton during the vice-royalty of His Excellency, Yeh.\nOn the fourteenth day of December, 1864, the famous Hakka rebel leader,\nTai Chee-kwei by name, was put to death at Canton in the same manner.\n\nThe second class of capital punishment, which is called _chan_ or\ndecapitation, is the penalty due to murderers, rebels, pirates,\nburglars, etc. Prisoners who are sentenced to decapitation are kept in\nignorance of the hour fixed for their execution until the preceding\nday. Occasionally they have only a few hours\u2019 and in some instances\nonly a few minutes\u2019 warning. When the time has arrived for making\nthe condemned man ready for execution, an officer in full costume,\ncarrying in his hand a board on which is pasted a list of the names of\nthe prisoners who are that day to atone for their crimes, enters the\nprison, and in the hearing of all the prisoners assembled in the ward,\nreads aloud the list of the condemned. Each prisoner whose name is\ncalled at once answers to it, and he is then made to sit in a basket\nto be carried once more into the presence of a judge. As he is taken\nthrough the outer gate, he is interrogated through an interpreter by an\nofficial who acts on the occasion as the viceroy\u2019s representative.\n\nMr. Henry Norman described in 1895 an execution of fifteen offenders\nof this class which he had witnessed. The condemned were carried into\nthe place of execution in flat baskets suspended from bamboo poles, and\nliterally dumped out, bound hand and foot. A slip of paper was stuck\nin the queue of each condemned man, which described the nature of the\ncrime. These were taken out and stacked up by one of the executioners,\nand then the work of severing the heads began, one of the executioners\nholding the victim\u2019s shoulders while the other used the knife. All\nof those about to be beheaded witnessed the decapitation of their\ncomrades, and the spectators yelled with delight and frenzy. When the\nlast head had been severed, the place was ankle-deep in blood and the\nexecutioner, who used the knife, was covered with it. The bodies were\nthrown into a pond and the heads were put in earthenware jars and\nstacked up with others surrounding this potter\u2019s field.\n\nA third punishment is called _nam-kow_, or death by strangulation. This\nis inflicted on kidnappers and all thieves who with violence steal\narticles the value of which amounts to five hundred dollars and upward.\nThe manner in which this form of capital punishment is inflicted is as\nfollows:--A cross is erected in the centre of the execution ground, at\nthe foot of which a stone is placed, and upon this the prisoner stands.\nHis body is made fast to the perpendicular beam of the cross by a band\npassing round the waist, while his arms are bound to the transverse\nbeam. The executioner then places round the neck of the prisoner a thin\nbut strong piece of twine, which he tightens to the utmost and then\nties in a firm knot round the upper part of the perpendicular beam.\nDeath by this cruel process is very slow and is apparently attended\nwith extreme agony. The body remains on the cross during a period of\ntwenty-four hours, the sheriff before leaving the execution ground\ntaking care to attach his seal to the knot of the twine which passes\nround the neck of the malefactor.\n\nThe fourth class of punishment is called _man-kwan_, or transportation\nfor life. The criminals who are thus punished are embezzlers,\nforgers, etc. The places of banishment in the north of China and\nTartary are named respectively Hack-loong-kong, Elee Ning-koo-tap and\nOloo-muk-tsze. All convicts from the midland and southern provinces\nare sent to one or the other of these places, where the unhappy men are\nemployed in a great measure according to their former circumstances of\nlife. Those who are of a robust nature and who have been accustomed to\nagricultural pursuits are daily occupied in reclaiming and cultivating\nwaste lands. Others, more especially those who have been sent from the\nsouthern provinces, where the heat in summer is almost tropical, are,\nin consequence of the severity of the cold which prevails in northern\nlatitudes, made to work in government iron foundries. The aged and\nthose who have not been accustomed to manual labour are daily employed\nin sweeping the state temples and other public buildings.\n\nThe fifth class of punishment is termed _man-low_, or transportation\nfor ten or fifteen years. The criminals of this class are petty\nburglars and persons who harbour those who have broken the laws. Such\noffenders are generally sent to the midland provinces of the empire,\nwhere the arrangements for convict labour are similar to those of the\npenal settlements of the north. Convicts of this class who are natives\nof the midland provinces are sent either to the eastern, western or\nsouthern provinces of the empire. The barbarous practice of tattooing\nthe cheeks is also resorted to with these prisoners. The sixth class is\ncalled _man-tow_, or transportation for three years. A punishment of\nthis nature is the portion of gamblers, salt smugglers, etc. A convict\nof this class is transported to one of the provinces immediately\nbordering upon that of which he is a native or in which his crime was\ncommitted.\n\nOppression by the ruling class was always rife in China, and instances\nmight be multiplied recording the cruel misusage of inferiors by\nthe mandarins. One case in which ample vengeance was exacted by the\naggrieved victim may be quoted here. The story is told by Lady Susan\nTownley in her \u201cChinese Note Book.\u201d\n\n\u201cA well-to-do farmer called Chiang-lo lived happily on his estate with\na pretty wife whom he loved, until one day, as ill luck would have it,\na rich Mandarin passed that way, who, seeing the fair dame, straightway\ndesired her. Anxious to get rid of the husband by fair means or foul,\nhe trumped up a charge against him, and the farmer was condemned \u2018to\nbe a slave to a soldier,\u2019 which meant that he would be marched in\nheavy chains from Peking to the northern frontier of China, cruelly\nbeaten at every station (they occur about every eighteen miles), and\nill-treated at will by the soldier in charge of him. This sentence is\nusually equivalent to death, for few can survive the hardships of such\na journey, the fatigue, heat, cold, hunger and torture. But our friend\nwith hatred in his heart resolved to live in order to be revenged upon\nhis enemy. So he bore all his sufferings with superhuman courage, and\nfinally arrived at his destination on the frontier, where he was put\nto work in a mine.\u201d After he had been there about three years His\nMajesty Kwang Hsu assumed the reins of government, and accorded a\ngeneral pardon to all criminals. Thus in a night Chiang-lo recovered\nhis freedom, and without a moment\u2019s hesitation set off to trudge back\nto Peking. \u201cThis time there was hope in his heart for he meant to kill\nhis enemy and the wife who had betrayed him. When he saw her again,\nhowever, all his old love for her returned and though she refused to go\nwith him, and though he knew that if he killed them both, Chinese law\nwould account him guiltless, whereas if he killed her lover and spared\nher, he would be considered guilty of murder, and would have to bear\nthe penalty, he did not hesitate one moment, but left her and went to\nfind her seducer.\n\n\u201cFor days he tracked him about the town, waiting for a favourable\nopportunity. At last it came, as his rival passed him in the deep\nembrasure of the Chien-men gate. Springing from his place of\nconcealment he challenged him to fight, but the coward refused. Then\nChiang-lo ... drew his knife and repeatedly stabbed him in the heart.\nWhen he saw his enemy lying dead at his feet, the apathy of despair\nfell upon him. Wiping his knife on his sleeve he bowed his head, and\nturning his steps to the nearest police station calmly gave himself up.\nA few weeks later he was beheaded.\u201d\n\nIt is interesting to read that the prevailing method of punishment in\nChina in the seventeenth century differed little from that in force\nat a very recent date. In the memoirs of the Jesuit Louis le Comte,\npublished in 1698, he says: \u201cThey have several ways of inflicting\ndeath. Mean and ignoble persons have their heads cut off, for in\nChina the separation of the head from the body is disgraceful. On the\ncontrary, persons of quality are strangled, which among them is a death\nof more credit.... Rebels and traitors are punished with the utmost\nseverity; that is, to speak as they do, they cut them into ten thousand\npieces. For after that the executioner hath tied them to a post, he\ncuts off the skin all round their forehead which he tears by force till\nit hangs over their eyes, that they may not see the torments they are\nto endure. Afterwards he cuts their bodies in what places he thinks\nfit, and when he is tired of this barbarous employment, he leaves them\nto the tyranny of their enemies and the insults of the mob.\u201d\n\nCruelty, which is one of the strongest characteristics of the Chinese\nnature, manifests itself not only in the application of criminal law,\nbut with a peculiar callousness they delight to torture dumb animals\nand enjoy witnessing the sufferings of children and adults of their\nown race. A common practice of the professional kidnapper is to blind\na child after stealing it, and then carry it away to another town and\nsell it for a professional beggar. Infant life is still being destroyed\nby parents in some districts of China, and the abominable custom is\ndifficult to eradicate, as the children are simply abandoned and left\nto starve, and if the crime is discovered it is difficult to prove\ndeliberate murder.\n\nCases have been known of Chinese boatmen refusing to rescue persons\nwho had thrown themselves overboard from a sinking craft and were\ndrowning, unless they agreed to pay an exorbitant sum asked as the\nprice of rescue. They have even been known to look on passively while\ntheir fellow-countrymen were struggling for life in the water, without\nraising a hand to help them.\n\nIt is but natural to expect that in a country where such occurrences\nare common, the punishments inflicted on the really guilty should\nexceed anything known in the practices of the enlightened nations of\nto-day.\n\n\n\n\nPRISONS OF JAPAN\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nENLIGHTENED METHODS OF JAPAN\n\n    Enlightened Japan has striven to establish a perfect\n    prison system--New prisons--Deportation to the island of\n    Yezo--Agricultural labour and work in coal mines--Two fine prisons\n    in Tokio--Description by Mr. Norman--The gallows--Training school\n    for prison officials--Disciplinary punishments and rewards.