MURDER AS A CREED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18457, 21 July 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

MURDER AS A CREED.

OEIM SECRET SOCIETY. .'" , .1—... ■■ THE THUGS -IF INDIA. FEARFUL CRIMES COMMITTED I - MAN WHO SLEW 999 PEOPLE.. j ■)' v ;. v " To ■ attain •■'. Paradise* by ,'■■ the 'taking' of ! '; : '-life '! is the primary idea of the . racrabsrs j '■''./.' of India,'a great secret •! eooioty—the Thugs. • UffKod on by- the' most i terrible of religious beliefs, those -'secret assassins faavo siot hesitated to indulge in fearful crimns. The Men of the Noose, or, as ihoy are frequently called, the Thugs, form one of the most terrible secret organisations that ■-. the world has ever seen. ; *■' '■■•'""; I : To "% westerners,;tithe ■; Thugs ';.appearJ merely as V particularly treacherous end ! cruel murderers; : Jo" the mind of India they are men who have dedicated themsebres to a curtain path in life, are seeking salvation according to their lights, though the manner of so doing is one of cruelty and terror. . . ' ''"-. The Thugs are a religious sect as well as a secret organisation, and the murders by strangling for which they have become notorious form part of their doctrine of salvation. < ) They worship a goddess, Kali, to whom they have built a majestic tempU* at "'Mirgapore, and believe that . this goddess • hates the human race,, wishes their destruction, and offeis eternal blessedness to all in the next life who assist in stamping out the lives of mortals. The ceremonies of the temple of Kali are kept secret ; for many years they were of a terrible nature, involving human sacrifice. Investigators entering ; the temple surreptitiously, were able to lay facts before the government, with, the result that the Government of India insisted upon a modification of the worship of Kali ..■•.-■■■...-,■■■■. Death, as a Gift. Sufficient trouble was already being given by the increasing number of crimes committed by the sect.' Thugee is hereditary; thus.every Man of the Noose brought up his sons in the same beliefs, constituting a serious menace to the peaceful life of India. Every village, every town held its Thugs, and there were even settlements containing many hundreds of these secret murderers. Many are the 'tales told of the termor with wh\ch they were regarded. Travellers would be most hospitably received in a strange village through which they happened to pass while on a journey. They would be offered ih'» best house in which to sleep, and having dined with their charming hosts, would be escorted by a guard of honour bo"; their beds. Then' when darkness and the silence of night had fallen, the erstwhile hosts'-Wild' sneak forth, their robes of honour cast aside, sad bearing in their lands the oiled corda of death."'...: Death -was their final gift to their .visitors! Death s^ift and sure. •; Although'- at one time Thugee .'.was strictly hereditary, at the present moment it is possible for any man .who: satisfies the requirements of the , sect to join them. In the temple of Kali, the initiation ceremony is held. . t After certain rites have been performed,, the candidate is led before the priest,, who placets a nooso into his hands with'the words: "Thou : hast chosen the most ancient a.nd honourable profession; thou hast sworn ;to # put to death every human being thrown into thy ■ lianas." ,:...''/'•:■" -'- i ■ ■■'.■_ The Honour of a Thug, There are certain exceptions to this " rule Thugs are forbidden to slay people who squint, the lame or deformed, women travelling without escort, ..and, for some reitsor ;■ : yet undiscovered, j, washerwomen. Ail those ho fail : within' these categories will oh no account be harmed, ny the true . Thug, who; as regard points of honour, i 3 most meticulous.■: - : . ;!; -■ ■,■ -... : ; Though evidence is to hand of breaches " of these regulations, it has almost i invariably transpired that the crime was committed bv a.:; pseudo-Thug, or common criminal who has taken .up we ~' profession "of strangling as a moans of •-, making a living, possessing inonij of : the religious fervour of v th*> real Man ;of tha Noose. -','... ' '„ ' .. The •Thug does no* primarily, murder for money, , though they have always , looked upon travellers ,a3 their special

