Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-04-16
THE PRISONS OF CANTON. CHINA,

tionsl news relative to the progress of the mill
tary or diplomatic operations, but they throw
strong food of light on the character of the
Chinese rule-at least under Governor Yeh. A
more atrcciOus system of rule or a more brutal
ruler could scarcely be found in any country or
any age of the world 1t seems that in the
space of two years this savage mandarin caused
no fewer than 20 900 persons (rebes or sun
posed rebels) to be executed in the Acedama
of Canton, and that the mode Of execution rivals
in barbsrity that of the most degraded savages
The prisons of Canton, too, seem TO be infinite
ly worse than even the worst of Naples, and
the treatment of the prisoners indescribably
horrible.
JAILs OF CANTON
Lord Elgin and the commissioners having
made tour of inspection to the jsils of Canton
the results of their experience have been set
forth in the China Mail as follows:
Each OF these establishments contains several
different prisons, and the description of one of
these will serve for the whole 1t was entered
by an open courtyard about fifteen yards long
by six broad. This courtyard is paved with
granite slabs, and tolerably clean and airy,
thanks to the rain, wind and sun 10 which it is
exposed; ON each side of the ward arc three COM
partments or dens, each about FIVE yards long
by four broad, and separated from each other
and from the courtyard by double rows of
posts, similar to those used in barricadng tho
doors OF the common Chinese houses in Hong
hong, the posts OF one row fitting between the
posts OF the other row, leaving space barely for
man to pass his hand through The doors of
i've OF these six rooms were open, all the pris-
oners In these five dens thus having access to
the open yard Inside are boards and tressels
on which the prisoners lie, the floor being as
lar as could be Judged from the filth with which
1t was yered, as nature formed it-of earth;
the height of the rooms is ample enough, and
on the whole, the prisoners were far better than
expected, and, if properly kept, would leave no
cause for complaint.
On entering, the warning voice of the turn
key drove the poor wretches into their dens
but tap on the head soon silenced this off,
cious parsonage, and the friendly voice of
foreigner telling them in Chinese TO come out
soon brought about seventy living creatures on
their knees before such messengers of humani-
ty as had never before stood in that horrid
place. The sight of these poor creatures was
dreadful; their forms diseased and emaciated-
their eyes gazing in astonishment with the va
cant stare of lunatics-their filthy rags drop
ping from them their hair unshorn and un-
combed, long and horribly stiff black and
abundant, IN awful contrast with their pale
and CHASTITY features; there they knelt tremb-
ling with cold, weakened by starvation and in
some cases apparently calOus even to the
eyent-so strange and wonderful as it must
have been to them-which was then taking
foreign occupants of the city. All the horrors
of an English prison, poorhouse and lunatic
asylum were here accumulated, without a sim
gle one OF the redeeming features which mark
those establishments in our own more civilized
country. The prisoners were ordered to stand
up, and then questioned. while some of the
visitors went into the cells to examine them
Many of the poor wretches were actually too
weak to come out of their dens to thank their
deliverers, foreigners officers, and soldiers)
- IL.
suffering, incarceration, and starvation had
produced that calOusneSs which, with exces-
siye weakness, prevented them from coming to
see sight they had never before witnessed
They were told to go outside, and managed to
raise their scarecrOw figures. and stagser along
in front of their foreign visitors.
One poor child, boy of IL years of age was
also prisoner in this horrible place lie was
told to get up; but, with an empty idiotic
smile on his face, he merely raised his eyes and
shutied few inches along the board on which
he was sitting; he was a prisoner for rebellion
The poor creature had not strength enough to
stand his limbs were frIghtful to look at-lit-
orally he was living skeleton, and two of the
sbler prisoners carried him out. The i've dens
were emptied, and while Mr.. Parkes was talk
ing with their late inmates, the other foreigners
looked into the sixth den, the door Of which
was closed
1t Is difficult to realize the horrible nature
Of the contents of that room. As the door
opened, pieous, lamentsble cry arose from
about twenty human beings not one of whom
could stand Deaths grip was hard on many
of them; there was one poor fellow living
crouched on the ground in a corner, his ribs
actually protrudlng-he was dead Yes the
living, the dying, the bleeding, the starving
the sick, the diseased, and the dead were all
c0ngrega.ed in this one hole These Door crea.
lures, who were bowling from pain aud hunger.
might, and were ii not for this visit, would
soon have followed their dead comrade who
still shared their wretched charnel house. to
where alone they could look for release from
their sutferings-the grave. One of their num-
Der could speak English pretty fuently, and
from him 1t was ascertsined that the whole of
them had that day been beaten. Not one of
them could walk, and ii was dreadful to sec the
agony they suffered In trying to draw their
bleeding forms into the open air. Some had
been beaten on the thighs, others on the feet
and ankles; and they were all ironed, not.
wlthstanding that they were not able to stand
even, much less to escape.
The FIELD OF BLOOD OF CANTON.
Threading our way under the guidance of
some experienced friend, we come 10 a carpcn-
ters shop, fronting the entrance to a small
potter field. 1t Is not a rood in area, of an
irregular shape, resembling most an oblOng
"A row OF cottages open into il on one side
there Is wall on the other. The ground is
covered with half-bsked pottery; there are
two wooden crosses formed of Embarked wood
standing IN an angle with a shred of rotting
rope hanging from one OF them. There is no.
thing to hx the attention in this small enclo-
sure, except that You stumble against a human
skull now AL then as you walk along 1t. This
Is the Aceldama, the field of blood the execu-
tion ground of Canton. The upper part of that
carpenters shop is the place where nearly all
the European resident. have, at the price of a
dollar each. witnessed the wholesale ma.sa-
cres Of which Europe has heard with a hesi-
tsung skePticism 1t was within this yard
A.N -.
destroyed the life of seventy thousand fellow
beings.
hese crosses the instruments to which
those victims tied who were condemned
TO the special torture Of being sliced 10 death
Upon one Of these the wife OF "A rebel general
was placed, and by Yeh's order her flesh was
cut from her body.
After the battle at WhampOa the rebel lead