\n\n\nJapan as an enlightened and progressive country has made strenuous\nefforts to establish \u201cas perfect a prison system as possible; one\nwhich is in harmony with the advancement of science and the results of\nexperience.\u201d These reforms were commenced in 1871 and were continued\nin various new prisons at Tokio, Kobold, Kiogo and upon the island of\nYezo, all admirably organised and maintained. This movement was hurried\non by the great overcrowding of the small provincial prisons on account\nof the accumulation of long-term prisoners. No proper discipline could\nbe applied and there was absolutely no room for short-term offenders.\nMost of those sentenced to hard labour and deportation are now sent to\nthe penal settlement on the island of Yezo, where they are employed\nboth within the prisons and at agriculture in the open air. Every\nadvantage is taken of the natural aptitudes of the Japanese, and the\ninmates of gaols prove the most expert and artistic workmen. The very\nworst criminals are sent to the prison of Sorachi in the remote island\nof Yezo, beyond Poronaibuto--a bleak, desolate spot surrounded by\nthe usual bamboo fence--which holds about sixteen hundred convicts.\nThey are to be seen squatted on mats at work, each in front of his\nown sleeping place, and on a shelf above are his wadded bed-quilt,\nwith a mosquito curtain on top of each. The place is so isolated\nand surrounded by such an impenetrable jungle that escapes are out\nof the question. A little further on is the prison of Poronai, in a\ndelightful spot, where the most extensive coal fields of Japan are\nlocated. A small building houses some six hundred convicts who work\nin the coal seams on the side of the hill. \u201cHard labour indeed,\u201d\nsays Mr. Wingfield. \u201cHeavily chained, by light of a safety lamp the\nwretched convicts were crouching in holes where there was no room to\nraise the head or stretch the limbs, and here they had to remain for\neighteen hours at a time.\u201d Their sentences were for twelve years,\nalthough remission might by good conduct be secured after seven. Yet\nthese luckless Japanese bore their irksome lot with a light heart. \u201cAs\nwe were leaving Poronai at 5 A. M.,\u201d says the same observer, \u201cwe met\na batch of miners marching to face their ordeal and many after the\neighteen hours are completed have to be removed to hospital. They\nwere clanking their chains right merrily, talking and laughing loudly,\nbandying quips and jokes.\u201d\n\nJapan is a land of rapid transition and nothing has changed more\ncompletely in recent years than Japanese prisons. Still there was some\nsystem, even in ancient days. The sexes were kept apart, the penalty\nof the log worn round the neck and fastened to the ankle was not\nimposed upon the aged or juvenile offender, nor upon dwarfs, invalids\nor pregnant women. In the sixteenth century a prison reformer arose\nwho organised five new prisons in Yeddo for five different classes of\nprisoners, comprising females and persons of different conditions of\nlife. Proper prison officers were appointed, and security was obtained\nwithout despising sanitary needs. Still there must have been much\nmutual contamination, owing to the indiscriminate herding together,\nand the maintenance of internal order was left to the prisoners who\nchose among themselves a _nanoushi_, or head, with eleven assistants\nto control the whole body. Flogging was inflicted and handcuffs were\nuniversally worn. In 1790 a house of correction was established on the\nisland of Yshikavoy in the Bay of Yeddo, to which were committed all\nvagabonds or incorrigible prisoners whom it was thought unsafe to set\nfree lest they should relapse into crime. The work on this island was\nchiefly the manufacture of oil. In cases of escape and recapture the\nfugitives were branded with a certain tattoo mark on the left arm.\n\nEven in the middle of the nineteenth century the same brutal methods\nof torture prevailed as in China (from where their bloody codes were\nmostly borrowed), and there are preserved collections of instruments\nof torture as diabolical as any known to history. Crime, too, was not\nlacking in those \u201cisles of the blest,\u201d and every species of moral\nfilth and corruption abounded, which was shown in its true colours\nwhen the liberty of the press was granted, in 1872-1874. The number of\nexecutions and deaths in the native prisons at that time was said to\naverage three thousand per annum.\n\nThe chief prison of the empire, in Tokio, as described by Mr. William\nM. Griffis, who visited it in 1875, was very different in its sanitary\nappointments and general condition from the prisons of Tokio to-day.\nA curious feature was a small roofed in structure in the prison yard,\nwith open sides, where condemned men of rank were allowed to expiate\ntheir crimes by plunging the dirk into their own bodies, after which\nthe executioner cut off their heads. The head, laid on a tray, was\nthen inspected by an officer of justice. There were very few of such\nexecutions after 1871. The ordinary criminal was beheaded in the\nblood-pit, so-called, which was a pit surrounded with a much stained\nand slashed wooden curb, and kept covered by a sort of trap-door. In\nthe pit were mats, one above the other, which had been soaked with the\nblood of many criminals. \u201cThe faint odour that ascended,\u201d says Mr.\nGriffis, \u201cwas more horrible in the awful cloud of associations which\nit called up than the mere stench.\u201d It was then April and twenty-five\nheads had fallen there since the year began. The criminal was led to\nthe pit blindfolded and was beheaded with an ordinary sword, sharp as a\nrazor. Death followed frequently on the day of sentence and never later\nthan the day after.\n\nTokio has now two prisons; the first and chief is situated upon the\nisland of Oshikawa at the south of the city, and the second, the\nconvict and female prison of Ichigawa, is in the centre of the city.\nThe former is completely isolated, all communication with the mainland\nbeing by police ferry, and can accommodate two thousand men and boys,\nwho are serving terms of ten years or less. The prison of Ichigawa\nusually contains fifteen hundred men and about one hundred women,\namong whom are many serving life sentences. Attached to the prison is\na convict farm, and it is here that capital punishment is carried out.\nOtherwise the two prisons resemble each other closely and a description\nof one will answer for both, says Mr. Norman, who described them in\n1892, and gives the following account:\n\n\u201cThe entrance is through a massive wooden gateway, into a guard-room\nadjoining which are the offices of the director and officials. The\nprison itself consists of a score or more of detached one-story\nbuildings, all of wood and some of them merely substantial sheds,\nunder which the rougher labour, like stone-breaking, is performed. The\ndormitories are enormous wooden cages, the front and part of the back\nformed of bars as thick as one\u2019s arm, before which again is a narrow\ncovered passage, where the warder on guard walks at night. There is not\na particle of furniture or a single article of any kind upon the floor,\nwhich is polished till it reflects your body like a mirror. No boot, of\ncourse, ever touches it. The thick quilts, or _futon_, which constitute\neverywhere the Japanese bed, are all rolled up and stacked on a broad\nshelf running round the room overhead. Each dormitory holds ninety-six\nprisoners, and there is a long row of them. The sanitary arrangements\nare situated in a little addition at the back, and I was assured that\nthese had not been made pleasant for my inspection. If not, I can\nonly say that in this most important respect a Japanese prison could\nnot well be improved. In fact, the whole dormitory, with its perfect\nventilation, its construction of solid, highly-polished wood, in which\nthere is no chance for vermin to harbour, and its combined simplicity\nand security, is an almost ideal prison structure. Of course the fact\nthat every Japanese, from the emperor to the coolie, sleeps upon quilts\nspread out on the floor, greatly simplifies the task of the prison\narchitect in Japan.\n\n\u201cOn leaving the dormitories we passed a small, isolated square\nerection, peaked and gabled like a little temple. The door was\nsolemnly unlocked and flung back, and I was motioned to enter. It was\nthe punishment cell, another spotless wooden box, well ventilated, but\nperfectly dark, and with walls so thick as to render it practically\nsilent. \u2018How many prisoners have been in it during the last month?\u2019 I\nasked. The director summoned the chief warder, and repeated my question\nto him. \u2018None whatever,\u2019 was the reply. \u2018What other punishments have\nyou?\u2019 \u2018None whatever.\u2019 \u2018No flogging?\u2019 When this question was translated\nthe director and the little group of officials all laughed together at\nthe bare idea. I could not help wondering whether there was another\nprison in the world with no method of punishment for two thousand\ncriminals except one dark cell, and that not used for a month. And the\nrecollection of the filthy and suffocating sty used as a punishment\ncell in the city prison of San Francisco came upon me like a nausea.\u201d\n\nIn Japan a prison consists of two parts--dormitories and workshops.\nThere is nothing whatever of cells or regulation prison buildings\nproperly speaking. It is a place of detention, of reformation, and of\nprofitable work. The visitors found in the first workshop, to their\ngreat surprise, a couple of hundred prisoners making machinery and\nsteam boilers. One warder, carrying only a sword, was in charge of\nevery fifteen men. The prisoners were working on contract orders for\nprivate firms, under the supervision of one skilled master and one\nrepresentative of the firm giving the contract. They work nine hours a\nday, and are dressed in cotton suits of a peculiar terra-cotta colour.\nWhen the foreigners entered, the warder on guard came to attention\nand cried, \u201cPay attention!\u201d Every one ceased work and bowed with his\nforehead to the floor, remaining in that attitude until a second order\nbade them rise. They were making large brass and iron steam pumps, and\nthe workshop, with its buzz of machinery and its intelligent labour,\nwas much like a part of an arsenal here or in Europe.