The Goodhue volunteer. [volume] (Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minn.) 1861-1864, 1862-08-20


ends, 4ses~s "a VI EEznE%xt .o&2 81 II szEs
EXECUTIONOF REBEL PRISONERS
IN CHIN A. HORRIBLE ATROCI-
TIES ENGLAND RESPONSIBLE
THEREFOR. -" '.> ~ ~ 7s@& =.
The following account Of the brutalities
|committed on the T@pings by the Imperial,
lists, is from the pen Of an Englishmen who
was present, in company with both English
and French officers and soldiers, at the ex-
|ecution, by :disemboweling, Of Tapping pris:
(cners: III IA zte4:2t IL t2As*.' w.: ..{I sva
Invent witheth crowd to see the execu.
tion Of the Tapping prisoners that had been
Igiven up for execution into the hands Of the
mandarins by the English and French au
thorities !; or, what is the same thing, they
took no measures to prevent the ruthless
butchery Of those they lent their aid to cap
ture, when, horror of horrors, how am I to
describe the dreadful scene, or will it ever
leave my memory? Among the wretches
were young and old, of both sexes, and Of
all ages and sizes, from the infant recently
born to the man of eighty, tottering On, his
staff; from the encicnte woman to the young
maiden from ten to eighteen. The latter
were pushed out by the guards among the
the crowds Of ruf6ans assembled, and were
taken into the sheds and BY places and de-
bauchet, and again dragged back by the hair
Of the head to the Chinese guards, to await
their turn for execution. Some ofthem had
tainted and were pulled along the ground to
the executioners, who threw them on their
backs, tore off their clothes, and ripped them
from the lower part Of the abdomen to their
breasts, which were cut off and dashed with
a curse in their faces. The bowels, as a
matter OF course, gushed out; but the cut
was made in such way, and so skilllully,
and with such expertness, that the intestines
were seldom injured.
After long time in this state of excessive
torture, the executoner thrust his hand into
the chest and tore out the reeking heart
his victim looking him in the face all the
while. A young female, apparently about
eight months pregnant, who never uttered a
groan or sigh at all the previous cruelties she
had endured from the surrounding mob had
her infant cut out Of her womb, and held up
by one Of its little hands, bleeding and quiv
ering; when at the sight she gave one heart
rending, piercing screech, that would have
awakened pity in a tiger, and after it had
been in that state dashed on her breast. she
with last superhurnan effort, released her
arms from those holding her down, and clasp
ed her infant to her bleeding heart and died,
holding it there with such force that they
could not be separated and vera thus thrown
together upon a pile Of other carcasses,-
Another young woman among the prisoners
awai: Ell her turn to be disembo weled, with
fine boy Of ten months old. growing and
jumping in her arms, had him snAtched
suddenly away from her, and flung to the
executioner, who plunged the ruthless knife
into bis tender breast before the mothers
eyes. Infants but recently born were torn
from their mothers breast and disemboweled
before their faces. Young, strong men were
disemboweled, mutilated, ard the parts cut
off thrust into their own mouths, or flung
among the admirins and laughing crowd Of
Cinnamon. But no more.
can write no more OF these scenes
can now only regret forever that I looked on
the dreadful sight. attn no longer fit to be
a soldier. l have been in many battles dur
ing the last twenty years, and 10 the thick.
est Of the Fl sht in most of them, where the
rage and thirst for carnage is dreadful to re-
feet on afterwards, but nothing heretofore
that have seen or heard Of, or even read OF
could be compared to the dreadful cruelty Of
this disemboweling execution. May God
forgive England for the part she is taking in
this war, and may the sin Of the enormi,ies
she has assisted in perpetrating on the de-
'enceless woman, and innocent and helpless
child, be removed from her door and after
the treatment English women and children
met with from the hands Of the blacks in the
Sepoy mutiny, it is truly wonderful that En-
glishmen should join in or countenance sim :
liar atrocities here. Il is now ascertained to
. certainty that B----and his companions
after having been tortured in every way that
Chinese ingenuity and cruelty could devise
were afterwards mutilated and disembow Ell.
ed BY the imperialists and for that reason
the Chinese authorities would not produce
their dead bodies. Poor, who came
with me me to see the execution, tell down
in fainting ft, and was IN that state car
ricd away, and is now raving maniac from
the effects the dreadful sight had on him. -
FoREIaN ISrERvESr1oS.-The Watkins
Republican, of the 9Th ult., contains the
following .s@ r.. J.. -~ss% ~s4 ss~esa -. -
'Hon. A. s. Diven told us. on Thursday
evening that he had the express authority ol
Secretary Seward to tell the people tha. he
had assured the Representatives of foreign na-
tons, from time to time, that the rebellion
would be crushed ont. ;and that IN orda. -