Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-04-12
The Russian KnOut.

There is probably no more terrible
instrument of punishment, or it may
perhaps be more properly called torture,
than the knout in the hands of Rus
sian executioner. To give our readers
some idea OF its form, the mode of ad-
ministering it, and its horrible effects,
we quote the following from recently
published work, entitled "The Knout
and the Russians:" Conceive, reader,
a robust man, full of life and health.
This man is condemned to receive fifty
or a hundred blows of the knout. He
is conducted, half naked, to the place
chosen for this kind of execution. All
that he has on is pair of simple linen
drawers round his extremities. His
hands are bound together, with the
palms laid fiat against one another, and
the cords are breaking his wrists; but
no one pays the slightest attention to
that. He is laid flat upon his stomach,
on frame inclined diagonally, and at
the extremities of which are fixed iron
rings; his hands are fastened to one end
of the frame, and his feet to the other;
he is then stretched in such a manner
that he cannot make single movement,
just as an cells skin is stretched in order
to dry. This act of stretching the VIC
tim causes his bones to crack, and dis
locates them-but does that matter At
the distance of fve-and-twenty PAGES
stands another man; it is the public
executioner. He is dressed in black
velvet trousers, stuffed into his boots,
and a colored shirt buttoning at the side.
His sleeves are tucked up, so that moth;
ing may thwart or embarrass him in his
movements. With both hands he grasps
the instrument of punishment-a knout
This knout consists of thong of thick
leather, cut in triangular form, from
four to five yards long, and an inch wide,
tapering off at one end, and broad at the
other; the small end of which is fasten-
ed to little wooden handle, about two
feet long. The signal is given; no one
ever takes the trouble to read the SEN
tence. The executioner advances a few
steps, with his body bent, holding the
knout in both hands, while the long
thong drags along the ground between
his legs. On coming to about three or
four PAGES from the prisoner, he raises,
by vigorous movement, the knout
towards the top of his head, and then
instantly draws it down with rapidity
towards his knees. The thong flies and
whistles through the air. and descending
on the body of the victim, twines round
it like hoop of iron. In spite of his
state of tension, the poor wretch bounds
as if he were submitted to the powerful
grasp of galvanism. The executioner
retraces his steps, and repeats the same
operation as many times as there are
blows to be inflicted. Where the thongs
envelopes the body with its edges, the
flesh and muscles are literally cut into
stripes, as if with razor; but when il
falls flat, then the bones crack. The
flesh, in that case, is not cut, but crush
ed and ground, and the blood spurts
out in all directions. The sufferer be-
comes green and blue, like body in q
state of decomposition. He is removed
to the hospital, where every care is taker
of him, and is afterward sent to Siberia,
where he disappears for ever in the
bowels of the earth"