\n\nAnother shop contained the wood-carvers, where more than a hundred\nmen, with blocks of wood between their knees, were carving with keen\ninterest upon all sorts of things, from simple trays and bowls to\nfragile and delicate long-legged storks. \u201cI bought,\u201d says our author,\n\u201can admirably-carved tobacco box, representing the God of Laughter\nbeing dragged along by his cloak by six naked boys, and afterward\nI asked some Japanese friends who supposed I had picked it up at a\ncurio-dealer\u2019s, how much it was worth. They guessed ten _yen_--thirty\nshillings. I paid sixty-eight _sen_ for it--less than two shillings.\nIt is a piece of work that would be admired anywhere, and yet it was\nthe work of a common burglar who had made the acquaintance of a carving\ntool and a prison at the same time.\u201d\n\nThere were also paper-makers, weavers (who were making the fabric\nfor the prison clothing), fan-makers, lantern-makers and workers in\nbaskets, mats, and nets. A printing shop, too, there was, where the\nproof-reader was a criminal of more than ordinary interest. He had\nbeen secretary of legation in France and had absconded with a large\nsum, leaving his shoes on the river bank to lead the authorities to\nbelieve he had committed suicide, but he had been arrested eventually\nin Germany with his mistress.\n\nIn one of the shops jinrikishas were being made, in another umbrellas\nwere being carved elaborately and in another every kind of pottery\nwas being turned out. To the amazement of the visitors, they found\nsixty men, common thieves and burglars, making the exquisite cloisonn\u00e9\nware--\u201ccutting by eye-measurement only the tiny strips of copper to\nmake the outline of a bird\u2019s beak or the shading of his wing or the\narticulations of his toe, sticking these upon the rounded surface of\nthe copper vase, filling up the interstices with pigment, coat upon\ncoat, and firing and filing and polishing it.\u201d The finished work was\ntrue and beautiful and it was difficult to believe that these men knew\nnothing at all about it before they were sentenced. It would be hard to\nimagine teaching such a thing to the convicts at Dartmoor or at Sing\nSing. In the prison at Tokio the convict is taught to do whatever is\nthe limit of his natural ability. If he cannot make cloisonn\u00e9, he is\nassigned to the wood-carving department, or perhaps to make pottery.\nIf he cannot do these, he can possibly make fans or basket-work, or set\ntype or cast brass. And for those who cannot reach so high a limit as\nthese occupations there is left the rice mill or stone-breaking, but of\ntwo thousand men only thirty were unable to do any other work but that\nof breaking stones.\n\nPrisoners receive one-tenth of the sum their handiwork earns. A curious\ncustom is that every adult prisoner is kept for an additional six\nmonths after his sentence expires unless he is claimed by friends in\nthe meantime, and if he has not reached adult age he is detained until\nthat is attained. During the added six months these prisoners wear blue\ninstead of the universal reddish garb.\n\n\u201cThe women\u2019s quarter at Ichigawa,\u201d continues Norman, \u201cis separated from\nthe men\u2019s by a high wooden fence and gateway guarded by a sentinel,\nand consists of two or three dormitories and one large comfortable\nworkshop, where all are employed together at labour let out by\ncontract. When I was there they were all hemming silk handkerchiefs,\neach seated upon the matted floor before a little table, and very neat\nthey all looked, and very pretty some of them, with their loose red\ngowns and simply twisted hair. \u2018Those are forgers,\u2019 said the officer,\npointing to three of them; \u2018I do not like them to be so pretty.\u2019 One\nof the women had a young baby playing beside her, and another of\nthem as she glanced up at us showed a face entirely different from\nthe rest, pale, sad and refined, and I saw that her hands were small\nand very white. It was Hanai Ume, the once famous geisha of Tokio,\nfamous for her beauty, her _samisen_-playing, her dancing, her pride,\nand most famous of all for her _affaire d\u2019amour_. Two years ago a\nman-servant managed to make trouble between herself and her lover, whom\nshe expected to buy her out of the life of a professional musician at\nanybody\u2019s call, and then offered to make peace again between them on\nhis own terms. So one night she called him out of the house and stabbed\nhim to death with a kitchen knife. Now music is mute for her and song\nis silent and love is left behind.\n\n\u201cTo the gallows is an easy transition, as it is a natural conclusion.\nIn a secluded part of the grounds at Ichigawa, there is a forbidding\nobject like a great black box, raised six feet from the earth at the\nfoot of a long incline cut in the grass. A sloping walk of black boards\nleads into the box on the left-hand side. The condemned criminal is led\nup this and finds himself inside upon the drop. The rope is adjusted\nand the cap fitted, and then at a signal the bottom of the box falls\nback. Thus the Japanese method is exactly the opposite of our own,\nthe official spectators, including a couple of privileged reporters,\nbeing spared the ghastly details of the toilette on the scaffold, and\nseeing nothing until an unrecognisable corpse is suddenly flung out and\ndangles before them.\u201d\n\nThe state of Japanese advancement in matters of penology is shown by\nthe fact that in Tokio a school is maintained for the training of\nprison officials in theory and practice, with an annual attendance of\nfrom eighty to one hundred students. They are instructed in the laws\nrelating to prisons and prisoners, in the general outline of the penal\ncode, the sanitary care of prisons, the treatment of criminal patients,\nand kindred subjects.\n\nThe number of felons and misdemeanants is decreasing annually, while\nthere has been a slight increase, on the other hand, in the number of\ncontraveners. There are three disciplinary punishments in the prisons:\nfirst, solitary confinement in a windowed cell; second, reduction of\nfood supply; third, solitary confinement in a dark room.\n\nMedals are granted by the prison governors as rewards to any prisoners\nwho have worked diligently and conducted themselves properly in\nprison, but no medal can be awarded more than three times to any\none individual. Medallists enjoy certain privileges and leniency of\ntreatment, and pardons are based on the medal system.\n\n\n\n\nPRISONS OF EGYPT\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE LAW IN EGYPT\n\n    Penal code in Egypt of Mohammedan origin and derived from the\n    Koran--The law of talion--Price of blood--Blood feuds and blood\n    revenge--The courbash freely used to raise taxes--Old police in\n    Cairo--Extensive reforms--Oppressive governors--Tyrannical rule of\n    Ismail Pasha--Protection and security guaranteed to the fellaheen\n    by British occupation--Prison reform--Tourah near Cairo--Labour\n    at the quarries--Profitable workshops--Assiut prison--Life at\n    Tourah--Attempts to escape--Convicts employed on the communication\n    line in the Sudan campaign--Excellent sanitation and good hospital\n    arrangements.\n\n\nThe land of the Pharaohs has ever been governed by the practices and\ninfluenced by the traditions of the East. From the time of the Arab\nconquest, Mohammedan law has generally prevailed, and the old penal\ncode was derived directly from the Koran. Its provisions were most\nsevere, but followed the dictates of common sense and were never\noutrageously cruel. The law of talion was generally enforced, a life\nfor a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Murder entailed\nthe punishment of death, but a fine might be paid to the family of the\ndeceased if they would accept it; this was only permitted when the\nhomicide was attended by palliating circumstances. The price of blood\nvaried. It might be the value of a hundred camels; or if the culprit\nwas the possessor of gold, a sum equal to \u00a3500 was demanded, but if he\npossessed silver only, the price asked was a sum equal to \u00a3300. The\naccomplices and accessories were also liable to death. Compensation in\nthe form of a fine is not now permitted. A man who killed another in\nself-defence or to defend his property from a depredator was exempt\nfrom punishment. Unintentional homicide might be expiated by a fine.\nThe price of blood was incumbent upon the whole tribe or family to\nwhich the murderer belonged. A woman convicted of a capital crime was\ngenerally drowned in the Nile.\n\nBlood-revenge was a common practice among the Egyptian people. The\nvictim\u2019s relations claimed the right to kill the perpetrator, and\nrelationship was widely extended, for the blood guiltiness included\nthe homicide, his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and\ngreat-great-grandfather, and all these were liable to retaliation\nfrom any of the relatives of the deceased, who in times past, killed\nwith their own hands rather than appeal to the government, and often\ndid so with disgusting cruelty, even mangling and insulting the\ncorpse. Animosity frequently survived even after retaliation had\nbeen accomplished, and blood-revenge sometimes subsisted between\nneighbouring villages for several years and through many generations.\nRevengeful mutilation was allowed by the law in varying degrees.\nCutting off the nose was equivalent to the whole price of blood, or of\nany two members,--two arms, two hands, or two legs; the removal of one\nwas valued at half the price of blood. The fine of a man for maiming or\nwounding a woman was just half of that inflicted for injuring a man, if\nfree; if a slave the fine was fixed according to the commercial value\nof the slave. The whole price of blood was demanded if the victim had\nbeen deprived of any of his five senses or when he had been grievously\nwounded or disfigured for life.\n\nThe Koran prescribed that for a first offence of theft the thief\u2019s\nright hand should be cut off, and for a second, his left foot; for\na third, the left hand; and for a fourth, the right foot. Further\noffences of this kind were punished by flogging, or beating with the\ncourbash--a whip of hippopotamus hide hammered into a cylindrical\nform--or a stick upon the soles of the feet. The bastinado, in fact,\nwas the familiar punishment of the East. Religious offences, such as\napostacy and blasphemy, were very rigorously punished. In Cairo a\nperson accused of thefts, assaults and so forth used to be carried by\na soldier before the kadi, or chief magistrate of the metropolitan\npolice, and sent on trial before a court of judicature, or if he denied\nhis offence, or the evidence seemed insufficient for conviction,\nalthough good grounds for suspicion existed, he was bastinadoed to\nextort confession. He generally admitted his guilt with the common\nformula in the case of theft, \u201cthe devil seduced me and I took it.