During the first seven days after their departure the females of their respective families held no intercourse with those belonging to another gang, lest the victims intended for their own friends should fall into the power of the others. The Thugs, themselves, for the like period abstained from animal food, and even from their favouriteghee, and partook of no other food than fish,goor, anddal(a kind of pulse). Nor did they shave or allow their clothes to be washed, or indulge in alms'-giving—which, with personal abstinence, constitutes the Hindoo notion of practical religion. On the seventh day they had a grand feast, in which green vegetables of some kind made a prominent figure. If a victim, however, were obtained within these seven days of probation, all restraints were at once cancelled and abandoned. Should the expedition last nolonger than one year, they frequently denied themselves the taste of milk throughout, and likewise refrained from brushing their teeth. Any bad omens encountered prior to the second halt sufficed to break off the expedition; after that point they could be averted by expiatory rites. It was considered unfortunate to hear any one lamenting the dead as they started, or to meet an inhabitant of their own village, or an oil-vender, carpenter, potter, dancing-master, a maimed or lame person, a fakir (Mussulmaun religious mendicant) with a brown waist-band, or a jogee (Hindoo religious mendicant) with long interwoven hair. But it promised well to fall in with a fair in any other village than their own, or a corpse, or to see a party of female friends weeping round a bride as she left her parents' house to go to her husband's.
As a general rule, the different divisions of a gang used to encamp near each other at the various halting grounds, and were always in frequent communication with one another. No sooner had one of them fallen in with a party of travellers than the intelligence was conveyed to all the others, and every one was on the alert. Their leaders, travelling as merchants, gentlemen, soldiers, or peasants, usually succeeded by theirplausible manners in ingratiating themselves with the strangers. And there was nothing formidable or repulsive in their outward appearance. On the contrary, they are described as being mild and benevolent of aspect, and peculiarly courteous, gentle, and obliging. Unlike most of the natives of India, they travelled unarmed, with the exception of two or three who carried daggers. It was therefore an apparently reasonable request on their part to be allowed to proceed under the protection of those who made a grand display of their swords and spears and fire-arms.
This request being usually accorded, the united parties journeyed on together, chatting and prattling with the volubility and easy familiarity of orientals. Sometimes days would elapse before a favourable opportunity occurred. There is an instance mentioned of a gang having accompanied a family of eleven persons for twenty days, during which they had traversed upwards of 200 miles, and then murdered the whole of them, though the head of the family had only one arm, and ought therefore to have been spared. Another gang accomplished 160 miles in twelve days, in company with a party of sixty—men, women and a child—before they found an eligible occasion.They preferred committing murder in the evening, when the travellers would be seated on the ground, mingled with themselves, talking, smoking, singing, and playing the sitar. Where it could be done without suspicion, three Thugs were allotted to every victim. So soon as the fatal signal was given, one seized hold of his hands, the second grasped his legs and held him down, while the strangler tightened theroomalround his neck, and only relaxed the strain when life was extinct. Then the bearers of the daggers slashed the dead bodies, the grave-diggers quickly excavated a deep trench, the corpses were stripped and thrown in, the earth was hastily shovelled in and trampled down, and in an incredibly short space of time all traces were completely effaced of the terrible tragedy. When the ground was too hard to admit of a grave being dug, or any other cause intervened to prevent the burial, the bodies were flung into a ravine, or well, or water course, or concealed in the jungle. Not unfrequently it happened that no convenient opportunity was presented for murdering the travellers while seated. In this case, an experienced Thug would be sent forward to select abeyl, or suitable spot, on arriving at which, if the scouts reported a clear coast, the gang would close upon theirunsuspecting companions and speedily put them to death. It was more difficult when the travellers were mounted, though the fleetest charger could not avail to save his rider. A horseman was always attacked by three men; one walked at his horse's head, a second a little way in the rear, and a third by his side, pleasantly conversing with him until the signal was given, when he suddenly dragged him out of the saddle and, with the assistance of his comrade, strangled him before he could recover his self-possession. It was thought a subject for just pride when a Thug pulled a traveller from his horse and murdered him without aid. Such an exploit was a patent of nobility, and conferred credit upon the third and fourth generation. The Thugs, even as approvers, used to glory in the recollection of their past achievements, and spoke of them with as much animation as a sportsman exhibits in describing a good day's shooting or a capital run with the hounds. To avoid confusion, they would distinguish the grand murders by the number of victims they had killed. Thus, in the chaleesrooh, or forty-soul affair, thirty-one men, seven women and two girls were murdered by a collective force of 360 Thugs, who divided among themselves £1,700 worth of plunder. Afew days previously 160 of this gang had disposed of a party consisting of a widow, a slave-girl and twelve armed followers. The Sartrooh, or sixty-soul affair, is an excellent illustration of their ordinary mode of operations. The Thugs travelled with this numerous party, consisting of fifty-two men, seven women, and a Brahman boy, about four years old, for twenty days before they consummated their purpose. At Sehora they persuaded their companions to quit the high road and take one that led through the jungles. However, they patiently went on with them, gaining more and more upon their confidence, till they had come to Chittakote. "There," said one of them to Captain Sleeman, "we sent on people as usual to select a place for the murder, and they found one about five miles distant, in a very extensive jungle, without a human habitation for many miles on either side. We persuaded the party to set out soon after midnight; and as they went along, we managed to take our appointed places, two Thugs by every traveller, and the rest in parties of reserve at different intervals along the line, every two managing to keep the person they were appointed to kill, in conversation. On reaching the place chosen, the signal was given at several different places, beginningwith the rear party, and passing on to that in front; and all were seized and strangled except the boy. It was now near morning, and too late to admit of the bodies being securely buried; we made a temporary grave for them in the bed of the river, covered them over with sand, and went on with the boy and the booty to Chittakote, intending to send back a large party the next night and have the bodies securely buried. The rains had begun to set in, and after the murders it rained very heavily all the day. The party, however, went back, but found that the river had risen and washed away all the bodies, except two or three, which they found exposed, and pushed into the stream to follow the rest."
So recently as 1830 Bhowanee was believed to have saved her votaries the trouble of burying their victims. A gang after wandering about Loodhiana, Sirhind, and Umballah, came to Goolchutter, where they performed their ablutions in the sacred tank and rested three days. "Having then proceeded two miles towards Kurnal, they overtook two travellers from Mooltan on their way to Muttra, mounted on ponies. They were in appearance very poor." So poor, indeed, that it was judged they would not pay for the trouble of killing them, and they had nearlyescaped until a speculative Thug offered to give £10 for whatever might be found upon them. "Their death was accordingly determined on, and they were conducted by the Thugs to Turowlee where they rested in the Serai ('accommodation for man and beast'), and Cheyne Jemadar invited the poor wretches to partake of a repast." The travellers, being religious mendicants, had many anecdotes to tell of their adventures and travels, and pleasantly beguiled the early hours of darkness. Next morning they all set out together and had not gone very far before thejhirneewas given, and the mendicants ceased to beg and to breathe. But while their grave was being dug, the neighing of horses was heard coming along the road, which caused the Thugs to flee to a place of concealment, leaving the corpses on the ground. The horsemen passed on, and saw or suspected nothing. Then the Thugs came out from their hiding places, but lo! the bodies had disappeared—but not so their property which amounted to the value of several hundred pounds. It is true religious mendicants were exempted from strangulation, but this was clearly an exceptional case, for Bhowanee had positively commanded their death by sending favourable omens; she had, besides, rewarded her worshippers witha rich booty, and even disposed of the dead bodies, whose souls had gone straight to Paradise.
