The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-01-11 00:00:00

TORTURE AND EXECUTION OF A FRENCH
BISHOP IN TONQUIN. •

Monseignor Melchior was taken on the lith of July,
and iminediately led to the capital. Aa the calumny
had been industriously circulated that he WM the chief
of the insurgents, his eminence was closely conflinsl.
Tato of his servants had been taken prisoneni with I.
On the 27th the venerable prisoner told those
who brought hini his meals that he re uired no change
of clothing, and only asked for his trousers, the chief
mandarin having probably announced to him the kind
of death he was to die. On the 221 th of the same
month, at 7 o'clock in the noir ll ill g. the troops, ele•
pliants, horses, &c., left the city fur the place of execu-
tion by the north gate. They led with them the two
young servants of the venerable martyr; buth of them
wore heavy chains on their necks, and went on foot
,to receive joyfully the martyr's 'alio. On arriving at
the place a great circle was formed, and the executioner
tied the two young on n to two posts p4actsl near each
other. They were kept for about an hour in this pad-
f (ion of torture. After this scene occurred one still 1111 l re
cruel and terrible. After the attendants hail led the
two young men to the place of :amid 11111111 l Hwy brought
forth the venerable Bishop by the east gate. 'Hie whole
of the circumstances with which they conducted the
venerable victim to his death was truly terrible. His
E lice was led through all the street* of the city
with • heavy chain round his neck ; in his hand he
carried his breviary. Twenty guards, sword in hand,
surrounded him. The escort of the three prilioners con-
sidled of about :MO soldiers, two elephants, four Imrse-
men, two inch bearing lust nts called "chirsy,"
a tin 111111 l er, and four trumpeters. When the Malmo,'
reached the scene of his glorious martyrdom lie was
covered with sweat and muil. On seeing lieu two 'ser-
i
cants, who were awaiting the blow which should let
their spirits soar to Heaven, his EllinienCe exhorted
I them to courage. and gave them his blessing. A few
1111 l went% later the mandarin who was seated un one of
' the elephants raised Ilia voice and ordered the heads of
the two servants to be first cut off, and afterwards that
of the Alm (the term applied to Catholic priests). At a
given signal the head of one of the servants, named Tiep,
was struck off; but three blows were requisite to effect
this. The executioner then took the head and dung it
into the air, that it might be seen by everybody. The
executioner then struck off the head of the second,
named Hien, but on this occaiiion struck with a re
fortunate hand, for he only needed a single blow.
Happy souls, which hail ascended to Heaven to receive
the reward of their courage, and to prepare, so to
peak, that seat of glory for their powder which was
destined for him by our Lord in ACP few moments !
These faithful attendants have served the Bishop, in this
life, and in their deaths they altered hi* glory and his
triumphs.
Let us now pass to the horrible torture suffered by
the venerable Bishop. The two servants having been
executed, the executioner atretclicsl is mat on the
ground, placed a smell carpet upon it, broke the chain
which was round the neck of his Euiiuiem.ce, •nil made
him lie down on ilk back upon the inattin,g. The
Bishop wore at this time nothing hut a 'pair of trousers
turned up to the thighs. The victim be-mug thus placed,
the executioner took two stakes, which lie fixed in the
ground 'ii rich side of and to which lius hands were
tightly bound by curds. causing great pain. Two others
were then placeil under his armpits. and crossed over the
I chest of the Bishop so an to press it tightly. Two other
were then set up at a short distance front his foot.
The cords with which the feet were bound were passed
round these posts and stretched violently, the
feet bring then pegged down ; the loins were
similarly secured. It would be difficult to con-
ceive the tortures of the venerable prelate thus bound
end racked. Au order was then issued first to cut off
the feet, then the hands, afterwards the head of the
martyr, and lastly to eviscerate him. At this order five
executioners commenced their frightful duty. They were
armed with • kind of bill-hook or hatchet, purposely
blunted in order to inflict greater suffering. They COM.
minced by cutting off the legs above the knees, each
limb receiving about. 12 blows before it was severed.
The game process was repeated with the anus. But the
power of speech now failed the happy martyr, who,
so long as strength remained, liad not ceased to call in
the Milne of Jesus. His head was then struck off,
after repeated blows, and lastly his body was opened and
Isis entrails drawn out with a hisik.
Such is the exact account of the death and torture of
Monmignor Melchior, near the very spot which lied been
consecrated two years earlier by the martyrdom of his
preileceasor. I 11111 l eiliately after the execution the dif-
ferent parts of the body were wrapped up in the mat and
thrown into a pit dug for the purpose. The Tuniminese
wislusl to make the elephants pails over the spot, so Li
to tralllll6 under foot the grave of the venerable eon•
lessor of our faith, but these animals, lea,. savage, and
we may almost say tuore humane, than their masters,
obstinately refuslied to ho so, as if they would not pro-
fane the cell f the noble martyr.
Bishop Melchior's head was exposed for some days on
the southern gate of Nan-dinh, and then broken to pieces
and thrown into the sea.- -fionykony Register.,