\u201d The\npenalties inflicted less than death included hard labour on the public\nworks, digging canals and the removal of rubbish or compulsory military\nservice.\n\nThe modern traveller in Egypt will bear witness to the admirable\npolice system introduced under British rule, and to the security\nafforded to life and property in town and country by a well organised,\nwell conducted force. In former days, under the Pashas, the whole\nadministration of justice was corrupt from the judge in his court\nto the police armed with arbitrary powers of oppression. The chief\nof police in Cairo was charged with the apprehension of thieves\nand criminals and with his myrmidons made constant rounds nightly\nthrough the city. He was accompanied by the public executioner and a\ntorch-bearer who carried a curious light that burned without flame\nunless waved through the air, when it burst suddenly forth; the burning\nend was sometimes hidden in a small pot or jar and when exposed served\nthe purpose of a dark lantern. The smell of the burning torch often\ngave timely warning to thieves to make off. The chief of the police\narrogated to himself arbitrary powers, and often put a criminal to\ndeath when caught, even for offences not deserving capital punishment.\nA curious custom obtained in old Cairo; it was the rule for the\ncommunity of thieves to be controlled by and to obey one of their\nnumber, who was constituted their sheik and who was required by the\nauthorities to hunt up offenders and surrender them to justice.\n\nIn old times the administration of the country districts was in the\nhands of governors appointed by the Pasha and charged by him with the\ncollection of taxes and the regulation of the corvee, or system of\nenforced or unremunerated labour, at one time the universal rule in\nEgypt. The prompt and excessive use of the stick or courbash was the\nstimulus by which the contributions demanded were extorted, and the\nsheik, or headman of a village, might be severely bastinadoed when the\nsum demanded ran short. Everything was taxed, particularly the land and\nits products, wholly or in part, or they were sometimes seized outright\nand sold at a fixed price, but impounded to make good the debts of the\ncultivators to the government. Taxes were also levied in kind,--butter,\nhoney, wax, wood, baskets of palm leaves and grain. The government\ngranaries were kept full by the last named exaction and in this regard\nan amazing story is told.\n\nThe governor of the district and town of Tanta, when visiting the\ngranary, saw two fellaheen resting who had just deposited their tale\nof corn. One had brought in 130 ardebbs (equivalent to five English\nbushels) from a village at a distance, the other only 60 ardebbs from\nsome land adjoining the town. The governor at once fell foul of the\ndefaulter, and utterly ignoring the townsman\u2019s protest that his was a\ndaily and the countryman\u2019s a weekly contribution, ordered the man of\nTanta to be forthwith hanged. The next day the governor paid a second\nvisit to the granary and saw a peasant delivering a large quantity of\ncorn. Being much pleased, he inquired who the man was and heard that\nit was he who had been summarily executed the day before and who now\nproduced 160 ardebbs of grain. \u201cWhat, has he risen from the dead?\u201d\ncried the governor, astounded. \u201cNo, Sir; I hanged him so that his toes\ntouched the ground; and when you were gone, I untied the rope; you did\nnot order me to kill him,\u201d replied his subordinate. \u201cAha,\u201d answered the\ngovernor, \u201changing and killing are different things. Next time I will\nsay kill.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo relate all the oppressions which the peasantry of Egypt endure,\u201d\nsays Mr. E. W. Lane, the authority for the foregoing, \u201cfrom the\ndishonesty of the officials would require too much space in the present\nwork. It would be scarcely possible for them to suffer more and live.\u201d\nYet a worse time was approaching, when the notorious Ismail Pasha\nbecame practically supreme ruler and used his unchecked power for\nthe complete enslavement of Egypt. His methods of misgovernment, his\nrobbery, spoliation and cruel oppression are now matters of history.\nThis modern Sardanapalus, as he has been aptly styled, lavishly wasted\nthe wealth he wrung out of his helpless subjects by the intolerable\nrapacity of his ferocious tax gatherers. The fellaheen were stripped to\nthe skin to fill his coffers and feed the boundless extravagance of\na vain and licentious prince. His private property was enormous; his\nestates and factories were valued at sixty millions sterling; he owned\nforty-three palaces and was building more when, in a few short years,\nhe had brought Egypt to the brink of ruin, and the people starved at\nhis door.\n\nThe people of Egypt not only paid taxes, but their possessions were\nseized ruthlessly, their lands misappropriated, their cattle and goods\nconfiscated; they were mere slaves whose right to work on their own\naccount was forfeited; and the whole population was driven forth from\ntheir villages with whips, hundreds of thousands of men, women and\nchildren, under the iniquitous system of enforced labour, to make\nroads through the Khedive\u2019s estates, till the cotton fields and build\nembankments to control the distribution of the life-giving Nile. No\nescape from these hardships was possible, no relief from this most\ngrievous Egyptian bondage. The arbitrary despot backed his demands by\na savage system of punishments, and when the courbash was ineffectual,\nhe banished malcontents to the remote provinces of central Africa,\nwhere, after a terrible journey, they expiated their offences at\nFazoglo or Fashoda. Sometimes the highest officials were arrested and\ndespatched in chains, without any form of trial, and were detained for\nyears in this tropical Siberia. To speak of the Nemesis that eventually\novertook Ismail and deprived him with ignominy of a power he so\nshamefully misused is beyond the scope of this work. But reference must\nbe made in some detail to the many merciful changes introduced into\nthe administration of justice under the British protectorate that has\nsucceeded to Egyptian rule.\n\nIn Egypt, at the present time, every son of the soil is safe from\narbitrary and illegal arrest; the imposition of taxes is regulated\nstrictly according to law; there is no enforced labour,--the corvee\nhas been absolutely swept out of existence. Every peaceably disposed\ncitizen may live sheltered and protected from outrage and in the\nundisturbed enjoyment of his possessions, waxing rich by his own\nexertion, safe from the attack or interference of evil-doers. It was\nnot always so, and the great boons of personal security and humane,\nequitable treatment now guaranteed to every soul in the land have been\nonly slowly acquired. Until 1844 the Egyptian police was ineffective,\nthe law was often a dead letter, and the prisons were a disgrace to\nhumanity and civilisation. Before that date the country was covered\nwith zaptiehs, or small district prisons, in which illegal punishment\nand every form of cruelty were constantly practised. It was quite\neasy for anyone in authority to consign a fellah to custody. One of\nthe first of the many salutary reforms introduced by the new prison\ndepartment established under British predominance was an exact\nregistration of every individual received at the prison gate, and\nthe enforcement of the strict rule that no one should be admitted\nwithout an order of committal duly signed by some recognised judicial\nauthority. To-day, of course, any such outrage as illegal imprisonment\nis out of the question. Another form of oppression in the old days\nwas the unconscionable delay in bringing the accused to trial.\nHundreds were thus detained awaiting gaol delivery for six or nine\nmonths, sometimes for one or two years. At that time, too, there was\nno separation of classes; the innocent were herded with the guilty,\nchildren with grown men; only the females, as might be expected in a\nMohammedan country, were kept apart, but their number then and since\nhas always been exceedingly few.\n\nThe first step taken by the new r\u00e9gime was to concentrate prisoners\nin a certain number of selected prisons, such as they were, but the\nbest that could be found. In these, twenty-one in number, strenuous\nefforts were made to introduce order; cleanliness was insisted upon and\ndisinfectants were largely used, while medical men were appointed at\neach place, who attended daily to give medicine and move the sick into\nhospital. The health of the prisoners was so much improved that they\nconstituted one per cent. of the daily average of prisoners, and this\nratio has been maintained, so that in the cholera epidemic in 1896 only\na few convicts died.\n\nA good prison system could only be introduced in improved prisons,\nand the first created was the great convict establishment at Tourah,\na village about eight miles above Cairo on the banks of the Nile and\nat the foot of the great limestone quarries that have supplied the\ncity with its building material from the earliest days. In 1885 the\nold military hospital at Tourah was handed over to be converted into a\npublic works prison; a few of the wards were converted into cells, and\na draft of 250 convicts was brought from the arsenal at Alexandria to\noccupy them. These proved skilful workmen, as the fellaheen, whether\ncaptive or free, invariably are, and with the help of a few paid\nstone-masons they restored the half-ruined upper story of the ancient\nbuilding and converted it into a satisfactory prison to hold one\nhundred and fifty more inmates. The four hundred steadfastly continued\ntheir labours and to such good purpose, demolishing, removing,\ncleaning, and constructing new roads and approaches, that in May,\n1886, an entirely new prison for five hundred convicts was completed\nand occupied. Many forms of industry were carried on with excellent\nfinancial results, as will be seen from the following details.