Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1857-05-23
Chinese

The following are stated by an English pa
per to be the modes of execution and punish
ment ia China. What can be more ferocious
and inhuman! In the first place, there is the
wooden cage, which consists oftwo large pie
ces OF wood fitting into one another, and hay-
ing three openings, into which the head, or the
head and a hand, Or the head and both hands.
according to the severity Of the sentence. are
put. This punishment is so severe-for the
wretch condemned to il has to sustain on his
shoulders q weight of 200 lbs, without any
possibility OF retief-that it ia certain death If
inflicted for more than q very few days. Next
comes beating with bamboo canes-a process
winch sometimes kills after fifteen blows
Then tiaylng, crushing limbs, and tearing out
the tendons Of the feet. ~Strangling and be-
heading are the capital punishment, to which
may be added-though it is said, not often
praticed-the penalty by which a criminal is
placed between two boards, and sawed in W
from head TO foot. Starving to death is some.
times practIced, the culprit being buried in the
earth up to the neck ana there let to die: or he
is liked in the wooden cage, and fed with daily
diminishing ratl0ns Of rice till he dies on the
last grain, as The horse on his last straw. In
lS40, 1000 persons were beheaded in the
province Of Canton, out Of a population of
100000.
Dir. Meadows, the interpreter OF The English
Embassy in China in 1852, saw at Canton an
execution which he afterwards described. The
criminals were insurgents who had fallen into
the hands Of the Tartar officials. The place Of
execution was a low room, from which the
heads of persons previously executed had not
been removed. A FIRE of sandal-wood burnt
before the shed where sat the mandarins who
were to superintend the execution, and inter-
posed its fragrancy between their nobility and
the stencil of the decomposing heads. The
criminals were brought in, some borne in
baskets and tumbIed out on the ground, where
they lay paraiyzed with fear, or from the ef-
fects of torture inflicted during their trial and
Imprisonment. They were then placed IN or-
der in a kneeling position, with their faces to-
wards the ground, a man standing behind each
and grasping him tightly by his bound hands.
Another, In ease Of resistance, seized the queue
and pulled in tho opposite direction, to keep
the neck extended. All being thus prepared,
the executioner came forward, o sabre Ills
weapon, which he held with two hands. stand-
ing with his legs somewhat apart, ready for the
work. In three minutes, thirty. three bodies
were headless, all but the frat completely
severed with one blow. From one TO another
the executioner leaped, body and sword acting
with the precision Of a machine, and dealing a
death blow at every jump. One criminal re-
NAMED, and for him a more awful death was
appointed. He was a man Of powerful frame,
in the prime Of life, and had surrendered him
self to the officials 70 save his wife and family,
who were in their hands, from the TORTURE
They took and bound him to a wooden cross,
fixed against the wall. The flesh was then
cut from his forehead, breast and extremities-
a horrible process, which occupied FIVE minutes,
and was yet rapidly performed. The unhappy
man was then taken from the cross and be~
headed. @ -~44