Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-11-16
rnE CHINESE N R
Horrible CFueIties Inflicted on
COOIie Laborers ON the Plauta-
tiOns--A Aife of Slavery Often
tnded fsy Torture.

Cor. New York Herald.l
LIMA. October 12.-All classes
have suffered from the war, but the
Chinese, whose lot has always been a
hard one, have moro reason to com.
plain than any one else. Slavery in
the South was a pleasure in a majority
Of instances as compared with the suf-
ferings of the unfortunate Coolies on
the sugar plantations in Peru. In
some districts a slight improvement in
their treatment has been observable
within the past few years. but in
others, where all restraint over
masters has disappeared with the dis
appearance of law and order and the
uprising Of the Montoneros, the Chi
nese laborers are suffering Incredible
hardships, and frequently wanton tor
turs. Have the public abroad
any idea of the life Of a Coolie on the
majority Of the plantations? He is
aroused before daylight, and turns out
with his fellow prisoners to answer
the muster roll. Should he be lax in
attending. two or three blows are sure
to fall TO his lot. He is driven to the
field or sugar house, as che case may
be, and Immediately set to work.
During the forenoon he is allowed a
half an hour to cook his half pound
Of rice, his occasional piece of meat or
fish, and perhaps a scrap OF vegetables.
This apology for a meal over,
he returns to his labors.
which is vigorously superin.
tended by a taskmaster. At dusk
he is driven back to his pen, where he
eats what serves as his second meal.
and her to bed. A pound of rice per
day is the contract stipulation as a
rule, and even this quantity is not
fairly distributed. The boundaries of
the estates are carefully watched to
prevent men leaving them, and at
night they are all locked up together
in the "galpones," as their prisons are
termed, and which, on large estates,
employing as many as a thousand or
more laborers, might be mistaken for
a modern adaptation of the buildings
of the Pueblo Indians Of the Northern
continent. The lash is unsparingly used
as the punishment for the smallest
peccadillo. and is most cruelty applied
by the half blooded Spanish negroes.
who evidently enjoy their brutal task as
keenly as they do the cowardly bull
torturing, which, by a misnomer. i,
called bull fighting. Evasion is the
most heinous crime in the code of A
plantation, ranking far higher than
murder. 1t IS always severely pun
ished, aud the offender, if carried
back alive, which sometimes he is
not. is kept constantly ION the chain"
This term is employed to describe a
man who has a ring of iron welded
around U of his ankles, to which is
attached a long chain with a weight at
the end. Frequently, instead Of this
weight. the chain terminates in a sim
liar welded ring around the leg Of an
other unfortunate. For some reason
or other the men to be thus punished
are generally chained in pairs,
Dozens of such couples may be seen
on some plantations. Another plan is
also becoming general, and a straight
har, terminating in two rings, is weld
ed on to the victims legs, compelling
him TO move somewhat like a pair of
living compssses. Sometimes an iron
band is welded round the body, with a
chain running from it to a ring round
the ankle. In all cases constant and
extreme suffering is entailed. The
iron rings produce sores on the legs,
and the poor wretches then stuff rags
or other soft substances in to alleviate
the pain they suffer from the wounds
and the singing of the the insects
which swarm in the cane fields.
The tales Of their sufferings,
if FULLY told, would attract sympathy
the world over.