\n\nAll the lime for buildings was burned in two lime kilns constructed\nfor the purpose; all the furniture and woodwork, the tables, beds and\ndoors were made by convict carpenters; all the ironwork, the bolts\nand bars for safe custody, the very leg-irons, their own inalienable\nlivery under the old Egyptian prison code, were turned out by convict\nblacksmiths; and hundreds of baskets for carrying earth and stone\nhave been manufactured. The industrial labour at Tourah is now of many\nuseful kinds. New prison clothing, new boots (although these usually\nindispensable articles are only issued to a favoured few prisoners\nin Egypt), the baking of bread and biscuit for home consumption, or\nto be sent to out-stations, plate laying and engine fitting, stone\ndressing for prison buildings, both at Tourah and elsewhere,--all\nthese are constantly in progress at the Tourah prison. The money made\nin the prison provides funds for many things necessary for further\ndevelopment, such as tram lines, locomotives, improved tools and\nmachinery of all kinds.\n\nA visit to Tourah is both interesting and instructive. The chief\nemployment of the convicts is in the quarries, a couple of miles from\nthe prison, to which the gangs proceed every morning at daylight and\nwhere they remain every day of the week but Friday, which is their\nSabbath, until four o\u2019clock in the afternoon. There is no time wasted\nin marching to and fro. The dinner, or midday meal, is carried out\nto the quarries by the cooks, and after it is eaten the convicts are\nallowed an hour\u2019s rest in such shade as can be found in the nearly\nblinding heat of the dazzling white quarries. As this midday siesta is\nthe common hour for trains to pass on to the neighbouring health resort\nof Helouan, casual observers might think that rest and refreshment\nformed a great part of the Egyptian convict\u2019s daily life. But that\nwould be a grievous mistake. During the hours of labour, ceaseless\nactivity is the rule; all around the picks resound upon the unyielding\nstone; some are busy with the levers raising huge blocks, stimulated\nby the sing-song, monotonous chant, without which Arabs, like sailors,\ncannot work with any effect. The burden of the song varies, but it is\ngenerally an appeal for divine or heavenly assistance, \u201cAllahiteek!\u201d\n\u201cMay God give it,\u201d the phrase used by the initiated to silence the\notherwise too importunate beggar, or \u201cHalimenu,\u201d \u201cHali Elisa,\u201d ending\nin an abrupt \u201cHah!\u201d or \u201cHop!\u201d at the moment of supreme effort.\n\nA visitor of kindly disposition is not debarred from encouraging\neffort by the gift of a few cigarettes to the convicts. Tobacco is\nnot forbidden in the prisons of Egypt. It is issued to convicts in\nthe works prisons in small rations as a reward, according to the\ngovernor\u2019s judgment. The unconvicted and civil prisoners undergoing\nmerely detention are at liberty to purchase it. I was the witness, the\ncause indeed, of a curious and unwonted scene in the small prison at\nAssiut when I inspected it in 1898. The sale of tobacco was in progress\nin the prison yard, where all of the prisoners, a hundred and more,\nwere at exercise. An official stood behind a small table on which lay\nthe little screws of tobacco for disposal, each for a few _milliems_,\nthe smallest of Egyptian coins, the fractional part of a farthing.\nThe eagerness with which the poor prisoners eyed the precious weed\nexcited my generosity, and I bought up the whole table load, then and\nthere, for a couple of shillings. The prisoners crowding around saw the\ndeal and understood it. Hardly had I put down the ten piastres when\nthe whole body \u201crushed\u201d the table, overset it, threw the screws of\ntobacco upon the ground, and all hands pounced down on the scattered\nweed in one great struggling, scrambling, combatant medley. The tobacco\nwas quite wasted, of course, and I have no idea who got the money.\nThe m\u00eal\u00e9e was so unmanageable that it was necessary to call out the\nguard to drive the prisoners back to their wards. I was aghast at my\nindiscretion and ready to admit that I should have known better.\n\nThe daily unremitting toil of Tourah must be preferable to all but the\nincurably idle. Yet the terror of \u201cTourah\u201d is now universal up and\ndown Egypt. It is the great \u201cbogey\u201d of the daily life among the lower\nclasses, the threat held over the fractious child or the misconducted\ndonkey boy who claims an exorbitant \u201cbakshish.\u201d To accuse any decent\nfellah of having been in Tourah is the worst sort of insult and at once\nindignantly denied. When my own connection with the English prisons\nbecame known, I was generally called the pasha of the English Tourah,\nand my official position gained me very marked respect among classes\nspoiled by many thousands of annual tourists,--the greedy guides and\ndonkey boys, the shameless vendors of sham curiosities, the importunate\nbeggars that infest hotel entrances, swarm in the villages and make\nhideous the landing stages up the Nile. An old hand will best silence\na persistent cry for alms or the wail of _miski_ (poverty stricken),\nof \u201cHalas! finish father, finish mother\u201d (the ornate expression for an\norphan), by talking of the _caracol_, \u201cpolice station,\u201d and a promise\nof \u201cTourah\u201d to follow.\n\nLife in Tourah must be hard. The monotonous routine from daylight to\nsundown, the long nights of thirteen or fourteen hours, from early\nevening to morning, caged up with forty or fifty others tainted\nwith every vice and crime, must be a heavy burden upon all but the\nabsolutely debased. The evils of association, of herding criminals\ntogether, left to their own wicked devices, without supervision, were\npresent in the highest degree in Egyptian prisons. At last, however, a\nmove was made to provide separate cells for a certain number, and a new\nprison of 1,200 cells was built by convict labour at Tourah immediately\nopposite the new hospitals and at some distance from the old prison.\nMuch mischievous conspiracy of the worst kind is prevented by keeping\nindividuals apart during the idle hours of the night, for it was then\nthat those concerted escapes of large numbers were planned, which have\noccurred more than once at Tourah, but have been generally abortive,\nending only in bloodshed; for the black Sudanese, who form the convict\nguards, are expert marksmen and surely account for a large part of the\nfugitives.\n\nThere must be something very tempting to the untutored mind--and many\nof these Tourah convicts are half-wild creatures, Bedouins of the\ndesert or the lowest scum of the cities--in the seeming freedom of\ntheir condition during so many hours of the day. Liberty seems within\neasy reach. Not a mile from the quarries are great overhanging cliffs,\nhoney-combed with caves, deep, cavernous recesses affording secure\nhiding places, and it is for these that the rush is made. In August of\n1896 there was a serious attempt of this kind, and success was achieved\nby some of the runaways. The hour chosen was that of the break-off\nfrom labour, when the gangs, surrounded by their guards, converge on a\ncentral point, very much as may be seen on any working-day at Portland\nor Dartmoor, and thence march home in one compact body to the distant\nprison. It is a curiously picturesque scene. The convicts, mostly fine,\nstalwart men, their ragged, dirty white robes flying in the wind and\ntheir chains rattling, swing past, two by two, in an almost endless\nprocession. Below, the mighty river, flowing between its belt of palm\nand narrow fringe of green, shines like burnished silver under the\ndeclining sun; beyond stretches the wide desert to the foot of the\nPyramids, those of Sakhara at one end of the landscape, those of Cheops\nat the other,--colossal monuments of enforced labour very similar to\nthat now surviving at Tourah.\n\nSuch was the moment chosen for a general stampede. About sixty or\nseventy convicts agreed to cut and run simultaneously, all toward the\nshelter of the hills. A few were told off to try conclusions with the\narmed guards, to wrest away the rifles and thus secure both immunity\nfrom fire and the power to use the weapon in self-defence. The attempt\nappears to have been fairly successful at first. A few rifles were\nseized, and the fugitives, turning on their pursuers, made some\npretty practice, during which a few of the more fortunate got away.\nBut authority finally asserted itself. Many were shot down; the rest\nwere overtaken and immediately surrendered. The absence of \u201cgrit,\u201d\nso characteristic of the race, showed itself at once, and these poor\nwretches, who had been bold enough to make the first rush under a hail\nof bullets, now squatted down and with uplifted hands implored for\nmercy or declared it was all a mistake. \u201cMalesh, it does not matter,\u201d\nwas their cry then. But they no doubt found that it mattered a great\ndeal when a few days later Nemesis overtook them in the shape of\ncorporal punishment; for the lash, a cat of six tails, is used in the\nEgyptian prisons as a last resort in the maintenance of discipline and\ngood order. It is only inflicted, however, under proper safeguards and\nby direct sentence of a high official. There is no courbash now in the\nprisons, and no warder or guard is permitted to raise his hand against\na prisoner. Tyranny and ill-usage are strictly forbidden.\n\nEscapes have happened at other places. When military operations were\nin progress on the frontier leading to the revindication of the\nSudan, an immense amount of good work was done by large detachments\nof convicts at stations high up the river. There were rough and ready\n\u201cTourahs\u201d at Assuan, Wady Halfa, Korosko, Suakin, El Teb, points of\nconsiderable importance in the service of the campaign, where supplies\nwere constantly being landed, stored or sent forward to the front. The\nEgyptian prison authorities very wisely and intelligently utilised\nthe labour at their disposal to assist in unloading boats and in\nreshipping stores and railway plant. Numbers of convicts were employed\nto construct the railway ahead in the direction of Abu Hamed by which\nthe advance was presently made. The Nile above Merawi flows through the\nmost difficult country in its whole course, the very \u201cworst water,\u201d\nand no navigation in that length was possible by steamers, little or\nnone by small boats except at high Nile and then only by haulage. It\nwas necessary, therefore, to complete the railway to Abu Hamed, so that\ngunboats might be sent up in sections over the line, to be put together\nabove the cataracts and then utilised in the final advance, for the\nriver is more or less open to Berber and on to Khartum, and the success\nof the campaign was greatly facilitated thereby.