They were not, however, always equally fortunate. A gang once learnt from the spies that four travellers with property were trudging along the road towards Baroda. Instantly, twenty fine stout fellows set out after them, and after a long chase came up with the travellers and murdered them. "To the great disappointment and chagrin of us all," bewailed one of the gang, "no property was found upon them, for they turned out to be common stone-cutters, and their tools tied in bundles, which they carried over their shoulders, deceived the spies into the supposition that they were carrying treasure." At another time a gang fell in with two Ganges-water carriers, two tailors, and a woman, and next day they were joined by two very poor travellers, of whom they tried in vain to disembarrass themselves. They would start at night without awakening them, but somehow the otherswouldhear their preparations and insist upon accompanying them. The Thugs then appointed four of their brethren to detach these unconscious suicides from the rest of the party and keep them on the high road while the others struck off down a byepath. This device also failed, for they becamefrightened and could be satisfied with nothing less than a junction with the main body. Their obstinacy sealed their fate. Half a dozen of the Thugs went on with them in advance, and strangling them, found upon them only one rupee—worth about two shillings. The others soon shared the fate of the two poor travellers, but turned out a more profitable prize, as they yielded among them twenty pounds. A smaller sum, however, than one shilling will often times tempt a Hindoo to commit murder, even though he have nothing to do with Thuggee. What value the latter attached to life may be inferred from the testimony of one of themselves. "I have never strangled any one," said he, "but have aided in throwing bodies into wells. Eight annas (one shilling) is a very good remuneration for murdering a man. We often strangle a victim who is suspected of having two pice (one farthing)." But it seldom happened that a murder produced less than two pounds; the average being probably about fifteen pounds. It is almost comical to read that these dread beings were sometimes robbed at night by vulgar pilferers, though they usually set a watch. The same sort of retribution is observable in the fate of twenty-seven Dacoits, or gang-robbers, who had in their possession atthe time above £1,300 worth of money, gold ornaments, gems, and shawls. A gang of one hundred and twenty-five Thugs having met with them, begged to be allowed to travel under their protection. The Dacoits carelessly assented, and were shortly afterwards all put to death.
Eager as they were for booty the Thugs appear to have been courteous and forbearing towards one another, and equitable in the division of their spoils. Feringeea and twenty-six of his gang were one day cooking their dinners under some trees by the road-side when five travellers came bye, but could not be persuaded to stop and partake of their meal, saying they intended to sleep at Hirora that night, and they had yet eight miles to go. The Thugs followed after them, and also reached Hirora, but could discover no traces of the travellers. Feringeea, therefore, inferred that they must have fallen into the hands of another gang, and suddenly recollected having passed an encampment of Brinjarees (bullock-drivers) not far from the town. On the following morning he accordingly went back with a few of his comrades, and at once recognised a horse and a pony which he had observed in the possession of the travellers. "What have you done with the five travellers, my good friends?" hesaid. "You have taken from us ourmerchandize." They apologised for what they had done, pleading ignorance, and offered to share the booty; but this Feringeea declined, saying that he had no claim to a share, as none of his party was present at theloading.
The division of the spoils was regulated with great nicety. The leaders were usually entitled to every tenth article, and to one anna in the rupee (one sixteenth) of actual money, besides their share as individuals. If the gang consisted of twenty, including the Jemadar, the booty was divided into twenty-one equal parts, of which the Jemadar received two. Five per cent. was then set aside for the stranglers, and the rest divided into three equal heaps, corresponding to as many equal sections of the gang. Each section marked a cowree (a shell), and the three were put into a man's hand without his knowing to which either belonged, who then placed one on each pile. The sections afterwards divided among themselves each its own lot.
A feast was sometimes held in honour of Davee, in the course of an expedition. If the expenses were defrayed by subscription, as was most customary, it was called a Punchaetee Kotee, and was usually celebrated during theHooley or Dusserah festivals. Occasionally a single member provided the feast; but, to be entitled to do so, he must have been a strangler, or at least a Thug in the third generation. The feast was in this wise. Having procured some goats, of whom two must be perfectly black, without speck or blemish, and a sufficient quantity of rice,ghee, spices, and spirits, they assembled in a room the doors and windows of which could be closed, so as to prevent any prying eyes from seeing what was passing within. The floor being carefully swept and plastered with cow-dung, a square space, measuring a cubit each way, was drawn in the middle of the apartment, with a mixture of turmeric and lime. On this square was spread a clean white sheet, whereon was placed some boiled rice, and on the top of that the half of a cocoa-nut shell filled withghee, in which floated two cotton wicks lying across each other, so as to give four lights. If a cocoa-nut was not procurable, a vessel of the same form was shapened in dough. Upon the sheet were then laid the sacred pickaxe, the dagger of the gang (themisericorde), and the spirits. The two black goats were next washed and thoroughly wetted, and placed with their faces to the westward. If one, or both of themshook off the wet with lusty vigour, it was a sign that the sacrifice was acceptable; otherwise, the rice and spirits alone were consumed, and without any further ceremony. But in the former case, if Mahommedans, they chaunted a sort of grace as they cut the throats of the whole of the animals; if Hindoos, they struck off their heads at a blow. The skins, bones, and offal were thrown into a pit dug for the purpose. When every man's appetite was satiated, they washed their face and hands over the pit, and filled it up and levelled it with the ground. Should any profane eye witness any part of the preparations, or a spark fall on the sheet and burn a hole, or any animal touch the offal, the leader must expect to die within a year and all his companions would come to grief.
Besides the land Thugs there was a bold and skilful clan calling themselves Bungoos, or Pungoos, who practised the same vocation on the Hooghly river, going up as far as Benares or even Cawnpore, but chiefly infesting the Burdwan district. Their system and dialect differed considerably from those of their land brethren. Their leaders assumed the appearance of the proprietor or captain of a passenger boat, while some of his gang bent to the oars or towed thevessel along the bank, and the others, dressed as pilgrims or shopkeepers, took their seat on deck; these were the stranglers and their assistants. A few of the most plausible and insinuating members were employed asSothas, or inveiglers. These wandered on the roads leading to the various Ghauts, or landing places, and contrived to get into conversation with the travellers who seemed bound for the river. On arriving at the Ghaut they would see a clean tidy boat, already partially filled with passengers and ready to swing off. They naturally hastened on board, rejoicing at not being detained. The river Thugs always faced their victims, sitting in a row on one side of the deck opposite to them. So soon as an opportunity presented itself, the look-out man smote the deck three times with his hand. Then the helmsman gave thejhirnee, by exclaimingBhugna ko paun do, "give my sister's son some paun." Up sprang the pretended voyagers, and throwing theroomalround the neck of their victims pressed it tightly in front, bending their head backwards, while their assistants held their feet and hands. Though sometimes one Thug would almost suffice for the purpose, nine of them have been known to strangle seven men stronger than themselves, and twelve haveoverpowered ten. When the convulsive writhings had ceased, they made certainty doubly sure by breaking the backbone and violently kicking or punching their victims with their elbows. The bodies were then pushed into the river through a window made in either side of the boat, immediately above the water-mark. The greatest care was taken to avoid shedding any blood, which by discolouring the stream might lead to suspicion and detection. If a drop were spilt, they returned home and offered up expiatory sacrifices. Women were invariably permitted to escape, and all property of a suspicious character was at once destroyed. Their proceedings, however, were no secret to the river police, whose silence was secured by rich presents. Their very existence was thus kept from the knowledge of the European magistrates until the year 1836, but in little more than twelve months afterwards 161 of the miscreants had been arrested, and the names obtained of thirty-eight others. There were usually about fourteen to each boat, and there were eighteen boats regularly occupied in this dreadful business, besides several engaged for occasional service. The hot and wet seasons were deemed equally unfavourable, as few travellers were then abroad; the most productive months being November,December, January, and February. A party of river Thugs, occupying two boats, contrived to become acquainted with theManjee, or commander of a boat laden with tobacco and hemp, and persuaded him and his crew to stop with them at achur, or sand-bank, and cook their dinners together. After the repast the Thug leader asked the others to join his party in fulfilling a vow he had made to the god Hurry Sote. So they all sang the song of Hurry Sote, when the leader suddenly exclaimed, "Now, Hurry, give us our plunder!" Five Thugs instantly leaped on the throats of the Manjee and his crew, threw them back upon the sand and strangled them. Then their comrades fell upon the lifeless corpses, broke their backbones, punched them on the ribs with their fists and elbows, and dragging them into the deep running water let them float down the stream.
