The Dickinson press., 1883-08-04
EXECUTION IN BURMAH.
Tho Cruel Way in Which Royal Per.
sOnages are Put to Death.

sonages are Put to Death.
I Iasked my companion whether many
executions took place here now, and he
'replied:' 'There have been none for
several weeks. because the palace in
'trigues have kept everybody in author
'ity too busy scheming, plotting, and plan
ming to allow them TO get up a public
execution; but not manv months ago 1
saw band Of a score or more men and
women murdered or this sanguinary hill.
lock. Some of the victims had royal
blood in nthem, and they were not butch
cred in the common way. Imagine to
yourself princess charmingly dressed
in silks and jewels, with flowers inter-
twined III her jet black hair, being
pushed or goaded up this hill. The crowd
of spectators clustered in the rice
fields there, or perched upon the roofs
of the houses you see peeping forth
among the mango trees over against us
on our extreme right, set up shout. It
is not shout of pity or mercy. It is
merely one OF holiday excitement. It
is like the murmur you might hear once
at Newgate when the felonappeared up.
on the scaffold, or in the Place de Greve
when the victims head was laid on the
block beneath the quill tine. The sun
is pouring down its brightest rays, which
appear TO concentrate with their great
est brightness on tins hillock. One ex-
ecutioner unbinds the girls raven lair,
tress of 1t round his hands, and pulls
her head violently backward. Another
executioner grasps n bamboo bludseon
with both hands. One, TWO, three! He
swings it in the air, and down it falls
upon that outstretched threat. One,
two. three! and again 1t strikes the poor,
Rasping victim on the same place. The
body falls lifeless, though still quivering.
The princess is dead. Her body is cast
aside disdainfuly.
"Then look at this other group of
men blstling handsome young Bur
mese iii their mldst-hauling at him,
'tugging ut him, to &c, him to the summit
of the mound. He also is of royal blood.
Pride of race, and that disregard for
death which buoys up your true Bud
-dhist as strongly as does the fatalism of
the Wahabee, preserves eQuanimity in
his department.. He has dung some-
thing away over among the crowd. It
is only his shereot: He has done with
it, and long before the brown urchin
WIZ LAO tiSnSu ~ uP VIII ioNO OlOWu
the last embers from it, the spark of life
of its original owner will have joined
elements, and one more Buddhist soul
will have started off on its vast career of
transmigration. See, he stants there
cool and collected, his profile a clear,
dark outline against the unclouded sky.
A high cheek-boned executioner seiEes
his long black hair in front and pulls
his head forward until his chin adjolns
his breast. The second executioner
spits on his hands, grasps his bamboo
club firmly, and-whish! whish! the
bludceon hisses through the air and
falls on the nape of the neck Of The VIC
tim. He falls forward OF. his face, the
first executioner still holding on
the hair. A second blow on the back of
the, ,eck, while the man lies PROSTATE,
settles the matter. An experienced
touch on the red and bruised neck tells
the executioner that the yertebra is
more the body is spurned aside, and
more victims are dragged up the hill.
But these latter are only common vic
Tins and are killed in a common way"
venture to ask my friend what he
calls common killing. He explains: "Ac.
'cording to the Burmese law royal ..blood
must not be shed. This Injunction is
literally obeyed, for while the women
.are dubbed across the throat and the
men across the neck, no blood is split
The common people may be executed in
any way. On the morning of which
speak the common people were hacked
by Burmese,with short sword until
stheir heads rolled of. Sacre! it was a
terrible spectacle. but saw no sign of
shor<or among the spectators. Execu.
sriens in Independent l',lrmah are too
seommon, and have been for centuries, to
excite much public feeling Every man,
woman, and child knows that their turn
may come next, just as they happen 10
encounter the displeasure of some high
official. Come, let us be moving onward
or these vulturcs will think we have
come here to provide them with feast -
Correspondence Philadelphic Press,