The bee., 1883-08-25
APPALLING PUNIsHMESTs.
The Horrible Tortures Inflicted Upon Bur.
mese CIiminaIs-sThe 0rientaTs Dkre'
gard of Death.

PnlidQeIph.a RES says: Although
the atrocities committed in Upper
Burmah in the name of authority are
Enough to scandalize civilization even
at the present day, it would be unfair
to judge the | eople by any standard
common to the civilized races. Some
thing must be allowed for the habits
Of 0rientals, who, for generations
past, have known the worst barbara
ties. Something, too, must be allowed
for that contempt Of, death which
an Oriental, whether he be Hindoo,
Mohamme1an or Buddhist, has had in
stilIed into him from his earliest years.
The ext aorlinary punishments atone
time current all over the East. and
still in vogue in places which havenot
come under the influence of a more or
less enlightened Western power, are
traceable to that same contempt of
death and to certain familiarity with
DEATH Tyrants found that by ordinary
methods of execution they could in
spire no terror. A man accepted
death complacently as his fate, waich,
if it did not come later. might just as
well come sooner. He did not consider
that year or two in the long cycl5s
Of eternity made much difference one
way or another. His mind projected
far beyond the three-score years and
ten allotted to man by the Psalmist.
Therefore, their tyrannical rulers, in
order to make themselves feared and
felt, were compelled to superadd tor
lures to the penalty of death.
The practice of suttee, or widow
burning, is striking example of the
fearlesSneSs of the Hindoo for death.
Forty years ago young woman, whose
husband had died, would 5ioyfully
mount the pyre and fire the wood her
self, 50 that she might the sooner re-
join her lord in paradise. The holo-
caust of Chittore is one of the most
remarkable deeds of female resolution
and courage ever recorded. When the
Mogul invaders entered Rajpootana,
the Raipoot warriors were defeated.
Then three hundred Raipoot la1ies
solemnly vowed that they would never
fall into the possession of any Mo-
hammedan. They proceeded to the tall
tower of Chittore, which stands a
blackened but venerated mark to this
day, and locked themselves within it.
Then when the Mogul army appeared
before its gates, they sang a song of
triumph and defiance, and set the
tower on fire, perishing thus gallantly
before the eyes of the ast0niShed Mo
hammedan warriors. | was talking
once with an old Anglo-Indian resident
about the apparent cruelty of Burmese
executions. | mentioned the public
crucifXions | had often seen in Man
dalay and the number of deaths which
would be ordered occasionally 20 please
the whim of tyrant or perhaps to do
honor to such a brute as the so-called
white elephant. He replied that he
lived in a native state of Hindostan
many years ago, when it was Gus
tomary to put persons to death with
accompaniments of the most revolving
cruelty. Suffocation by crowding
m lSseS Of human beings in small
dungeon, as was done in the famous
case of the Black Hole of Calcutta, was
common enough, but ingenuity of the
most diabolical description was called
into requisition to produce death and
torture.
In all parts of India the cactus, or
prickly pear bush, is common. 1t
is very thick, and literally covered with
thorny spines. Years ago, before the
British became predominant in Hind)-
stan, maharajahs and rajahs dis
covered in the cactus an excellent in
strument Of death and torture. Strip
ping their victim naked, they would
cast him clear into the middle Of a
clump Of cactus, and leave him there.
You would think he could easily
scramble out and escape Impossible.
The moment he was cast into the fatal
bed, the spineS CT thornS entered him
in thousand directions, and every ef-
fort he made to free hi nself only sank
him deeper into the relentless cactus
clump Meanwhile the blazing sun
beats down upon the miserable wretch,
whose groans and screams are passed
unheeded by every soul who hears
them. Paralysis eventually sets in.
Another Hin 90 mode Of punish
ment mentioned by my old Anglo-In-
dian friend was equally horrible. You
are probably acquainted with the fact
that the bamboo liant grows with
wonderful rapidity in tropical eli
mate. That fact did not escape the
notice of Hindoo tyrants. Sharpening
bamboo shoot, and planting it in the
earth with the sharp end upward. they
would order the victim to be led to it.
Looking around, he would see no in
strum Mt of death near by. and feel re-
lieved, perhips, that his life was to be
spared. His torturers would congrat-
u ate him, and ask him to be ated on
the earth. He would obey. They
would place his body imm diately
above the concealed bamboo shoot and
then tie him down by stakes so that
he couli not move. As night wore on
the victim would realize his fate. He
would find that slowly, but with terri
ble certainty, the bamboo was growing
up into his body. He was generally
left TO his fate. Growing at the rate
of two or three inches night the
sharp-pointed shoot would finally put
an end to his sufferings by penetrating
vital part. But before that took
place what an eternity of agony the
wretch must have passed through 1t
is impossible to conceive what the suf-
ferings of such a wretch must have
been, with that bamboo shoot slowly
and ineXorably growing through his
living body. Fortunately, before the
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