Perhaps a better idea than has yet been given of the nature and extent of Thuggee, may be derived from Captain Sleeman's Official Report of an Expedition into Malwa, Guzerat, Kandeish, and Berar, by gangs from Gwalior, Bundlecund, and the Saugor districts, in 1827-28. The leader was our old friend Feringeea, who started from Gorha with twenty-five Thugs and proceededto Moghul ka Serai, where he fell in with two Mahrattas. These were put to death about three miles further on. Arriving at Tuppa, in Indore, the gang was then joined by eleven more Thugs, who all went on together to Raghooghur, where they met two Mahrattas and a Marwaree on their way from Saugor to Indore. Here Soper Sing and fifteen Thugs came up with them, escorting a bird-catcher and two shopkeepers journeying from Indore to Patna. All six were strangled in the night and buried in one grave. Next morning Feringeea's party, with five of Soper Sing's crossed the Nerbudda at the Puglana Ghaut, and at Samneer murdered three Sipahees, in search of service, at mid-day, and left their bodies by the road side. The next stage was Kurajgow Kuringee, whence they accompanied a traveller, who was going towards the south, for sixteen miles, where they killed him and buried his corpse beneath the walls of a small Hindoo temple. Thence they passed through Omrowtee to Larun Kurnajee, and in their camp in a grove killed a traveller whom they had brought on with them from Bam; and also a thief found skulking among some tombs, who had one hundred and ten pounds worth of stolen goods in his possession. At Busumtheir numbers were swelled by a reinforcement of fifty Thugs under four leaders. Going on together in one body they encamped near Nandair, and there murdered five travellers. Some of the new arrivals having again left them, the others held on to Rovegow, where they overtook nine persons, whom they accompanied about three miles and strangled just before daybreak. At Hyderabad they lodged near the bridge over the Hoosa Nuddee, where they killed and buried a Brahman and two Rajpoots with whom they had scraped an acquaintance in the Bhegan Bazar. Wandering on to Gungakhera they fell in with three Marwarees, whom they escorted a stage on the Holwa road. One of the travellers being accidentally thrown from his horse, was instantly strangled, and his companions of course shared the same fate. As they had not reached the appointedBeyl, they left the bodies upon the ground, a prey to jackals and carnivorous birds. Their next encampment was at Purureea, in Holwa, where they murdered a Soobahdar (native commissioned officer), five sepoys, and a woman. At Doregow they met three Pundits and with them a Byragee (Hindoo ascetic), mounted on a pony, plastered over with sugar and covered with flies. Driving away themendicant, they killed and buried the Pundits. On leaving Doregow the Byragee again joined them and went on in their company to Raojana, where they overtook six cloth-merchants travelling from Bombay to Nagpore. As the mendicant was much in their way, they pelted him with stones, and having thus got rid of him they killed the merchants, burying their bodies in the grove. The next day the Byragee again joined them and proceeded with them to Mana, where they fell in with two bearers and a sepoy. Shaking off their troublesome companion, they hastened on to the spot selected for the contemplated murder, where the mendicant once more came up with them. Their patience being exhausted, they offered one of the gang ten shillings extra to kill him and take the sin upon himself. All four were then strangled, and, to their astonishment, the Byragee proved the most valuable prize of all; for upon him and his pony they found many pounds weight of coral, 350 strings of small pearls, fifteen strings of large pearls, and a gilded necklace. Soon after they arrived at Omrowtee, between which and Nadgow they got hold of two men, whom they murdered at their encampment. They were treasure bearers and had with them £400 worth of silver. These are a peculiar classof men, excessively poor, but famed for their honesty. They were never known to betray their trust, and would rather yield their life than surrender their charge. They bore no weapons, chiefly relying on the poverty of their garb and external appearance. The Bombay and Surat merchants used to employ them in conveying specie through Kandeish and Surat to Indore and Rajpootana, and they generally succeeded in escaping the notice of mere marauders; but it was a different thing with the Thugs who took life officially and professionally, content with a farthing but oftener reaping a fruitful harvest.
From Nadgow the band proceeded to Kuragow, and soon afterwards in passing through a small dry ravine fell in with four men driving two bullocks laden with copper pice. The men were instantly put to death, and their bodies slightly covered with stones and rubbish. After this affair two of their leaders with their respective followers returned home, while the others strolled onwards through Burhanpore to Indore, where they received an accession of strength by the junction of three leaders with sixty Thugs.
Three Marwarees being here inveigled into a house occupied by a part of the gang, never again went forth into the road. They remained atIndore a whole day, but were not idle, for Feringeea prevailed upon four more Marwarees to accompany him to the encampment of the remainder of the gang, and they likewise were dismissed to Hades. Soon after leaving Indore they fell in with four travellers, whom they murdered in camp that evening. Feringeea's party then diverged from the main body and passed through Saugor to Chutterpore, where intelligence was received that a body of armed men were in pursuit of them. They, therefore, doubled back and came to Kondee, a short distance from which they murdered two travellers. At Raghooghur they were reinforced by twelve of their fraternity, and on the following day by thirty more under Sheikh Inaent: and at Dubohee, near Bhilsa, they were joined by two more leaders with twenty Thugs. Here they murdered two sepoys. After this affair fifty of them under Sheik Inaent went on to Baroda, where they all fell sick and were glad to return to Bheelpore. Their convalescence was celebrated by the murder of two Bearers. Encouraged by this success they journeyed to Oodeypore in the Dhar Pergunnah. Three sepoys and another man were strangled next morning about two miles from the town. A little further on they overtook an elephant driver, in theservice of the Oodeypore Rajah, and him they murdered at night at a village called Amjhera. Passing through Mhow, to a village on the side of Raghooghur, they fell in with three Bearers, whom they strangled next morning. They then held on through Ashta till they encountered a Havildar (non-commissioned native officer), a sepoy, and another, of whom they disposed the following morning. Shortly afterwards a large portion of this gang returned home, whereon the Sheikh went off and rejoined Feringeea. Their junction had scarcely been effected before it was announced that the police were close upon their track. Many more of the Thugs then started off homewards, and others retreated to a stream near Peepala, where, notwithstanding their fears, they made away with two sepoys, another man, and a woman.