\n\nEgyptian convicts did much good work of a superior kind. Now and again\na trained handicraftsman was found who was willing to put forward his\nbest skill and there was always a smart man ready to act as leader and\nforeman of the rest, as is very much the case, indeed, with convicts\nall over the world. One man in particular at Wady Halfa was well\nknown as a most industrious and intelligent worker. He so gained the\ngood-will of the British officers that, not knowing his antecedents,\nmany of them strongly recommended him for release as a reward for his\nusefulness. But the prison authorities were unable to accede to this\nseemingly very justifiable request. This best of prisoners (again\nfollowing experience elsewhere) was the worst of criminals. He had\ncommitted no fewer than eight murders, possibly not with malicious\nmotives, or he would hardly have escaped the gallows. The death penalty\nis not, however, inflicted very frequently in Egypt. In one case worth\nmentioning as illustrating the almost comical side of Egyptian justice,\na man sentenced to death was held to serve a short term of imprisonment\nfor some minor offence before he was considered ripe for execution.\nWhen the short sentence was completed, he was incontinently hanged.\n\nAt Assuan during war time hundreds of convicts were engaged all day\nlong under the windows of the hotel. Their rattling chains were heard\nsoon after dawn mixed with their unmelodious sing-song as described\nabove. They could be seen constantly and freely approached, as they\nclustered around the great crane that raised the heaviest weights,\nlocomotives, tender, and boilers, from the boats moored below, or as\nthey passed along in single file backward and forward between the beach\nand the railway station or storehouses near-by. All were in picturesque\nrags, except the military prisoners, dressed in a startling uniform\nof bright orange; all wore the inevitable leg-irons riveted on their\nspare, shrunken brown ankles. It was the custom once, as in the old\nFrench _bagnes_, to chain the Egyptian convicts in couples, a long-term\nman newly arrived being chained with one whose sentence had nearly\nexpired.\n\nThis practice has now been discontinued, and each unfortunate bears\nhis burden alone. Much ingenuity is exercised to prevent the basils\nor anklets from chafing the skin. The most effective method, employed\nno doubt by the most affluent, was a leather pad inserted within the\niron ring; others without resources, owning not a single _milliem_ in\nthe world, used any filthy rags or scraps of sacking they could beg\nor steal. Pads of this kind have been worn from time immemorial by\nall prisoners and captives; no doubt the galley slaves chained to the\noar in classical days invented them, and they were known until quite\nlately in the French _bagnes_ of Rochefort and Toulon by the name\nof _patarasses_, which the old hands manufactured and sold to the\nnewcomers. Another old-fashioned device among the Egyptian convicts is\nthe short hook hanging from a waistband, which catches up one link of\nthe irons, a simple necessity where the chain is of such length that it\ndrags inconveniently along the ground.\n\nThe general use of fetters is not now approved by civilised nations.\nBut in Egypt they appear to be nearly indispensable for safe custody.\nThe removal of the leg-irons from convicts has often encouraged them\nto effect escape. Once sixteen of them at Assuan were astute enough to\nsham illness. It was during the cholera epidemic, and they knew enough\nof the symptoms to counterfeit some of them cleverly. The medical\nofficer in charge was compassionate and thought it cruel that his\npatients should die in their chains, so he had them struck off. Within\na few hours the unshackled convicts gave their guardians leg-bail, and\nescaped from the hospital into the desert, and so down the river. These\nvery men afterward formed the nucleus of the band of _harami_, the\nrobbers and brigands who terrorised the lower province for some months\nand were only disposed of at last by summary action. The story of the\nsubsequent burning of the brigands at Belianah became public property\nand was made the occasion of one of those virulent attacks upon British\nrule that often found voice under the unrestrained license of the\nEgyptian press. These out-laws were pursued and overtaken at last by\nthe police in a house where they had barricaded themselves. It was\nimpossible to break in, and the assailants therefore set fire to the\nthatched roof. The robbers used this as their private arsenal, and the\nfire soon ignited their cartridges with a terrific explosion in which\nmost of the defenders lost their lives. This practice of concealing\nexplosives in the roof was not uncommon during the days of conflict\nwith the Mahdi. When the sheik of Derowi was arrested on a charge of\nconveying contraband ammunition into the Sudan, he contrived to send\nback a message to his wife to make away with all damaging evidence. She\nthought the safest way to dispose of the gunpowder stored in the house\nwas by fire and at the same time she also disposed, very effectually,\nof herself.\n\nA striking feature at Tourah was the admirable prison hospital,\nwhich would compare favourably with the best in the world. It is a\ntwo-storied building with lofty, well-ventilated wards, beds and\nbedding, all in the most approved style; a well-stocked dispensary and\na fully qualified medical man in daily attendance. The patients, unless\ntoo ill to rise, sit up on their beds rather like poultry roosting, and\nsuffer from most of the ills to which humanity is heir. The complaints\nmost prevalent are eczema, tuberculosis (the great scourge of the black\nprisoners from the south), ophthalmia, and dysentery. \u201cStone\u201d is a\nmalady very prevalent and showing itself in the most aggravated form,\ndue no doubt to the constant drinking of lime-affected water. I saw\ncalculi of almost colossal size, the result of some recent operations,\nextracted by the prison surgeons, whose skill is evidently remarkable.\n\nToo much praise can hardly be accorded the Egyptian prison\nadministration for its prompt and effective treatment of the cholera\nepidemic when it appeared in Egypt in 1896. Although the mortality\nwas serious in the general population, the percentage of deaths was\nrelatively small in the prisons. Out of a total of 7,954 prison inmates\n(this number did not include the convicts at the seat of war or on the\nRed Sea) there were only one hundred and sixteen cases and seventy\ndeaths. In six of the prisons the disease did not appear; in others,\nalthough situated in the heart of infected towns, and prisoners were\nbeing constantly received from infected districts, the cases were few.\nIn Tourah, with a total population of thirteen hundred and fifty, there\nwere but twenty-two; at Assiut, a new building with good sanitation,\nonly two; the average was largest at Keneh, Mansourah and Assuan. Not\na single female prisoner was attacked; an immunity attributed to the\nfact that the females in custody receive regular prison diet, while\nthe males, except at Tourah and Ghizeh, are fed, often indifferently,\nby their friends outside. These excellent results were undoubtedly\ndue to the strict isolation of the inmates of any prison in which the\ncholera had appeared. Whenever a case showed, the introduction of food\nor clothing from outside was strictly forbidden, and friends were not\nadmitted when cholera existed in the neighbourhood. Much credit was due\nalso to the unselfish devotion of the Egyptian medical staff, who were\nunremitting in their care and of whom two died of the disease at their\nposts.\n\nIt was officially stated in 1903 that such crimes as robbery with\nviolence, petty thefts and brigandage had increased materially since\n1899. The reason given for this was the failure of the police machinery\nto bring out the truth and the practice of bribes which was everywhere\nprevalent. The corruption of magistrates and the terrorism held over\nwitnesses make it exceedingly difficult to bring a man to justice or\nobtain satisfactory convictions. But we may well conclude that the\nprison system as established in Egypt to-day is of the most modern and\nsatisfactory character.\n\n\n\n\nPRISONS OF TURKEY\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTURKISH PRISONS\n\n    Old castles used as prisons--The Castle of Europe--The\n    Seven Towers and the \u201cWell of Blood\u201d--The Seraglio and the\n    Bagnio--The Zaptie--Lack of prison discipline--Midhat Pasha\n    and the Constitution--His disgrace and death--The Young Turk\n    movement--Horrible massacres at Adana--The provincial prisons all\n    bad--Fetters and other modes of torture--Little improvement under\n    new sultan.\n\n\nThere are few notable buildings in Turkey constructed primarily as\nprisons. In fact there are few buildings of any sort constructed for\nthat purpose. But every palace had, and one may almost say, still has\nits prison chambers; and every fortress has its dungeons, the tragedies\nof which are chiefly a matter of conjecture. Few were present at the\ntortures, and in a country where babbling is not always safe, witnesses\nwere likely to be discreet.\n\nIn and around Constantinople, if walls had only tongues, strange and\ngruesome stories might be told. On the Asiatic side of the Bosporus\nstill stand the ruins of a castle built by Bayezid I, known as \u201cthe\nThunderbolt\u201d when the Ottoman princes were the dread of Europe.\nSigismund, King of Hungary, had been defeated, and Constantinople was\nthe next object of attack, though not to fall for a half century. This\ncastle was named \u201cthe Beautiful,\u201d but so many prisoners died there of\ntorture and ill-treatment that the name \u201cBlack Tower\u201d took its place in\ncommon speech.