Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1854-07-05
WHOLE NO. 40.
The Knloat.

80 ~ a.. 10 - Z. 4. h..a.
The following is the manner Of administering
the punishment Of the knout. The condemned
man is conducted, half naked, TO the place chosen
Tor this kind of execution. All that be has on is
pair OF simple linen drawers round his extremi-
tlss; his hands are bound together, with the
palms laid fiat against one another; the cords are
breaking his wrists, but no one pays the slightest
attention to that. He is laid fiat upon his belly,
on frame inclined diagonally, and at the ex-
tremites of which are fixed iron rings; his hands
are fastened to end of the frame, and his feet
to the other; he is then stretched in such man.
ner that he cannot make single movement, Just
as an eel's skin is stretched in order to dry The
act of stretching the victim causes the bones to
crack, and dislocates them-what does that mat
teri In little time his bones will crack and be
dislocated in a very different manner. At dis
tance Of five and twenty PAGES stands another
man; it is his public executioner. He is dressed
in black velvet trousers, stuffed into his boots, and
colored cotton shirt buttoning at the side. His
sleeves are tucked up, SO that nothing may thwart
or embarrass him in his movements With both
hands he grasps the instrument of punishment
knout. This knout consists of thong of thick
leather, cut in triangular form four or five yards
long, and an inch wide tapering off at one end,
and broad at the other; the small end is fastened
to a little wooden handle, about two feet long.
The signal is given; no one ever takes the
trouble to read the sentence. The executioner
advances few steps, with his body bent, hold
iOr 1Lo T., boNh 1on Il, 4La l.,
thong drags along the ground between his legs
On coming to about three or four PAGES from the
prisoner, he raises, by vigorous movement, the
knout towards the top of his head, and then in
stantly draws it down with rapidity towards his
knees. The thong flies and whistles through the
air. and descending on the body of the victim,
twines round it like hoop Of iron. In spite Of
his state of tension, the poor wretch bounds as if
he were submitted to the powerful grasp Of gal
vanism. The executioner retracts his steps, and
repeats the operation as many times as there are
blows to be inflicted. When the thong envelopes
the body with its edges the flesh aud muscles are
literally cut into stripes as if with razor, but
when it falls fiat, then the bones crack; the flesh
in that case is not cut, but crushed and ground,
and the blood spurts out in all drectons.--
The sufferer becomes green and blue, like body
in a state Of decomposition. He is now removed
to the hospital, where every care is taken Of him,
and is afterwards sent to Siberia, where he dis
appears forever in the bowels of the earth. The
knout is fatal if the justice Of the Czar or Of the
executoner desires it to be so. If the autocrat's
intention is to afford his people sight worthy of
their eyes and their intelligence, if some power
full lord, or some great lady, wishes to indulge in
the pleasure ofviewing the sanguinary spectacle;
if they wish to behold the victim, with his mouth
covered with foam and Blood writhe about and
expire in frghtful agony, the fatal blow is given
the very last. The exenutioner sells his compass
sion and pity for hard gold, when the family of the
miserable sufferer desires to purchase the fatal
blow. In this case he inficts death at the very
first stroke, as surely if it was an axe that he
hald in his hand I'D "7@f4 t"a @2'''ai"