A village called Jhundawala was the scene of their next exploit—a Bearer their next victim. After that they came to Tuppa, and, as they were setting out next morning, were joined by a Havildar, a sepoy, and two women, whom they murdered on the following day. Arriving at Kenjarra they strangled two more sepoys, and four more a few days afterwards. The gang then broke up, and Feringeea returned to hishome in Tehree. Since he last parted from his wife, unconscious of his crimes, he had been an accomplice in the murder of one hundred men and five women. Let not this appalling number appear incredible. In the kingdom of Oude, a fair sample of native government, there were 1406 miles of road infested by Thugs, and no fewer than two hundred and seventy-fourBeyls, or sites of murder; that is, one in every five miles and a half. Twenty Thugs, admitted as Approvers, acknowledged that they were present, respectively, at 508, 931, 350, 377, 604, 119, 42, 103, 264, 203, 195, 294, 117, 322, 340, 28, 65, 81, 153, and twenty-four murders, the least experienced having witnessed twenty-four murders, and the most 931—thus giving an average of 256 murders to each of the twenty. The same Beyl was not unfrequently the scene of several murders. Captain Sleeman mentions a striking instance of this. When Feringeea was first brought before him a prisoner, in December 1830, he offered, if his life were spared, to give information that would lead to the arrest of some large gangs who had appointed to rendezvous at Jyepore in the following February. Some incredulity as to his power to do so having been expressed, he begged to be allowed to accompany the "Sahib"a short distance on his official tour of inspection, when he would afford ample evidence as to his knowledge of Thuggee. He promised no more than he was able to perform. Two stages from Saugor on the road to Seronge, Captain Sleeman encamped for the night in a small mango grove near the village of Selohda. At an early hour of the next morning Feringeea desired to see him, and pointing to three different spots declared they were so many graves. "A Pundit and six attendants, murdered in 1818, lay among the ropes of my sleeping tent, a Havildar and four Sipahees murdered in 1824, lay under my horses, and four Brahman carriers of Ganges-water and a woman, murdered soon after the Pundit, lay within my sleeping-tent. The sward had grown over the whole, and not the slightest sign of its ever having been broken was to be seen." All night long Mrs. Sleeman had tossed about in her sleep, tormented by horrible dreams, probably engendered by the foul air arising from so many graves—certainly not caused by the spirits of the departed, and, perhaps, many a ghost story may owe its origin to some similar cause. Still doubting, Captain Sleeman sent for the police and a posse of villagers, who after digging down about five feet came upon the skeletons of theHavildar and his comrades, and afterwards the others were discovered in succession. Feringeea then proposed to discover other graves in the neighbouring groves, but Captain Sleeman could stand no more of such horrors for that morning. It transpired that the Pundit's horse had been presented to the proprietor of the village, in which some of the gang actually resided, and that the others came thither every year and stopped some time "feasting, carousing and murdering," and yet neither the police nor the inhabitants appeared to have the slightest suspicion of the real nature of their pursuits. It must be remembered that they never murdered any but strangers and wayfarers, and that the villagers and their property would be perfectly secure. It would be an excess of charity, however, to suppose that the Zemindar had not a shrewd guess as to the means by which his horse was obtained. During the three years, 1822 to 1824, both inclusive, that Captain Sleeman was magistrate of the Nursingpore district in the Nerbuddah valley, and—as he imagined—cognizant of every crime and every bad character within its limits, he was perfectly unconscious that there was a Thug village only 400 yards from the Court-house, and that only a few miles distant the groves of Mundaisur contained fullyone hundred dead bodies. These groves were a favourite place of rendezvous for gangs coming from Upper India and from the Deccan, with the connivance and under the protection of two respectable landholders, descendants of the pious individuals who had planted those trees to shelter the unhoused wanderer.
The destruction of life and property since the commencement even of the present century must have been enormous. It is known that in 1826-27, two hundred and five men and six women were murdered by different gangs in Malwah and Rajpootana. In 1827-28, three hundred and sixty-four males and twenty-one females were strangled in Kandeish, Berar, and Guzerat. In 1828-29, two hundred and twenty-six men and six women were thus disposed of in Malwah and Kandeish. In 1829-30, ninety-four men, four women, and a child perished in Baroda and Bundlecund. In 1830-31 the Bundlecund gangs destroyed fifty-seven males and one female. In 1830-31-32, one hundred and seventy males and five females were murdered in Rajpootana and Guzerat. And in 1832-33, forty-one males were strangled in the Gwalior district alone. It has been estimated that on an average more than ten distinct cases of murder occurred in every expedition, and thatevery Thug went upon at least ten expeditions, which would assign to each a guilty complicity in fully one hundred murders. The amount of property of which they despoiled the public must also have been very great, and occasionally individual prizes were of no trivial value. Thus in 1826 a party of fourteen were murdered by a gang of one hundred and fifty Thugs, and a booty secured worth £2,500. In 1827, seven men were murdered by three hundred and fifty Thugs, and robbed of £2,200. In 1828, the murder of nine persons by a gang of one hundred and twenty-five yielded £4,000; and in 1829, that of six persons produced £8,200, to be divided between one hundred and fifty Thugs.