\n\nDirectly opposite, on the European side of the Bosporus, is _Rumili\nHissar_, or the Castle of Europe, which Muhammad II, \u201cthe Conqueror,\u201d\nbuilt in 1452 when he finally reached out to transform the headquarters\nof Eastern Christendom into the centre of Islam. The castle was built\nupon the site of the state prison of the Byzantine emperors, which was\ndestroyed to make room for it. The three towers of the castle, and the\nwalls thirty feet thick, still stand. In the Tower of Oblivion which\nnow has as an incongruous neighbour, the Protestant institution, Robert\nCollege, is a fiendish reminder of days hardly yet gone. A smooth\nwalled stone chute reaches from the interior of the tower down into the\nBosporus. Into the mouth of this the hapless victim, bound and gagged\nperhaps, with weights attached to his feet, was placed. Down he shot\nand bubbles marked for a few seconds the grave beneath the waters.\n\nThe Conqueror built also the _Yedi Kuleh_, or the \u201cSeven Towers,\u201d at\nthe edge of the old city. This imperial castle, like the Bastile or\nthe Tower of London, was also a state prison, though its glory and\nits shame have both departed. The Janissaries who guarded this castle\nused to bring thither the sultans whom they had dethroned either to\nallow them to linger impotently or to cause them to lose their heads.\nA cavern where torture was inflicted and the rusty machines which tore\nmuscles and cracked joints, may still be seen. The dungeons in which\nthe prisoners lay are also shown. A small open court was the place of\nexecution and to this day it is called the \u201cplace of heads\u201d while a\ndeep chasm into which the heads were thrown is the \u201cwell of blood.\u201d\n\nSeveral sultans, (the exact number is uncertain) and innumerable\nofficers of high degree have suffered the extreme penalty here. It was\nhere too that foreign ambassadors were always imprisoned in former\ndays, when Turkey declared war against the states they represented. The\nlast confined here was the French representative in 1798.\n\nAnother interesting survival of early days is the Seraglio, the old\npalace of the sultans, and its subsidiary buildings, scattered over a\nconsiderable area. In the court of the treasury is the _Kafess_, or\ncage, in which the imperial children were confined from the time of\nMuhammad III, lest they should aspire to the throne. Sometimes however\nthe brothers and sons of the reigning sultan were confined, each in a\nseparate pavilion on the grounds. A retinue of women, pages and eunuchs\nwas assigned to each but the soldiers who guarded them were warned to\nbe strict. The present sultan was confined by his brother Abdul Hamid\nwithin the grounds of the Yildiz Kiosk, where he had many liberties\nbut was a prisoner nevertheless. Absolutism breeds distrust of all, no\nmatter how closely connected by ties of blood.\n\nAn interesting prison was the old Bagnio, once the principal prison\nof Constantinople. The English economist, N. W. Senior, describes it\nas it was sixty years ago, in his \u201cJournal.\u201d It was simply an open\ncourt at one end of which was a two-story building. Each story was\ncomposed of one long room divided into stalls by wooden partitions, the\nwhole, dark, unventilated and dirty beyond description. Some turbulent\nprisoners were chained in their stalls which they were not permitted to\nleave.\n\nThe chief interest lay in the court-yard, however, which was the common\nmeeting place. No rules as to cleanliness or regularity of hours\nexisted. No one was compelled to work and the great majority preferred\nto lounge in the sun. In the court were coffee and tobacco shops, while\nsellers of sweetmeats made their way through the crowds. Though capital\npunishment was nominally inflicted, it was never imposed unless there\nwere eye witnesses of the crime, and seldom then. So of the eight\nhundred inmates of the Bagnio, six hundred were murderers, some of them\nprofessionals. Nearly all wore chains, some of which were heavy, and\nas several prisoners were attached to one chain occasionally conflicts\narose as different members of the group exhibited divergent desires.\n\nAnother visitor about the same time saw the picturesque side.\nHe mentions the robbers, chiefs from Smyrna, stalking about the\nenclosure, the voluble Greeks and Armenians, the secretive Jews, and an\nIrishman or two, mingling with the stolid Turks. Inmates were sipping\ncoffee, smoking, playing cards, disputing, fighting, while a furtive\npickpocket made his rounds. In a corner a fever patient was stretched\nout oblivious to his surroundings, though the clamour sometimes was\ndeafening. He goes on to say:\n\n\u201cYet physically the wretches were not ill-treated; they need not ever\nwork unless they like. The court is small and so is the two-storied\nstable where they sleep upon the earth; but then these are men who\nperhaps never got between sheets nor lay on a bed in their lives.\nThey may talk what they like, and when they like. They have a Mosque,\na Greek chapel and a Roman Catholic chapel. They can have coffee and\ntobacco, and if they work they are supposed to be paid for it. There is\nno treadmill, no crank, there are no solitary cells.\u201d\n\nThe same observer describes the Zaptie or House of Detention as it\nthen existed, and though the building as it exists to-day is improved,\nconditions are not essentially different. Then there were two\ncommunicating courts, where pickpockets, ordinary thieves, participants\nin affrays, and even murderers were confined. At night they were locked\nin rooms. One of these sleeping rooms, eleven by seventeen feet, was\noccupied at night by twelve men. In such places prisoners were kept an\nindefinite time awaiting trial, and perhaps then discharged without\ntrial and without explanation.\n\nA large number of Turkish prisoners have been confined either for\nconspiracy against the government, or for daring to exhibit a certain\namount of independence. An officer apparently high in favour to-day\nmight be degraded on the next without warning. An interesting case of\nthis kind is the case of Midhat Pasha, one of the best known men in\nTurkey thirty or forty years ago.\n\nHe was one of the little group of Turks who adopted European ideas\nafter the Crimean war. He was a friend of England as opposed to Russia\nand the influence of the latter state was thrown against him. He was\none of the ministers by whom the sultan, Abdul Aziz, was dethroned.\nThis prince soon afterward died, possibly by suicide, though ugly\nrumours were heard. When Murad, the incompetent, was also deposed\nMidhat had a hand in the affair. On the accession of Abdul Hamid he was\nagain made Grand Vizier, and secured the promulgation of the famous\nTurkish constitution of 1876, against the will of the sultan.\n\nWhen Abdul Hamid felt himself firm in his seat in 1877, he banished\nMidhat, but recalled him the next year, and made him governor-general,\nfirst of Syria and then of Smyrna. The constitution was practically\nabrogated by this time. Then without warning he was arrested in May,\n1881, charged with being concerned in the murder of Abdul Aziz. He\nwith others was quickly tried by a special court, was found guilty and\ncondemned to death.\n\nThe sentence was changed to imprisonment for life, and the place of\nconfinement was fixed at Ta\u00eff, in Arabia, a small place south of\nMecca. There he and his companions who had received similar sentence,\nincluding a former Sheikh-ul-Islam, Hassan Ha\u00efroullah, were at first\nallowed the freedom of the castle. Their servants bought and cooked\ntheir food, and though the rude accommodations were somewhat trying to\nthe old men, conditions were endurable.\n\nA change in treatment was foreshadowed by a change in gaolers. The\nprivilege of buying food was taken away, and they were expected to\neat the coarse fare of the common soldier. They were forbidden to\ncommunicate with one another. For a time the faithful servant was\nrefused access to Midhat\u2019s person, though this order was afterward\nrevoked. Poison was discovered in the milk, and in a pot of food.\nThe servant was offered large sums to poison him, but the faithful\nattendant only redoubled his vigilance. Finally when hardship,\nseparation from family and friends, and dread of the future, seemed\nunable to destroy his life more primitive measures were taken. After\nenduring two years of such treatment he was strangled one morning while\nstill in bed, together with two of his friends. Such was the dread\ninspired by the sultan, that no one dared to inquire or to make public\nhis fate. A letter from his friend, the Sheikh-ul-Islam, to the family\nof Midhat was, however, published a few years ago and then the whole\ntruth became known.\n\nThe case of Midhat was not exceptional, except for his prominence in\nEuropean circles. The same fate has overtaken many others. Fishermen in\nthe Bosporus, every now and then, pulled up a sack in which a body was\nsewn, and those who reasoned might remember that it had been announced\nthat a one time favourite at the Court had set out on a journey to\nLondon or Paris, though somehow he had mysteriously failed to arrive.\n\nBut though Midhat Pasha and others who struggled to introduce Western\ninstitutions into the borders of the East died their work lived. One\nby one, those suspected of having advanced ideas were degraded. A man\nmight be Grand Vizier for a month or a week, or even for a day, and\nthen without warning, be dismissed in disgrace. The suspicious sultan\ntrusted no one. He set brother to watch brother, father to spy upon\nson, and then believed none of them, though he always guarded himself\nlest they might be telling the truth.\n\nParis received the larger number of those who fled from the clutches\nof Abdul the Damned. In the life of the French capital, some gave\nthemselves up to the manifold dissipations which that city offers\nfor her visitors. Others loosely organised, worked and watched for\nthat better day, when the Turk should no longer be a byword among\ncivilised peoples. A newspaper edited by Ahmed Riza was published and\nthousands of copies were smuggled into the dominions. Hundreds of\nthousands of pamphlets somehow passed the Turkish frontiers and found\nreaders, though their possession if discovered meant imprisonment and\ndegradation, but the \u201cYoung Turks\u201d were undismayed.\n\nInto the harems the new ideas crept. One read to the others during the\nlong days, and the forbidden books passed from hand to hand, and from\nhouse to house. Women high in rank, the daughters of court officials,\ncarried messages. Where a man seemed approachable on that side, some\nmember of his harem was converted, or else some woman was placed in his\nway, even sold to him, perhaps. Dozens of women sold into the harems\nof prominent men went as apostles of the new faith. Women deliberately\nsacrificed their reputations, since free association with men, unless\nsupposedly lovers, would have aroused suspicion.