Show INDIA STILL HAS ITS MURDERERS D scover ers of buried treasure feel knotted handkerchief india has many false delusions one ot them being that crimes practiced in days gone by are now extinct I 1 have seen it written that has been eradicated it has been generally accept ed that the fearful method of making away with mankind disclosed years ago by mr tay lor in the confessions of a thug has digap feared but in my opinion as long as india Is india that ancient system of murder will re main as an heirloom to the race of prone to that particular crime says a writer in london field the story I 1 have to relate is indirectly connected with dacoit tantia and his followers it was in 1834 that I 1 searched a certain water course in the jungles for tracks of a tiger I 1 found them about five miles fron a village called fakria in sur round that suited my methods in every way for the erection of a machan ard I 1 called upon my folio vers to t e up the buffalo and prepare the place tor a ki near by was a temple ancient and moss bourd much to my surprise men refused en masse to help me in any way they at first offered all sorts of feeble objections to the position which did not deceive me I 1 felt that there was some strong supernal ural repugnance which made them hostile to a machan being erected on that particular spot I 1 went to my tent and pondered and while so doing my head shi karee approached me and told me that he would earin matters to the best of his ability what the shi karee said to me I 1 will en deavor to repeat in his own words sahib he said tantia the dacoit is in these regions he is a friend of the poor but a bitter enemy of the Ferl ngee sahib and the rich he has murdered many men and the riches he has gathered are hidden in many places cheetom one of his followers has served you well and he once knew what I 1 am saying Is true it had become known that tantia cheel had hidden half a lac of rupees in the vicinity of the temple near where you wish to erect a machan cheetom your late hunter knew it also and he communicated the news to his brother they both resolved to gather the wealth while tantia was elsewhere and having collected some digging implements they set out at sundown for the temple the treasure was actually buried beneath the temple idol cheetom and his brother ru goo never returned to their homes and when two of their relatives set forth to find them they likewise returned not some days after these events a brother of mine was hunting for thatch in the neigh boyhood of the temple and came across four dead bodies two of them were skeletons the third was partially devoured but the fourth which was inside the temple was owing to the incident having occurred about christ mas in a fair state of preservation there were no wounds on the body but simply a dark blue mark around the neck proving strangulation by the thug a knotted chandker chief and a bruise at the nape of the neck the shi karee added that tantia had in his employ two renowned thugs who could kill their victims before they reached the ground and those experts watched tantia s treasure I 1 was not surprised that the shik arees avoided the spot though it was known that tantia had long lifted his gotten gains and planted them elsewhere |