It must seem incredible, but it is nevertheless the simple fact, that this terrible system of murder flourished for nearly two centuries under those native governments of whose excellence so much has been said in certain quarters. The division of the vast peninsula into many separate, independent, and jealous states, no doubt, encouraged the perpetration of crime by facilitating escape and rendering detection and apprehension almost impossible. So long as their own subjects or tenants were not molested, neither princes nor landed proprietors considered themselvesbound to interfere with an institution of which they entertained a mysterious dread, and whence they derived goodly gifts and a handsome revenue. Superstition and cupidity were powerful allies in favour of the Thugs, who, besides, in their palmy days, exhibited admirable prudence and tact in avoiding whatever might be offensive to their patrons and injurious to themselves. They were especially careful not to touch any European, for they well knew that from such they were more likely to receive lead than gold, and that search would be made for the missing man; nor, indeed, was the like facility afforded for familiarity, owing, in a great measure, as Fuseli would say, to "de d—d ignorance of de language." All tell-tale property they quickly destroyed, and never committed a murder near home, or where they were known; nor after a murder did they ever proceed in the direction whence their victims had come, lest they should be betrayed by a horse, a bullock, or an ass, being anywhere recognised. The native custom of sending remittances in the form of jewels and precious metals without any armed escort, and of carrying considerable sums upon the person, increased the temptation of doing honour to Bhowanee. The vast population, too, was always in motion. Parties oftravellers, or lonely wanderers, on foot, or on horseback, streamed along the roads and bye-paths, reposing in the intense heat of the day or during the moonless hours of the night beneath the hospitable shade of a grove of mangoes and other stately trees, or around the well that owed its origin to pious vanity. And the very terror felt for their unknown enemies made the travellers an easier prey, for in seeking to avoid the danger, they frequently ran into it by inviting the company of the mild, cheerful and intelligent companions, who were ever ready to converse with them, to walk with them, and—to murder them. Their existence was first known to the English in 1799, after the fall of Seringapatam, when a hundred Phanseegars, or Thugs, were taken prisoners at Bangalore, though even then they were not suspected of pursuing an hereditary profession. The first regular information concerning their habits was not obtained until 1807, when a gang of them was arrested between Chittore and Arcot. It had frequently been remarked, indeed, that very many sepoys never returned to their regiments on the expiration of their leave of absence, and they were struck off the rolls as deserters. But when the true cause of their absence was discovered, the Commander-in-Chief,Major-General St. Leger, issued a general order in 1810, warning the native troops against associating with chance companions on the road, and advising them to send their money to their homes by means ofhoondees, or bills, and not to travel by night. The evil, however, was of too monstrous a growth to be thus easily checked. And there was likewise great difficulty experienced in bringing home any particular crime, even when the perpetrators happened to be in custody. The merchants and bankers whose property had been stolen were reluctant to appear in court to give evidence: it was looked upon as somewhat of an indignity, and the cautious delays of English jurisprudence caused a waste of time they could ill endure. Their money was gone, and there was an end of it. It was predestined that it should go in that manner. The thieves were merely instruments working out the will of Providence. Against them they bore no malice or vindictive feeling. Even the relatives of murdered men refused to come forward until they obtained a promise that they should not be summoned to appear in a distant court. And in the majority of cases it was impossible to ascertain who were the murdered persons, or whence they came. A few isolated cases of conviction did, indeed,occur, as in 1823, when Mr. Molony arrested a gang of 115 in the valley of the Nerbudda, and convicted the whole of them; and again in 1826, when a large gang was arrested in the same valley by Major Wardlaw, and their guilt proven. But these exceptions rather tended to make the Thugs more cautious than to induce them to relinquish their ancestral vocation. It was not until 1829-30 that the task of suppression was fairly commenced. The honour of the initiative was reserved for Lord William Bentinck, who passed certain acts rendering Thuggee the object of a special judicature, and giving a wider discretion to the officers employed in its suppression. His lordship was fortunate in his selection of the special officers. It is needless to do more than mention the names of the late Major General, then Captain, Sleeman, Major, now Colonel, Borthwick, Colonel Stewart, Captain Patton, Captain Malcolm, Captain G. Hollings, and Mr. F. C. Smith. The best proof of the ability and energy displayed by these gentlemen is the fact that by the year 1840 the committals amounted to 3,689. Of this number, 466 were hanged, 1,504 transported, 933 imprisoned for life, 81 confined for different periods, 86 called upon to give ample security for their future goodconduct, 97 acquitted, and 56 admitted as approvers: 12 effected their escape, and 208 died a natural death before sentence was passed. The approvers were not absolutely pardoned, or even released from custody. Sentence was passed upon them in the usual manner, but respited as long as they showed signs of repentance and reformation. The utmost caution was used in sifting their evidence and in confronting them with the accused, but their testimony was so clear and so thoroughly substantiated that no reasonable man could entertain the slightest doubt as to their veracity. So complete was the success of the measures now adopted that on the 17th of August, 1840, Hoossain Dost Khan, a powerful Talooqdar (baronial lord) in the Nizam's dominions, previously an avowed opponent of the British, wrote a letter to Captain Malcolm, from which the following is an extract:—"Seeing that the best arrangements have been made in this matter, the whole of the inhabitants of the country, and travellers, have been emancipated from the fear of Thugs; day and night they raise their hands in prayer to state that in the days of kings bygone no such peace and comfort existed. Thanks to Almighty God, the power of conferring this great boon, a source of great renownhas been reserved for you from the beginning of the world, in order that this matter should be so arranged. Where are the murdered men? How can there be any, when you do not even hear the slightest allusion to Thugs? The whole world are giving thanks for this." It must be confessed, however, that there was some slight exaggeration in the worthy Talooqdar's congratulations, for in the course of the next seven years 531 more Thugs were apprehended and committed for trial. Of these, 33 were hanged, 174 transported, 267 imprisoned for life and 27 for shorter periods, 5 called upon to put in bail, 125 acquitted, and 46 admitted as approvers: besides 11 who died, and 2 who made their escape. It was no easy matter to prevent the last contingency, so great was their patience and ingenuity. Towards the close of 1834, twenty-seven prisoners escaped from the Jubbulpore gaol, by cutting through their irons and the bars of their windows, with thread smeared with oil and then incrusted with finely-powdered stone. In 1848 also there were 120 committed, of whom 5 were hanged, 24 transported, 11 imprisoned for life and 31 for a limited period, 7 required to find substantial bail, 12 acquitted, and 9 admitted as approvers: 2 died, and 10 remained under trial. Since thatyear Thuggee appears to have quite died out. In 1853, indeed, some cases occurred in the Punjaub, but vigorous measures being at once adopted, under the superintendence of Captain Sleeman, whose happy lot it was to complete the good work inaugurated by his distinguished father, its final suppression was almost coincident with its revival.
The question that next presented itself for the anxious consideration of the Government was the means of providing for the families of the approvers. If left to their own devices, or the suggestions of want, there was too much reason to apprehend that the elder members, who had already witnessed the taking of human life, might be tempted to revert to the practices of their forefathers. Accordingly, in the year 1838, on the recommendation of Captain Charles Brown, a School of Industry was founded at Jubbulpore, for the purpose of teaching the sons of the approvers a trade or craft by which they might earn an honest livelihood. At first their parents were opposed to the idea, but soon joyfully acquiesced when they came to understand the benevolent motives of the Government. For a time the old Thugs continued to speak with animation of their past achievements, but,gradually weaned from their former habits and associations, they learned to look back with shame upon their antecedents and studiously avoided any further allusion to them. By the end of 1847 the school possessed 850 inmates, of whom 307 were employed as guards, brickmakers, builders, cleaners, &c., &c.; while the remaining 543 applied their superior ingenuity to the manufacture of lac dye, sealing-wax, blankets,satringees(a sort of strong drugget), fine cloth for trousers,dhotees, or body cloths,newartape of sorts, cotton wicks, stockings, gloves, towels, tents, and carpeting. In that year the product of their labour amounted to 131 tents, 3324 yards of Kidderminster carpeting, forty-six woollen carpets, and a vast quantity of towels, tablecloths, plaids, checks, &c., which realised upwards of £3,500. Of this sum £500 were given to the Thugs as an encouragement, and to form a capital for such as were allowed after a time to establish themselves in Jubbulpore on their own account. And nearly £300 were paid to their wives for spinning thread for the factory. Much of the success of this institution has no doubt been due to the excellent and judicious superintendence of Mr. Williams, formerly a patrol of the Delhi Customs.
Let British supremacy in India cease when it will, the suppression of Thuggee will ever remain a glorious monument to the zeal, energy, and judgment of the civil and military servants of the East India Company. It is easy to direct epigram and innuendo against the idea of a body of merchants ruling a vast empire with enlightened and disinterested beneficence. But the impartial student of Anglo-Indian history can readily adduce many such examples as the preceding—for instance, the suppression of Suttee, human sacrifices, and infanticide; the repression of torture, gang robberies, and voluntary mutilation—in order to prove that these merchants were truly princes, these traffickers the honourable of the earth.