\n\nThe army became infected, the officers first. During 1907, the third\narmy corps in Macedonia became thoroughly permeated. Of course\nthe cruel autocrat knew something of all this, for his spies were\neverywhere, but he misjudged the extent. He had seen dissatisfaction\nand unrest before, and he had crushed them by sudden blows. Perhaps he\nwas tired, and less acute than he had been twenty years before. At any\nrate he waited too long before taking vigorous action.\n\nEarly in 1908 he ordered the higher officers of the army to quiet the\nunrest. A beloved officer raised the standard of revolt in Macedonia,\nand the soldiers refused to fire upon the rebels. The Committee of\nUnion and Progress, as the \u201cYoung Turk\u201d movement was called, assumed\ncharge of the revolt and demanded the restoration of the constitution,\nwhich the sultan refused. Agents were sent to enforce his commands, but\nthey were forced to flee for their lives, and officers not in sympathy\nwith the movement were threatened. Thoroughly alarmed by the defection\nof the army, the cowardly sultan pretended to yield and on July 24,\n1908, the constitution was restored.\n\nToo much perhaps was expected of the Parliament. The fanatical Moslem\nleaders spread rumours of every sort, and the sultan\u2019s agents were\neverywhere active, distilling doubt and suspicion into the soldiers\nand populace. In April, 1909, the garrison at Constantinople rose,\ndispersed the Parliament, and the wily sultan seemed again in control.\nThe army in Macedonia was still loyal to the new ideas, and was\npromptly mobilised. Within ten days Constantinople was again in control\nof the Young Turks.\n\nAbdul Hamid was evidently not to be trusted. The die was cast. His\ndeposition was voted by the reassembled Parliament, and his brother\nwho had long been a prisoner was placed on the throne, though the Young\nTurks, warned by their mishap, kept an effective veto on reaction in\nthe form of the army.\n\nBut the wily Abdul not only plotted to gain back his authority in\nEurope, but his agents fanned the flames of religious and racial hatred\nin Asia Minor. The Armenians were once a great nation, and though they\nhave long been ground beneath the heel of the oppressor, they still\ncherish the idea that another great Christian nation will arise in\nAsia. They saw hope in the new r\u00e9gime and began to speak more freely,\nto exhibit pictures of their old kings, and to buy arms.\n\nThe fierce Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Circassians looked upon the\npresumption of the \u201cChristian dogs\u201d with rage. Meanwhile agents of the\nMohammedan League were everywhere stirring passion to fever heat, and\non Tuesday, April 13, 1909, the conflict began in Adana, though not\nuntil the next day was the fighting general. For three days the contest\nraged, when soldiers appeared and a semblance of order was restored.\nSimilar scenes had taken place in Osmanieh, Hamedieh, while at Tarsus\nthe Armenians stood like sheep to be slain.\n\nOn Sunday, April 25th, the slaughter again broke out at Adana. This\ntime it was a massacre pure and simple, for the few Armenians who owned\nweapons had either fled, or else were almost without ammunition. Men,\nwomen, children were indiscriminately killed, houses were robbed and\nburned, until hardly a Christian home was left standing. Over the whole\ncountry fire and sword made a waste of what had been the home of a\nprosperous population. How many were killed can only be estimated. Some\nsay thirty thousand. No estimate is less than half that number.\n\nAn investigation was set on foot by Parliament after the instigator of\nthe massacre had been sent with eight of his wives to live a prisoner\nat Salonica. The commission reported that it had hanged fifteen\npersons--fifteen persons for slaying fifteen thousand.\n\nThough much reduced during later years, the Turkish empire still\nstretches over three continents and the islands of the sea. Though\npenal conditions around Constantinople are bad, where diverse races and\nreligions, far away from central control, must live together, trouble\nconstantly exists. The Turk has always been weak in administration, and\nit is in these provincial prisons that the chief horrors are seen.\n\nFor administrative purposes Turkey is divided into _vilayets_, which\nare subdivided into _sanjaks_ or _livas_, and these into _kazas_. Each\ndivision has its prison. That of the last named corresponds roughly to\nthe county gaol of the United States. In it accused persons awaiting\ntrial and prisoners sentenced to short terms are confined. Graver\ncrimes are punished by confinement in the prison of the _sanjak_ or\nthe _vilayet_. For special crimes and for certain kinds of political\noffences prisoners may be sent to Rhodes, Sinope, Tripoli and other\nsimilar points where old castles are usually the prisons.\n\nThere is no common form of prison. Generally they are old ugly\nbuildings, though in a few larger towns new and elegant structures have\ntaken their place. In only one particular are they alike--they are all\ndirty, and are generally damp and unhealthful, because of slovenly\nattention and overcrowding. The prisons are usually in charge of the\n_zaptiehs_, though special officers, chosen for the purpose control\nothers. Where these _gardiens_ have charge, matters are usually less\nbad than in the general run.\n\nPrisoners are expected to feed themselves. With the exception of\nalcoholic beverages, friends or relatives may send any articles of\nfood, or the prisoner may buy them from his own means. Even alcohol is\nsmuggled in by the connivance of the guards who are always willing to\naccept a bribe. Tobacco of course is considered a necessity. To the\nvery poor coarse bread is usually furnished, but the allowance for this\npurpose is often embezzled by the officials, and then the poor must\nlive upon the charity of their fellow prisoners.\n\nThe indiscriminate congregate system is still in vogue as in the\ndays of the Bagnio. A dozen, a score, or more, are assigned to one\nroom where they live and sleep. Sanitary arrangements are usually\nprimitive, if not outrageously bad, and the atmosphere is trying to a\nsensitive nose. There is no prison costume. A prisoner wears what he\nlikes, eats what he likes, and spends his time as he likes, within the\nlimits of the prison. There is no pretence of reform. The prisoners\nlive idle, useless lives. Though, according to law, a prisoner may work\nif he desires, in fact, work is not encouraged because of the disputes\nlikely to arise over the sale of his product, and hardly one per cent.\nis occupied.\n\nYet strange as it may appear at first glance, a great number are\nperfectly content. Leisure, food, tobacco are theirs and they wish\nlittle more. When two-thirds of the sentence has been served, it is the\ncustom to release the tractable prisoners. Many Turks however prefer\nlife in prison to life outside, and refuse to leave. It is a home where\nthey are free from care, exempt from taxes, and from military service.\nThey avoid thus all duties of citizenship and live like parasites upon\ntheir relatives or upon any property to which they have a claim.\n\nTheoretically all forms of physical punishment are forbidden, though in\nevery ancient prison the old fetters are preserved, rusted and stiff\nto be sure, but still painful. Where differences of race and religion\nbetween prisoner and keeper appear they are undoubtedly often used to\nmake harder the lot of the \u201cinfidel\u201d or of the suspected conspirator.\nWhile all charges of ill usage and torture made by Armenian, Jew, or\nGreek can not be sustained, there is a foundation of truth.\n\nSome of the handcuffs are of iron, while others are simply heavy blocks\nof wood with two grooves for the wrists. When the heavy blocks are\nnailed together, the arms are held in a most uncomfortable position,\nand the obstructed circulation may cause intense pain. The Reverend G.\nThoumaian, an Armenian clergyman, tells of wearing these handcuffs for\nfifteen hours on the journey from Marsovan to Chorum, and for five days\nthereafter.\n\nHe and his companion also wore iron collars, connected by chains, for\ntwenty-five days while in prison at Chorum. Fetters are also worn,\nconnected by chains, and where the guards are especially brutal or the\nprisoners are hated for any reason the latter may be chained to the\nwall by neck and feet, sometimes so closely that the irons cut into the\nflesh.\n\nAs is the case in Spain the convict warder flourishes in Turkey. To him\nis sometimes confided the other forms of torture. A prisoner from whom\na confession is desired may be taken to a lonely cell where the lash is\nplied until blood collects in a huge blister under the skin. This is\npunctured and intense pain results as the raw surface comes in contact\nwith the air. Worse tales than this are told--of prisoners hanged by\nthe feet from a beam during the beating, of naked prisoners thrust into\ncold cells and drenched with icy water, and even of the application of\nhot irons.\n\nFinally Mr. Thoumaian declares that to his own personal knowledge a\nsevere torture was applied to an acquaintance of his, a young graduate\nof Anatolia College. The young man\u2019s head was shaved, and on the bare\nskin in a sensitive spot was placed a nutshell filled with vermin. As\nthey began to struggle and tore deeper and deeper into the sensitive\nnerves, the torture was exquisite. Sometimes prisoners to whom\nthis test is applied lose all control of themselves and confess to\nparticipation in any plot no matter how incredible, caring only for the\nremoval of the horrible pain.\n\nThese accounts all deal with the last years of Abdul Hamid\u2019s reign,\nwhen the demand for \u201cfree Armenia\u201d was strong, when Macedonia was\nrestless, and when the loyalty of large part of the army was suspected.\nPrisoners charged with ordinary crimes lived much the same lives as the\ninmates of the Bagnio sixty years before, except perhaps that they were\nbetter fed in the later years. Since the accession of the new sultan,\nvigilance has been relaxed so far as politics are concerned. Whether\nthe leopard has really changed his spots, and the Turk has become\nhumane is a question that only the future can settle.\n\n\n[Transcriber\u2019s Note:\n\nInconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]","title":"Oriental Prisons: Prisons and Crime in India, the Andaman Islands, Burmah, China, Japan, Egypt, Turkey","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":65662}