prev. ■ "■■■'■•■ •■' •■:■'•' " '■' . i* „■ ... ■■ ' Modern methods 01 travel; are Limiting their activities,' and the ceaseless bunt of the British authorities is slowly driving Thugee from; the land. -.Traders- and others moving by road from one village to another still, however, fall at times into the-hands , of .the Thugs , who, as their name " Mem of the Noose " implies, slay by . strangling.; ' ' Bloodshed is abhoroeol to them ; and any Thug convicted after trial will always petition to be hanged rather,; than ; shot or suffer any,other form, of death, j He uses for bis crimes a; short, welloiled cord; which he twists round' the throat of hi 3" victim, thus effectually; kill-. infr and preventing outcry. ,• - '' The dread with whioh the Thugs are h«fd by others of India's millions emantes from the swift silence of the methods »nd : from the fact" that no rtian knows whether his neighbour ; be o:ae of the hated slayers 'or not. " ' ' ' •' By nigfct the respectable merchant of the day day become a furtive, slinking, dealer of death, : slipping silently ; through lattice or '{'window ,to slay without sound ; ftad : go h ! J» way, '? as , mysterious :as the breezes !of night.-?; He/ who would offer share of his wayside meal ;may"be a potential' murderer the ■. care-free lad, laughinp in ■ t'.te sun, may ho the naked fiend of nightfall. . _ "— . , deception of Death.,. ■ One of fehe V/ most ; £anarlrttbl©:;Crimea committed by the Thugs was the murder of •«".- *;tain VJohn Fortescue ; Young, ;;; a Briti'.-li' .officer,;; stationed at Mankapur, in the provjihee of Oudh. •'.- ■'.' , lie ,' ; 'lvr.d ijbeeri out On a • a'liootiag • expedit.oii : ii ! the jungle; and iSendihg, his bearers ahciid ! with s his kit and : guns, decided -to ride home by himself, The way took''Kim through some of ;•;the most picturesque', but solitary parts of 1 the coantrv'/ -Though-ha: kept to the ; road, the jungle v.as not far off, at Bor.ce points coim:jjj; r right down and bordwiog ; tha road: v.. ".'■ •'•< -.-- ••■■''.'■■.■X--.'"'..'■ ij&y '■•y.,% As Captain Young Tode slowly past, one' «?,, these places, he was roused from. his reveries by -the sound of weeping. Ha halted, looked about . him, . and then j iurned hi 3 horse off the road, making lor a thicket whence came.-the Bomida of. grief. ' There he came upon a native woman in deep distress. . ' She was younp and beautiful, and ©ajjying: the British officer, immediately redoubled her outcries, and held out her arms, to him for succour. ;

On his ; dismounting and enquiring the cause of her distress, she poured out a story of outrage and crime. Sho said that, she had been travelling .to Mankapur i;i the company of. her brother, and ihat. near the spot where she then stood, they had been set upon by'thieves. Her brother had put up a good fight, but overcome by numbers, had at last been Blaih. The thieves than draggod his body into the jungle, stripped her of all her valuables and decamped. : Captain Young at first was for assisting' the woman into the village, and then Bending men out to search for the thieves I In thin he was ov.jr-jule<; by the woman '■ who Implored him to seek out the bodv I of her brother. J _" ?srhr k she said, .'-'there is life . still in Mm,"- . ;■•'.. , Enticed Into the Jungle, V • ;.; ..; ■ Not caring to leave• the man it titer© /■ was a chance of saving his life, Captaia' ;rYoung agreed- to accompany the 'uF.plese ; A .'i.victim of this-outran,-, said leading his ~f horse jiy the bridle, followed th« woman into -to* jungle towards ' the spot ; where her brother's body was supposed to lie. , At .las*- his fair guide halted, 1 and in- ;/• dicatwj ad him thirket; "There," she ,; si'.iJ- . ,"C«9 = .l.hju and search, for I am ' a|iaid.". < t: - , ) % t ,

Young did as he was asked, and pushing;; aside fclhe under] jrdwth, ■ for<»a his way, seiirching for thai body. Bat as he stooped ,to sdo so, ! there 'suddenly< Sprang from the, shadows: of ■" the ' jungle, : many dark figures.', ■ ■ • ■\;, Hardly ■] making a sound With t theirr naked * feet/-they /leaped' upon Captain sYoung and bore him to the ground :. In an , instant he was, overpowered,;• a cord was around ;: hi» <: throat, ■"; and before a cry could ; escape his , lips, he was dead —strangled by the Men of the Nooso. " v His absezjice \ from \ his 1 quarters ; later on'■ giving cauije for apprehension, search partie a wens, sent out, and his body discovered, evidence of his death at ! the hands' of the Thugs;being only too clear. ; strenuous efforts we're then made to discover bring to justice the perpetrators of this .dastardly; outrage, ,but it is likely that none of them would have been -caught had it; not ; been for the action of * the chief actor in this grins drama. ,;: v : ' T<-j : \v>:'.'|i ! :':'; &'■%'*s?'^*M The woman, who had played 'a; similar part in previous crimes, 'was so overcome by remorse at the heartless wav in which shb had deceived a would-be benefactor, that she gave information to the authorities that led to a round-up of many j wanted Thugs.

> ; ' Confessed to 099 Murders. ■- Among f'hosn captured was a man of the name of Soba Singh. ■■ When it came to light that he was a Thug, and was actually implicated in the death of Captain Young, amazement was expressed on all sides; he had been thought for many years to be a most respectable member of society and was particularly well-liked by British residents.

Nevertheless he' went- to trial as a Thug and was convicted of participation in the death of the young officer. He admitted that the ruse by which Captain Young was caught was an old one, in fact, one of the earliest devices need By the Thugs for enticing travellers into their toils. ■[ ,

Soba 'Singh ; gave no evidence of. remorse at this or any other of his crimes, and though behaving throughout the proceedings ; against him with the utmost dignity, confessed after conviction to having slain at least 36 others by means of the noose. He was confined, for a time in the prison at Lahore, together with a notorious Thug [ who confessed, not without some pride, to having committed 999 murders. This man. stated that he had then ceased, as Thugs consider round numbers to be rather vulgar.

This was one of the most successful round-ups of Thugs ever carried out. The vast extent of unexplored country in which these criminals practice, the secrecy which veils their movements, and the superstitious awe with which they are regarded by the natives, makes the bringing of members of this secret society to justice a matter of very great difficulty. !*•'■