The Tusma-Baz Thugs were the fruit of European civilization grafted on the Asiatic stock. At the commencement of the present century one Creagh, a private in an English regiment stationed at Cawnpore, initiated three natives of low degree into the mysteries of an art, formerly practised by thimble-riggers in this country, and known as "pricking the garter." The game, designated Tusma-bazee by his Hindoo disciples, was played in this manner:—a strap being doubled into many folds, the bystanders were requested to insert a stick where the first double took place, which it was impossible to do without the consent of the juggler. Creagh's three apostles speedily became the leaders of as many schools or gangs, numbering in the year 1848, when they were brought to justice, about fifty persons, chiefly residing in the outskirts of Cawnpore. They had long been known to the police authorities as professional gamblers, and had more than once been either punished for that offence or required to furnishsecurity for their good behaviour. It was not their custom, however, to confine their depredations to their native town. On the contrary, they travelled to a considerable distance to the westward, preferring those districts which still remained under the misrule of petty independent princes. Their first proceeding was to conciliate the police, which was usually effected by the promise of one-fourth of their profits. Having thus provided against all chance of molestation, they would meet as strangers, and accidentally, near some well frequented spot, and gradually begin to play. By degrees a crowd gathered around them, and some one or another was certain to be tempted to try his fortune. At first he was, of course, allowed to win, but it rarely happened that he finally escaped being fleeced of his last coin. The leader received a double share of the plunder, in consideration of the risk and expence he incurred in maintaining his followers until a sufficient booty had been secured to render them independent. If any one of the gang was arrested, it was the leader's duty to use every means in his power to release him, and for every rupee he expended for this purpose he was allowed two pice interest. The balance, after deducting the captain's share wasequally divided among the rest, and was generally squandered in drinking and gambling among themselves. It was, however, a light and lucrative profession, and they frequently remitted considerable sums of money to their families. But they did not solely rely on their superior sleight of hand. When the opportunity was favourable they did not scruple to add murder to robbery. Their ordinary plan seems to have been by means of medicated sweetmeats, or sugar, hospitably pressed upon the unwary who ventured to test their skill in play. The drug mostly used was expressed from the seed of thedaturaplant, a powerful and dangerous narcotic. To call them Thugs was evidently a misnomer, for they had none of the observances of that ancient fraternity, nor did they lay any claim to religious motives. They were simply organized bands of vagrants of the most worthless characters, who preferred fraud to labour and murder to industry. Their detection would have taken place at a much earlier period, had not the police been bribed to connive at their proceedings. It is almost superfluous to remark that their practices were no sooner discovered by the European magistrates than their occupation was gone, and themselves severely punished.
In India, under its native rulers, murder and robbery were hereditary professions. The Thugs, or hereditary murderers, have been completely put down; but the work of suppression has not yet been equally successful with regard to the hereditary robbers, as they ever found a ready harbour of refuge in the waste lands of the late kingdom of Oude, and, indeed, in every independent state. They usually lived in colonies, in the midst of wild jungles, difficult of access. With incredible rapidity they would sweep down on some distant town or village, plunder some house previously selected for the purpose, and before any pursuit could be organized they were far advanced on their homeward journey. To avert suspicion they assumed various disguises with admirable adaptability. North of the Jumna they generally travelled as holy-water carriers, because long files of that class of men were continually traversing the roads of that district. But to the south of the Jumna they appeared asBrinjaras, or drivers of laden bullocks, or as pilgrims journeying to some sacred shrine, or as sorrowing relatives conveying the bones of the departed to the banks of the Ganges; or as the friends of a bridegroom going to fetch home his bride. In the funeral processions to the "holy Gunga," men's bones were borne in red, those of women in white bags, neither of which were ever allowed to touch the earth, but at their halting grounds were suspended from the apex of a triangle formed by three short poles or staves. These were afterwards useful to the Dacoits as handles for the spear-heads which they carried in their waist-bands. Instead of the bones of their parents they contented themselves with those of inferior animals, wild or domestic. The chief advantage of this disguise was that such mourners were every where treated with the utmost respect, and never subjected to inconvenient inquiries as to whence they came or whither they were going. In Central India a more successful mummery was to assume the garb and appearance of Alukramies, a peculiar class of pilgrims, who travelled in small parties accompanying a high-priest—personated by the leader of the gang. "They had four or five tents, some of white and some of dyed cloth, and two or three pairs of Nakaras, orkettle-drums, and trumpets, with a great number of buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep, and ponies. Some were clothed, but the bodies of the greater part were covered with nothing but ashes, paint, and a small cloth waist-band. Those who had long hair went bare-headed, and those who had nothing but short hair wore a piece of cloth round the head." The pretended Alukramies always took the precaution of hiring the services of half a dozen genuine Byragees, or ascetics, whom they put forward in difficult emergencies. They would often stop for days together in one place, awaiting favourable tidings from the scouts they sent out in all directions. On arriving at a village the drums were beat and the trumpets sounded to announce their approach, and some of the party were sent in, with silver sticks, in the name of the high-priest to bring the headman to pay his respects and offer the established Nuzzurana of 1¼ rupee (two shillings and sixpence). If this offering were not punctually and promptly made, double the amount was exacted on the following day, and he must have been a bold man who would venture, by a refusal, to incur the displeasure of the gods. The landholder, or proprietor of the village, was also expected to furnish, gratuitously, a sufficient number of mento carry the tents, flags, drums, and trumpets of these pious cormorants, whose demands, however, were usually complied with without a murmur. They were distinguished from other wandering mendicants by "a large red flag upon a long pole, with the figure of Hunooman, or the Sun and Moon, embroidered upon it. On one occasion they (the Dacoits) prevailed upon Cheytun Das, a celebrated Byragee of Hindoon in Jyepore, then eighty years of age, to enact the high priest, and he was accompanied by his chief disciple, or son, Gunga Das."
There were various clans, or colonies, of Dacoits. The Budhuks lived in the Oude Teraie, or belt of forest land lying along the foot of the Nepaul hills, whence they made frequent incursions into the British territory, especially to the eastward in the direction of Goruckpore. They were men of low caste, and would eat anything but bullocks, cows, buffaloes, snakes, foxes, and lizards. Agricultural employments they abhorred as too toilsome. According to a familiar proverb, "once a Budhuk, always a Budhuk, and all Budhuks are Dacoits." Their leaders were almost invariably men of good descent: some of them affected to trace back their ancestors for twenty generations, and adduced their long impunity as a proof that they were predestined to be whatthey were, and that, consequently they could never be anything else. "The tiger's offspring," they would say, "are tigers—the young Budhuks become Dacoits." In their palmy days they were able to maintain ten or a dozen wives, but when misfortunes came upon them they were compelled to reduce the pleasing burden to four or five. And they were not altogether a burden, for each wife received in the division of spoil a sum equal to two-thirds of her husband's share. A penitent Budhuk once made the logical, but ungallant remark, that it was the women who ought to be transported, for then no more Budhuks would be born into the world. Nevertheless, in times of trouble the old women were not without their use. They would then assume the semblance of extreme poverty, and, mounted on wretched ponies, would travel many a long weary mile to the place where their relatives were confined, and by judicious presents to the native officers in authority, generally succeeded in mitigating the lot, if they failed to accomplish the release, of the prisoners. In this labour of love they not unfrequently expended between one and two hundred pounds. There were also Budhuks by adoption, but these were never allowed to eat with the hereditary robbers, though they might smoke thesame hookah. As a matter of choice they preferred to avoid bloodshed, but in self-defence, or to secure the success of their attack they never scrupled either to wound or to slay outright. Shoojah-ood-Dowlah, Nawab of Oude, once attempted to direct their love of enterprise into an honorable channel by enrolling 1,200 of them into a corps, commanded by their own leaders. But their depredations became so intolerable that they acquired the appropriate epithet of the "Wolf Regiment," and as they were continually mutinying they were soon afterwards disbanded. A brief narrative of a few cases of Dacoitee committed by the Budhuks will give the best idea of the system they pursued.
