Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-10-13
A CHINESE EXECUTION


ton with three of my friends. The street
in which these frightful scenes occur is
situated as you are aware, without the
walled city of Canton, towards the part
OF the suburbs which lies to the south
along the river. This narrow, dirty
street, which is about one hundred metres
long and fifteen wide, is called by the
Europeans the & Potter Field" All the
houses on each side are, in fact, inhabited
by workmen who make common services
of porcelain and those portable furnaces
which you have often seen in the poorest
houses and in the floating residences on
the river. For fear that a Chinese schol-
lar like you may dispute names with me,
| must tell you ct once that this dismal
place is called by the natives "Tsien-
TIE Ma-Teou," or the Quay of the
Thousand Characters" in alluSion to the
numerous signs which are seen there from
the river
We arrived Ii ere at ten o'clock in the
morning, and took our station in front of
shop belonging to a mcnder of old stock
ings. This was an excellent position to
take survey of the whole ceremony,
and we remained there quietly until
noon at which time soldiers and officers
attached to the service of the Mandarins
arrived, to clear the street and thrust
back the curious. As in Europe, the
persons who came to see the spectacle
were the vilest dregs of the populace-
dirty, ragged people, with sinister coun-
tcnances, who wandered about this en-
saHgnincd soil : where most likely they
had already seen the execution of num-
Der Of their companions, and perhaps of
their accompliceS.
In short time the toll of the tam tam
announced to us the arrival of the whole
procession. Mandarins of every degree
with the red, white, blue or yellow ball,
riding on horseback, or carried in palan-
quins, and followed by an escort of musi-
clans, sbirri, and standard bearers,
alighted at short distance from the
place IF execution. Contrary to their
ceremonious habits, they arranged them
selves in the dismal enclosure.
Then arrived the criminals. They were
fifty-three in number, each shut up in a
basket, with his hands tied behind his
back, his legs chained, and a board in
sclbed with his sentence hanging from
his neck. You have often met in the
Chinese streets pair of coolies carving
a pig stretched out at its full length in a
bamboo case. Well, Just imagine hui
man being put in The place of the unclcan
animal, and you can form an idea Of the
tifty-three unfortunate creatures in their
cages. When the cages were set down,
they were opened and emptied, just as
when pig is turned out at a butcher s
shop. | examined these unfortunate
wretches with attention: they were worn
out with hunger, and looked more like
skeletons than living beings. 1t was evi-
dent that they had suffered the most
dreadful priyations. The were clothed in
loathsome tatters, wore long hair, and the
dishevelled tail attached to the crown of
the head, had been reduced to third of
its usual length. They had evidently be-
longed to the insurgent bands, who had
adopted the fashion of the Mings, and al
lowed all their hair to grow.
Many ofthese unfortunate persons were
very yOung-some were not sixteen years
of age-while others had grey hair.
Scarcely were they thrown on the ground
pell-mell, when they were compelled to
kneel; the greater part Of them were so
debilitated from suffering, that they could
not keep in this position, and rolled in the
mud. An eXecutioner's assistant then
picked them up, and arranged them all in
row, while three e1ecutioners placed
themselves behind them and waited the
fatal moment. You doubtless recollect
those horrible figure whom we have of.
ten seen together in the cortegs of the
criminal judge of Canton-those figures
dressed in a red blouse, and wearing o