The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-03-07 00:00:00

EXECUTIONS IN CHINA

It is confidently stated that when Keying demanded
the execution of four persons for the murder of the six
Englishmen near Canton, that the men who were executed
offered to suffer, provided certain honours were conferred
on their families. In Europe this may appear incredible,
but in China, where life is held cheap and the laws are
loose, substitutes are found. It was but lately that on
sentence of death being passed on a murderer in Hong
Kong, he inquired whether he would be allowed to pro-
vide a substitute. The following account of the execution
is given by one who was present :
•` The first of the criminals who was brought out
seemed to be about 25 years of age, decently dressed, tall
for a Chinaman, and strongly made. He had good fea-
tures, but was ghastly pale, he was gagged, and had his
hands tied together behind his back, and his feet were
fettered in the Chinese manner. He had a piece of wood,
about two feet in length, with a slip of paper at the head
of it, sticking down between his clothes and back. This
piece of wood is called Cha-peaou, and the criminal's
name, with a description of his crime, &c., is written on
the paper attached to it. He passed from the boat to the
shore along some planking, over which he was supported
by a Chinese policeman on each side. There was another
policeman behind him pushing him roughly forwards.
The eyes of this criminal were rolling about in a fearful
manner, as he turned them from the foreign soldiers to
the seamen between whom he passed from the boat to the
TT .

.••...• /Lac 0,1//aIC, ./L tilJUUlo ten yams trom the spot where
I was standing, with a clear space between, so that I was
able to see wry plainly the whole of the proceedings.
When the policemen had led him to that distance, they
threw him down on the ground, and in consequence of
hia 6....uwed holt ask.d A:at
ward on his face, The executioner, who, on his being
brought out, came running from where the mandarins
were stationed, with his naked sword in his hand and his
sleeves tucked up to his elbows, was by this time at him,
Il• . •

criminal's tai

- w••‘.o il 1.11
hold by pressing the right foot on the criminal'slaGl
hands,l or
on the small of his back, brought his head and neck into
.•• . .

tolAVily 11111 l 8 ma alum ui tile ran wan hIS lett hand
brought his sword down in the right hand, so as almost to

_mum s neck, which I. suppose he did in order,
as it were, to mark the exact place at which to strike, and
then raised the sword quickly up, and at one blow severed
the head from the body, only leaving it attached by a small
„
piece of skin, which he afterwards separated by a tug.

The policeman now took the trunk and put it into a
Chinese coffin, which some of the other policemen had
brought forward while the beheading was going on.

ouv CLOSC ueuma rue nrst man seemed to be about fifty
years of age, and meagre-looking people. They were
gagged and fastened in every way like the first man, and
were as roughly handled. The executioners. however, -
cut their heads completely off at one blow. They were
then put into the coffins, first the trunks and afterwards
the heads. The fourth was carried out from the boat
into the square, by means of a piece of matting slung
between two poles. He sat huddled together, with his
. -

ueuu ay..% km ma oreast ; and being tumbled out of the
conveyance in such a manner that when the execu-
tioner raised him up the man's back was turned towards
me. I did not see his face, so as to judge of his age. I
remarked, however, that he was dressed in very ragged
clothes. The executioner had a good deal of trouble to
get this man's head in the proper position, and seemed,
in consequence of having to handle him so much, to be
rather unnerved. for in taking his aim with the sword, in
the manner described above. I saw that his hand trembled
very much; notwithstanding this, however, he severed
the head from the body at one blow.

- •• •
" The circumstance of the executioner being punishable
if he strike more than one blow may account in part for
his anxiety and nervousness. When all the four criminals
were beheaded, and the trunks and heads put into the
coffins, the Chinese policemen carried them into. a small
boat:" •