In the early part of 1818 a powerful gang started from Khyradee in Oude with the intention of cutting off a treasure, escorted by sixty armed police, on the way from Benares to the westward. They disguised themselves as bird-catchers and took with them "falcons and hawks of all kinds, well trained, also mynas, parrots, and other kinds of speaking and mocking birds." They had also a boat prepared to convey them across the river. Having learnt from their scouts that the treasure would be lodged on a particular night in the Chobee-ka-Serai betweenAllahabad and Cawnpore, they fitted handles to their axes and spear-heads, and made some rude ladders by means of which, about two hours after dark, they scaled the wall of the Serai. "A guard which had been told off for the purpose broke open the gate from the inside and stood over it to prevent any attack from without, or escape from within, while the rest attacked the escort and secured the treasure." In this spirited affair the Dacoits killed eight and wounded seventeen of the police, carried off £7,600 in specie, and made their escape without the loss of a single man.
In April of the same year the Governor of Bharaitch forwarded to the General Treasury at Lucknow the sum of £2,600 in silver and £600 in gold mohurs, in two carts, escorted by thirty soldiers of the royal army. It was lodged, for one night, outside the gate of a small fort, two loaded guns commanding the only approach. A noted leader, named Naeka, with a gang of eighty Dacoits undertook to cut out the prize. First of all, he divided his followers into three parties. One division of twenty men rushed upon the guns and spiked them. A second, of equal force, fastened the gate of the fort with a strong chain to prevent the garrisonfrom sallying forth; while the others boldly attacked the guard and killed four of them—two of their own party, however, being wounded. As they were returning in hot haste to their homes they were themselves assailed by two large land owners, who took from them £2,000 in rupees and the whole of the gold. They in their turn fell into the hands of the king's troops—Naeka and sixty of his associates being also apprehended. After six years' detention in the Seetapore gaol they were all released, the landowners paying a fine of £2,000 in addition to their booty, and the Dacoits a further sum of £1,000.
Fortune, certainly, did not always smile upon them, notwithstanding her proverbial partiality for the brave. Two gangs having united one day in May, 1819, attacked the house of Sah Beharee Lall, a rich banker, residing in the heart of Lucknow, the capital city of Oude. At first all went well with them, and they carried off upwards of £4,000 into a jungle not far from Khyrabad. A dispute then arose among the leaders respecting the division of the plunder, and one of them, thinking himself unjustly treated, rode off to Lucknow and gave information that led to the apprehension of two hundred men,women, and children. A long and tedious imprisonment awaited them, until in despair they rose upon their guard, in 1834, and seventy of them effected their escape, leaving five of their comrades on the ground, two of them being killed upon the spot. The others were released in 1839.
The boldness and suddenness of their onset usually assured their success. One evening in the month of February, 1822, a party of men, carrying canes in their hands, and about forty in number, were observed hurrying along in a loose straggling manner towards the military station of Nursingpore. On reaching the rivulet that separates the town from the cantonments they were challenged by the sentry—for a picket of soldiers was always posted on the bank, under a native officer. Carelessly answering that they were cowherds and that their cattle were coming on after them, they proceeded without molestation up the principal street, but suddenly halted in front of a shop of some pretensions. Striking their torches against pots containing combustible matter, with which they had previously provided themselves, they were instantly surrounded with a blaze of light. Already bewildered, the bystanders were terrified into silence by a few rapidthrusts of the spears, into which the canes had been instantaneously transformed. The house was rifled as if by magic, ten or a dozen persons were killed or wounded, and in a quarter of an hour from their entrance into the town, the Dacoits were on their way to the jungles. Within twenty paces on one side of the house was a police station, and not a hundred paces on the other side was the picket of sepoys already alluded to. But as marriage processions were just then of frequent occurrence, it was supposed that the noise and the glare of the torches belonged to those very uproarious festivities, until a little boy creeping along a ditch whispered to the native officer that they had killed his father. The alarm was immediately given, but before the troops could turn out, the Dacoits had got a fair start, which carried them beyond the reach of both horse and foot.
A bolder exploit was performed towards the close of that year. Two skilful leaders, having collected some forty followers and distributed among them ten matchlocks, ten swords, and twenty-five spears, waylaid a treasure going from the native Collector's treasury at Budrauna to Goruckpore. The prize consisted of £1,200, and was guarded by a Naïk, or corporal, with foursepoys and five troopers. It had to pass through a dense jungle, and it was settled—said one of them in after years—"that the attack should take place there; that we should have strong ropes tied across the road in front and festooned to trees on both sides, and, at a certain distance behind, similar ropes festooned to trees on one side, and ready to be fastened on the other, as soon as the escort of horse and foot should get well in between them." Having completed these preparations the gang laid down on either side of the road patiently awaiting their prey. "About five in the morning," continued the narrator, "we heard a voice as if calling upon the name of God (Allah), and one of the gang started up at the sound and said, 'Here comes the treasure!' We put five men in front with their matchlocks loaded not with ball but shot, that we might, if possible, avoid killing anybody. When we had got the troopers, infantry, and treasure all within the space, the hind ropes were run across the road and made fast to the trees on the opposite side, and we opened a fire in upon the party from all sides. The foot soldiers got into the jungle at the sides of the road, and the troopers tried to get over the ropes at both ends, but in vain." The corporal and a horse were killed, twotroopers wounded, and the treasure carried off in spite of a hot pursuit.
One of the most famous Budhuk chiefs was named Maherban, who lived in his fort at Etwa in the Oude forest. He had seven wives, who frequently accompanied him in his expeditions, with the exception of his chief wife, from whom no such toils and risk were expected. Late in the autumn of 1818 he and his brother assembled about two hundred men, women, and children, and wisely settled beforehand the rates of division of plunder, setting aside a portion for the families of those who might die or be killed. They then sacrificed ten goats, and, each dipping a finger into the blood, swore mutual fidelity; after which they ate and drank and made merry. On the following evening Maherban and twenty of the principal Dacoits advanced a little way in front of the rest of the party, and spat in the direction they were about to pursue. Then raising his hands towards heaven Maherban thus prayed aloud:—"If it be thy will, O God! and thine, O Kalee! to prosper our undertaking, for the sake of the blind and the lame, the widow and the orphan, who depend upon our exertions for subsistence, vouchsafe, we pray thee, the call of the female jackal!" His followers likewise lifted uptheir hands, and having repeated the prayer after their leader, all sat down in attentive silence. The auspicious omen was presently heard three times upon the left. Thus assured of success, Maherban purchased a palanquin for his second wife—suitable for a man of wealth and dignity. The gang now started for Benares in small detachments, and took lodgings in different parts of that city where they stayed a whole month, making offerings and inquiries. Intelligence was at length received of a cartload of treasure going towards the west, under the care of an armed police force. On the first night of December the escort rested with their precious charge in a public Serai at Josee near Allahabad. Having procured staves for their spears and handles for their axes, the gang left the palanquin, their wives, and superfluous clothes, in a grove about four miles distant. At midnight they arrived at the Serai and were agreeably surprised to find the gate open. Here one detachment halted and mounted guard, while another overawed the police, and the rest plundered the treasure. A brave merchant, named Kaem Khan, likewise reposing in the Serai, in vain endeavoured to infuse courage into the panic-stricken escort by word and gesture. Disgusted with their pusillanimity he continuedto lay about him with his long straight sword, wounding two of his assailants and severing in twain many a spear, until a Dacoit got behind him and felled him with a bludgeon, when he was quickly put to death. They then carried off twenty bags containing in all 14,000 Spanish dollars, and had their wounded men tended at a neighbouring village. As some compensation for their sufferings they presented each of them with £10 in addition to his share.
