Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1859-10-06

were being enacted. The grand entrance at
the other end is twice as wide. On one side
doors opened into bakeries and other small
manufactures but was now as silent as death.
Not an individual was encountered-not one
was seen and even the little children, who
were at their sports in the great street into
which this lane entered, apparently frightened
by the scenes which they had seen or heard re-
ported, stunned placing their feet upon the
Soil or even looking into the bloody arena
1t looked like a sepulcher above the ground.
In the time of the executions, as my friend
informed me- when be visited the bloody arena,
as he often did, he was accustomed, as he ap-
preached the spot, to encounter Cinnamon with
their fingers pressing their noses, or else with
their tails tied around their faces, to avoid the
| horrible stencil proceeding from the blood and
bodies, and carried like miaSmatic breath,
| far from the narrow area where it originated.
On one occasion he found the ground covered
with partially dried gore of the fruit of the
| last days work There were no drains to
take off the enormous quantity of blood ac-
cumulatng from the butchery of five hundred
and six hundred rebels, day after day. at cer-
tain periods of military success over them, nor
was any substance used to slake or absorb it.
A man was found, on one visit, digging holes
for two crosses, on which he said upon inquiry,
four persons were to be tied and cut to pieces
An account of this days proceedings, as rela-
ted by my friend, will illustrate all Others, as
| they were mere repetitionS.
The execution had been fixed at noon At
half past eleven half dozen men arrived at
the execution ground, each armed with what
reSembed q cleaver rather than sword, and
| 4 h,,h
grated with sides painted as if with blood
These were coffns for the gang to be executed,
| which that day numbered one hundred and ff-
| ty General unconcern and even stoical in
difference, marked the countenances of both
soldiers and spectators, lwho together amount
ed to about one hundred and fifty. A breeze
sprang up, which carried the intolerable stencil
from the quarter occupied by the foreigners,
who, to the number of dozen, obtained ad-
mittance to the top of one of the houses on the
side of the street at the entrance of this field
of blood" Soon after the arrival of the exc
cutioners and the collins, a division of the con-
demned appeared on the ground, consisting of
| ten individuals, speedily followed by the rest
of unhappy wretcheS in companies of the same
number
Each prisoner had his hands tied behind his
back, and label stuck in his tail or long queue,
while he was thrust down in a wicker basket,
over which his chained legs dangIed loosely,
the body riding uncomfortably, and marked by
a long paper tally pasted on strip of bamboo
| thrust between the jacket of each condemned
individual and his back These "man baskets" :"
as they are called, hung with small cords, were
carried by bamboo poles upon the shoulders of
two porters. As the prisoner arrived they
were taken from the baskets and made to knee
facing the south In a space of twenty feet
by twelve were counted as many as seventy
prisoners, ranged in half dozen rows. At
| five minutes to twelve, Mandarin wearing
white button arrived, and the two individuals
who were first to be cut in pieces were tied to
the crosses which had been planted This
was probably designed to increase the terror
Cf death to those who were about to eXpe-
rience it, just as though the natural bitterness
was not sufficient In the meanwhile that this
frightening process was going on, the execu-
tiOn commenced, and twenty or thirty were
headleSs before our friend was aware of it
The sound to be heard was cheep, cheep, cheep,
as the eXecutioner's knife or cleaver fell upon
the neck Of the victim. No signs of fear were
seen in the faces of the prisoners, as they
| knelt and awaited the fatal moment. No en-
treaties were made no Shrieks were heard
One blow was sufficient for each, the head
tumblIng between the legs of the victim before
the body fell. As the sword tell, the trunk,
spoutng with blood, sprang forward, falling on
the breast and was still forever.
In four minutes the execution was complet-
ed, and one hundred and fifty human beings of
all ages had passed into eternity Thereon
] a. a.
more barbarous and horrifying it might said
to be even deVilish-for what could be more
/ so?
The victims Of torture were tied to the cross
es which had been planted at one end Of the
area, when an eXecutioner approaching, cut a
slice from under each arm with a sharp, short
knife. which he carried. A low, suppressed,
fearful groan from each victim followed the
gashlng, but nothing like a scream or outcry.
DeXterous as butchers slice was taken sue
cessfully by the operators from the calves, the
thighs, and then the breast of each. 1t may
be supposed, OIL at any rate it may be hoped,
that by this time the sufferers had become in
sensible to pain, though they were not dead
The knife was then thrust into the abdomen,
which was ripped up to the breast.bone, and
then twirled round and round as the heart was
separated from its holdings. Up to this mo-
ment, our informer said that having once set
his eyes upon the victim under torture, they
became fixed as if by strange spell but
now neither he could stand it nor they be riv-
tied any longer. A whirling sensation ran
through his brain, and it was with difficulty he
could keep from falling. But this was not
all the lashings were cut and his head be-
ing tied by the tail to limb of the cross, was
severed from the body, which was then disem-
bered Of hands and arms, feet aud legs separ'
ately.
After this the Mandarin left the ground, to