The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-07-19

RSDAY, JULY 10, 18'
CHINESE JUSTICE.
visit y : Prison u Canton on the
Day Of an Rxeeutien.
Was just ending my breakfast when
L. entered suddenly and said: They
win pass judgment to-day at Nan-hai; I;
| probably also there will be an execution.
Would you like to comer'
Not that executions In Canton are rare,
for here they decapi1Dte from two thou
sand to two thousand five hundred ~
criminals year, to say nothing of those
prisonment. But, as rule, these butch.
cries may be said to be off-hand, so sud-
denly and irregularly do they take place.
A European may have been here dozen
years and yet not have an opportunity,
unless he has unusual influence and puts
himself to unusual pains, of seeing one.
L. has lived here these fifteen years, and,
beside thoroughly knowing the city, is q
sufficiently experienced linguist, and he
thought he was offering me an unusual
treat when extending me this invitation.
At flrst, as you can imagine, hardly
thanked him for his offer; but the desire
of seeing nearly and in company with an
experienced cicerone the workings of that
Chinese Judicial system of which had
read accounts that deemed fantastic, in
f1uenced me to accept. Let US go as far
as the prison, anyway" said.
Nan hal, the larger of the prisons of
Canton, is situated in the center OF the
Chinese city, at considerable distance
from the European quarter. Nothing
more gloomy than the surroundings of
this Jail can be imagined. Round it
swarm ragged, haggard, sallow men, with
iron rings round their necks, to padlocks
in which are fastened chains riveted to
iron balls or blocks of stone, which they
drag painfully over the soil as they pass
| through the throng begging of the visitors
or offering small trinkets of their own
manufacture for sale.
The prison is heap of rude buildings
grouped around large yard or ward, at
the back of which is the door reserved for
the passage cf the Mandarins to the halls
set apart for the administration of justice.
Such justice! In the cages of the prison
hundreds of prisoners, heaped together,
pell nell, await their fate, given over to
hunger, famine and vermin. There is no
Imprisonment here as q punishment, and
often those who are condemned to suffer
death or stripes are left to depend on the
public or scanty charity for food. { Let
those who pity scoundrels feed them,'
says maxim.
The aspect Of these dens is at once pitt
full and repugnant. Spectral faces fit
behind the bars and f1eshless fingers i'm
plore aims; you can see dimly human
forms writhing upon heaps of filth; from
the shadows come the clinking of chains
and an odor 50 nauseousl The women's
ward is not different; there, too, am
told, young girls, wives and mothers are
frequently held as hostages till their ia
thers, husbands or sons are arrested or
have given themselves up.
In one cage I was shown woman of
forty OF thereabouts. "She poisoned her
husband, and is to be cut, while living,
into thirty four pieces" said L. "That
is a common punishment. She has been
waiting death for three months" He ac-
companied his explanation by gestures
sufficiently significant, but to which the
miserable wretch paid no attention. She
merely threw out skinny hand, into
which we threw few cash.
Facing the condemned cells is room
occupied by spies, placed here to listen to
the conversation of the condemned men
not to elicit information that may change
a sentence for the sentences are irrevOca-
bIe(. but to find clues for tracking out
The courtroom is a square hall trav-
ersed by two rows of pillars. On either
side were soldiers, turnkeys and clerical at
tendants; behind tapestried table four
Mandarins, wearing peacocks' plumes.
Knecling on the tiles before them, naked
to the waist, was man, by whom stood a
soldier armed with stout bamboo.
The prisoner was undergoing examina-
ton. He had already received, we were
told, forty blows, and his back was raw
and bloody. He was nearly ripe for con
fession. | shall never forget the face of
the Mandarin who was conducting the ex.
animation, for never have seen one SO
coldly cruel, with little oblique eyes, thin
and tightly drawn lips, sharp chin, a
lowering forehead, devilish compound
of the cat and the hyena. Looking upon
him recalled the Chinese proverb which
SAYS: I" Rather than fall into the Manda.
rims hands, it is better to cast yourself
headlong from tower"
"So," said the Judge, according to my
friends interpreting, "you admit that
YOU were present Who else was there at
the same timer Was so-and so not pres
sent as we'll ?" " He was," said the pris-
oner. "And so.and-so2" eyes" And
who else? ?' 81 saw no one else." "There
were others. Try and recollect." 81 can
not reco llect. saw no one else."
The Mandarin made sign and the at
tendant soldier seized the prisoners pig
tail and brought the bamboo down furious
ly on his bleeding back. kill me! kill
mel" shrieked the wretch. II saw no
one else." You will not speak, then ?"
said the Mandarin, icily, with another
gesture, in obedience to which another at
tendant stepped forward, bearing an arm
full of instruments of torture, pinchers to
tear out teeth and fracture jaws, thumb
screws, rattans, mallets to break the fin
gers, know not what.
As he approached the prisoner this lat
ter set himself 10 speak with a frightful,
feverish volubility, so rapidly, indeed
that L., comparatively expert Interpreter
though he was, could hardly follow him.
The poor wretch confessed, gave names,
grew incoherent, poured out string of
other names-at haphazard, and without
the slightest idea of what he was saying,
l think.
Horror stricken was about to leave the
hall when there was great stir in tine
audience chamber, and there entered,
smiling, tall and stout man of some fifty
years, wearing the insignia of Mandarin
Of the highest rank. The others left their
chairs, the cat faced inquisitor assumed
an affable air, and for five minutes there
was chin-chinning, a complimenting, q
bowling and scraping as ceremonious as if
we had been at Versailles in the time of
Louis XIV. After this avalanche of
politeness the Mandarin, who had ap-
parently only called in to take his leave
of his colleagues, went out again by the
door of honor, and they, taking on their
passionless faces, returned to their work.
" He is going to preside at the execu-
tion.'' said L make haste" We
found the courtyard thronged with yel-
low uniformed soldiers armed with hal
herds and matchlocks, cavaliers on little
coffee colored ponies, parasols, banners,
gongs, q rich sedan chair carried by six
coolies robed in red, all the cortege of a
great Mandarin, and in the middle,
seated on the ground in baskets, with sui
len countenances and heavily ironed, .
dozen ragged men, the victims
At each moment new captive was
brought up. Ono by one a police officer
lugqed them out of the cell; each was