A career of triumph had the same effect upon Maherban as upon greater heroes: it made him indolent and luxurious, and his followers repined at their forced inactivity. "One day, while he was sitting with two of his wives, Mooneea and Soojaneea, they taunted him on the long interval of rest he had enjoyed, while his more active brother had been covering his followers and family with honour and money. 'You have,' said Soojaneea, 'been now some ten months without attempting any enterprise worthy your reputation; you are at your ease, and indulging in sports no doubt very agreeable to you, but without any honour or profit to us, while these your followers, men of illustrious birth and great courage, are suffering from want, and anxiety about their families. They have been told of a boat comingfrom Calcutta, laden with Spanish dollars; if you do not wish to go yourself and take it, pray lend us your swords, and we will go ourselves, and try what we can do, rather than let your brave fellows starve.' Maherban was deeply stung by these reproaches, and waxed very warm, but was too angry to make any reply to his wives. He got his followers together, and leaving his principal wife, Mooneea, behind him, he set out in the character of a chief of high rank, going on a pilgrimage, with Soojaneea carried in a splendid litter as a princess; and in four months they returned with some 40,000 Spanish dollars." While on his way homewards from this successful expedition he "gave a large sum of money to a gardener at Seosagur, about three miles from Saseram, to plant a grove of mango-trees near a tank, for the benefit of travellers, in the name of Rajah Maherban Sing, of Gour in Oude, and promised him further aid on future occasions of pilgrimage, if he found the work progressing well, saying, 'that it was a great shame that travellers should be left as he had been, without shade for themselves and their families to rest under, during the heat of the day.'" As he approached his forest home all the women went forth to meet him in holidayattire, and welcomed "the conquering hero"—and the dollars—with music and dancing.
Encouraged by this brilliant success Maherban resolved to proceed at the close of the season to Sherghottee to intercept another boat-load of dollars, which his spies told him was to be conveyed from Calcutta to Benares. First of all he engaged a discharged Sepoy to instruct his men in the Company's drill, and very apt scholars they proved themselves. But while this parade work was going on, one of them eloped with Heera Sing's pretty wife. The injured man straightway applied to Maherban for redress, but the chief was too busy with his preparations to attend to a merely personal affair, and probably deemed the loss of a reluctant wife no very serious matter. Heera Sing then betook himself to the other leaders, but failed to enlist their sympathy, for a man who cannot bind a wife by her affections deserves to lose her. Foiled at all points, he determined upon a large and base revenge: he gave information of Maherban's movements to the English magistrates.
Suspecting no treachery, Maherban at length set out as a Hindoo prince with a noble retinue, and attended by a numerous guard of soldiersdressed in the Company's uniform. Unfortunately for him and his followers, the Dacoitee of the previous year had been carefully tracked out and the guilt lodged at the door of the real criminals. Mr. Cracroft, the magistrate of Jaunpore, was accordingly authorized to proceed to surprise his fastness with four companies of native infantry under the command of Captain Anquetil. Their march was unmolested, and in the heart of a dense unhealthy jungle—though not so experienced by the Dacoits themselves—they came upon his fort, a parallelogram sixty yards long by forty wide. It was surrounded by a ditch with an embankment within, formed of the mud there excavated. At a short distance was another colony of about five hundred able-bodied Budhuks governed by Cheyda, Maherban's brother. These united with the few who had been left at home by the latter, and opened a warm but ill-directed fire upon the troops, as they advanced with cheers to the assault. The simple works were carried at the first rush, and whatever was combustible was committed to the flames. But it was impossible to follow up the retreating Dacoits, and having inflicted this trivial injury Captain Anquetil had no alternative but to extricate his detachment from their dangerous position, and return to head-quarters.Meanwhile measures were taken by the magistrates at Jaunpore, Behar, and Benares, to intercept and arrest the gang under Maherban himself. That chief was artfully induced to leave the high road and make a pilgrimage to Gunga. Here he was given to understand that there was an informality in the payment of customs' dues, and that he must halt until the matter could be adjusted. While encamped in a mango grove he was suddenly surrounded by the police, but still imagining that his apprehension was entirely due to the supposed irregularity, his followers offered no resistance, and only discovered their mistake on being committed for trial as robbers and murderers. Maherban himself was hanged in 1821, and the whole of his gang, 160 in number, imprisoned for life or for limited periods.
After Maherban's execution his principal widow Mooneea succeeded to the government of the survivors of his colony. In the autumn of 1823 the adventurous dame joined some noted leaders in fitting out an expedition, consisting of eighty men and seven women, with the intention of cutting off a treasure party going to Katmandoo. Having taken the auspices in the usual manner, but actually guided by their pre-determination, they moved in small parties towards Junnukpore in the Nepaulterritory. While travelling in disguise, some of them fell in with a detachment of eighty Goorkhas (Nepaul highlanders) escorting fifteen bullocks laden with 64,000 rupees (£6,400). Two of them contrived to attach themselves to the escort, while the others separated to collect their comrades. When about fifty had got together they resolved to make the attack without waiting for the others. The guard lodged that night about twelve miles from Jungpore, in a place surrounded by a wall and ditch, outside of which was an encampment of nearly 500 merchants, itinerant traders, and other travellers. The night was clear and bright, but they nevertheless kindled their torches, and with the aid of two stout ladders hastily constructed, effected an entrance, surprised the guard, and possessed themselves of the treasure. It was too cumbersome, however, to be all carried off at once, and they were consequently obliged to bury about 17,000 rupees. The news of this outrage having reached the Nepaul military station of Jalesur, all suspicious persons were detained, and among them some members of the gang who, under the lash, confessed their complicity and led to the arrest of twenty-nine others, and to the death of two, who foolishly resisted. These also being subjected to the lash pointed out thecacheswhere the 17,000 rupees had been buried, and 35,000 more were found upon their persons: the others got off with the rest of the treasure. The information obtained from the prisoners furnished the clue to the apprehension of a vast number of Dacoits whom the Oude authorities threw into prison without undergoing even the form of a trial. With like irregularity some of them were released as aKhyrat, or "thanksgiving to God," whenever the King or any member of the royal family recovered from an illness.
The scanty remnants of this last gang finding their former fastnesses no longer secure, fled for refuge to the Rajah of Kottar within the British territories, who readily accepted their presents, and in return promised them his protection. From these new head-quarters they frequently sallied forth, and joining their old comrades, made inroads into Rohilcund and the Doab. Being unable to plunder in western Oude, because the landowners in their strongholds defied both king and Dacoits, they confined their depredations to the Company's territories, and so constantly attacked and plundered the treasuries of the native collectors, that the Government was compelled to fortify them and impose a guard. Even this did not always prevail, and large sums of money were oftentimescarried off, after the guard had been surprised and overpowered.