The Shasta courier., 1862-09-27
Horrible - sstions in China.

The following a.onat of the brutalities
committed on the 9s.picgs by the Imperial
lists, is from the pc Of an Euglishman, who
was present, in COZ any with both English
and French officers .na soldiers, at the exc
cution, by disembc slment, of Taeping pris-
oners. The TaepiN re .he rshsls, who are
endeavoring to os1E a-ow the existing gov
ernment, and proflA 10 hold semi Christian
views in religion. rnperialists are the
forces of the prese4 Tasty .---.-~~--.
went with the 5wd to see the execute =
of the Faeping priln liz. had boen given
up for execution irt 10 the hands of the man.
darins by the EngIi5a and French authorities;
or. what is the same thing, they took no
measures to prevent the ruthless butchery of
those whom they TENT their aid to capture;
when, horror Of kssrdfsl how am to de-
scribe the dreadfuixcene, or will it ever leave
my memory? Ars5ng those wretches were
Young and old, of both sexes, and of all ages
and sizes, from the infant recently born to
the man of eighty, totteriug on his staff from
the enciente woman TO the young maiden
from ten to eighteen The latter were push
ed out by the guards among the crowd of
rufians assembleds and were taken into sheds
and by-placea 46arshed, and again
dragged back be hSsf cf TIE head to the
Chinese guards await their turn for execu-
ton. Some Of em had tainted, and were
pulled along TN round to the executioners,
who threw thcmS6n their back, tore off their
Clothes and ripped then, from the lower part
of the abdomen to the breasts, which were
cut off and dashed with curse in their faces.
The bowels,as a matter of course, gushed
out but the cut was made in such way,
and so skillfully and with sHch expertness,
that the intestine was seldom injured. After
little time, in this state of excessive torture,
the executioner thrust his hand into the
chest and tore out the rceking heart, his Yie-
tim looking him in the face all the while. A
young female, apparently about eight months
pregnant, who never uttered gruan or sigh
1T all the previous. crneties she had endured
from the surrounding mob, had her infant
cut from her wsmb and held up in her sight
by one Gifts little hands. lleeding and quiv-
ering; when a1the sight she gave one heart
rendins, picrciag screech, that would have
awakened pity in a tiger, and afterit had
been in that state dashed on her breast, she,
With 2 last sulerhuman effort, released her
arn,s frol. the 1sclding her down, and clasp
ed her infant to Iiar l,leoding heart and died,
holding it there with sucl, force that they
could not be separated, and were thus drawn
together on the pile of other carcasscs.
Another young woman among the prison.
ers awaiting her turn to be disembowcllcd,
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 his ruthless knife
into his tender breast bef,rc his mothers
eyes. Infants but recently born were torn
from their mothers breasts and disembowel-
ln.t L,ka khA,r -k,
were disembowclled, mutilatcd and the parts
cut off thrust into their own MONTHS or flung
among the admiring and laughing crowd of
Cinnamon. But no more-I can write no
more of these scenes l can now only regret
forever that | looked on tile dreadful sight.
| am no longer fit to be soldier | have
been in many battles dHring the last twenty
years, and in the thickcst of the fight in most
of them, where rage and thirst for carnage
is dreadful to reflect on afterwards; but no.
thing heretofore that have seen or heard of,
or even read of, could be compared to the
dreadful cruelty of the disembowelling exc
cution May God forgive England for the
part she has taken in this wa1, ard may the
sin of the enormities she has assisted in per-
petrating on the defenceess women and
innocent and helpless child be removed from
our 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 Fnglishmen should join in or
countenance similar atrocities here 1t is
now ascertained for certainty that B.
and his companions, after having been tor
tured in every way that Chinese ingenuity
and cruelty could devise, were afterwards
mutilated and then disembowelled by the I'm.
perialists; and for that reason the Chinese
authorities would not produce their dead
bodies. Poor F.. who came up with me
to see the execution. fell down in fainting
fit, and was in that state carried away, and
is now raving maniac from the effect the
Jrao df,1 c,rbf bod on hin,