“KHALIFATE KINGDOM.”

BOMBAY, Wednesday.

The following message of yesterday’s date has been received here from Palghat: “Seethikoya Thangal (priest), of Kumaraniputhur, has proclaimed a Khalifate kingdom, with himself as governor, and is issuing Fatwas (decrees) warning, his followers against looting and other excesses, and pointing out that the country is now theirs. He tried three offenders and ordered them to be shot. The sentence was carried out with blank cartridge. The men fell to the ground terror-stricken on hearing the report, but remained uninjured, though very much mystified. Seethikoya attirbutes their not being killed to his own miraculous powers, and intimates that his followers will in the same way be immune from British bullets.

“A young Moplah recently demobilised and pensioned off from the Army, who has seen service in France, Egypt, and Palestine, has been brought to Palghat from the village of Virode suffering from severe knife wounds. He had been instrumental last week in capturing notorious rebels. The gang to which the latter belonged surrounded the pensioner’s house and hacked him about unmercifully, leaving him for dead.” – Reuter.