Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 135, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1915 — THE POWER OF CASTE. [ARTICLE]

THE POWER OF CASTE.

An Illustration of What It Means In India. Many people, unless actually familiar with the ways and customs of the native of India, have little idea as, to how superstitious many of these people are, especially with regard to their “caste” system. Not very long ago a coolie, whiles passing through the jungle, was severely mangled by a bear. His com-' rades, however, although they knew’ that a few miles distant there was a 1 well-equipped hospital, conveyed him to a village, where he was kept without medical assistance and in a blazing sun for three days. When eventually brought into the hospital the man’s plight may be better imagined than described. The! surgeon and his assistants managed' to keep hfm alive, but his face is so; disfigured that he is known in thei district as the “reache wallah” (bear man.) The most extraordinary thing about: this case is that the unfortunate per-' son was, during the time he lay in the hospital, considered by the fraternity to be uncdean, with the result that his own wife was, through attending to his requirements, thrown out of “caste ”