The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-02-06
EXECUTION By IMPLEMENT.
One Horrible Method of Administering JUS
tfce in japan.

One Horrible Method of Administering JUS
tice in Japan.
A traveller in Japan writes One
morning while I was at Yokohama l was
informed that q criminal was about to
lie publicly put to death, and the NOR
bid curiosity which has more or less a
strong hold upon most of us induced me
to sally forth and witness the execution;
This is what I saw: When | reached
the place appointed for carrying into
effect the capital sentence, the unfor-
tunate convict, a fne-looking Japanese,
st the prime of youth and strength, was
anding under a huge post i'll the mid
die of a little posse of guards. Inc
post had a crosspiece. Nearly nude, he
was standing erect, but as motionlesS as
a statue, while his fearless but dreamy
eyes gazed straight into the distance be-
fore him, as if he was looking at some
far-off object looming upon n horizon
visible only to his distracted vision.
There was no token of terror i'll his de-
termined face, no sign Of shrinking III
his quiescent but tensely strung body.
Presently there was a movement among
the little knot of those surrounding HIN.
His ~jailers moved aside and there strobe
into the circle q gaunt, repulsive-looklng
native, clad from head to>foot in a dress
of dingy yellow. The executioncr-for
it was ile-was accompanied by a couple
of assistants, who carried some half
dozen long, round bamboo rods, about a
couple of fingers thick at their largest
end, and tapering to half that size ut the
other, which was sharply pointed. The
rods were laid upon the ground, and the
trinities of death clapped hold Of the lv-
ing statue before them. In a trlce the
human efigy, who made no attempt ut
resistance, and who, rs far as / observed,
never even opened his lips, was grimly
dangling Oh the post, his arms stretched
ont right and left along the crosspiece.
There was now a slight pause. The exc
. c~uticners dallied with the bamboos, and
the poor creature spread eagled on the
post still looked into the shadowy dis
lance, still was dumb; but I thought
I could detect a yellow pallor stealing
up his face. Perhaps he was collecting
all his resolution to meet the terrible
ordeal he knew YVES close upon him.
The principal executioner,. who mean
while had selected q couple Of bamboos
to his mind, now steppedto the left side
of his expectant victim, spat upon the
point of one of his weapons, and with a
twisting, pushing motion thrust it easily
into the flesh about halfway between
the hip and the armpit. The poor
wretch upon the cross turned his gaze
slowly down upon his tormentor, and
his lips slightly opened. But he made
no struggle-he uttered no cry. His
resolution, his courage, were super
human. I looked at the executioner.
He was calmly continuing to push and
wriggle the bamboo further and further
into the body. In q couple of minutes,
though it seemed much longer, the
bloody point of the instrument emerged
from the top of the sufferers shoulder.
There was a slight exclamation of salts
faction from the crowd, just the sort Of
hum that escapes from those watching a
daring swimmer when his head appears
above the surface after a long dive; and
the fend at the other end of the bamboo
stopped wriggling, let 60 his hold and
stepped back. Now, I thought, he is
going to give the poor creature his
coup de grace. Not q bit of it. He
crossed to the opposite side of the post,
calmly inserted the second weapon in the
same spot on the sufferers other flank,
and worked awa till it came out above
the armpit. All this time not a single
groan, not one ~despairing cry for mercy
escaped the man thus doubly impaled.
Lis head dropped little upon his chest,
al his eyes were half-closed, but he
wss evidently alive and conscious. At
thi moment, to my amazement, the exc
c~ltioner and his assistants, picking up
the unused bamboos, began to walk
away. "What,"I asked, els the execu-
ton ended? Are they going to leave
the man in that fearful agony2" ooh,
yes," I was told, call is over The
criminal is finished with. He will die
presently-in an hour, two hours, or, as
he seems very strong, perhaps not till
nightfall; but nobody will touch him
any more. The bamboos will be left in
him, and when he is quite exhausted he
will expire" Icould bear no more. 1
was powerless to interfere, but, sick at
heart, I turned on my heel, loathing the
barbarous cruelty I had just witnessed.
I learned afterwards that the unfortunate
wretch had fingered ten long hours be-
fore Death (Which in Japan would seem
as brutal as Justice) remembered and
released him.
His slow death is accounted for by the
fact that q Japanese executioner is care
fully taught to avoid the vital organs of
the criminal he has to impale. The
rore slowly the victim expires, the
greater the reputation Of his butcher.