The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-12-22
CHINESE I JUSTICE
SUMMARY METHODS OF DEAL
ING WITH CRIMINALS.
E1ecutioners. Who Weld Large
Swords With Deadly Will
Substitutes Who Sell Their
Lives for Fifty Dollars.

not secured red. handed blythe neighbors
or bystanders, the friends, relatives or
clan of the victim may be relied upon to
bring the SLAYER along. He is hauled
straight into the presence of the nearest
sitting Magistrate and the case disposed
If there and then. Sentence is passed
| 1t that identical sitting, without any
postponements, and the only delay
IS while it has to be ratified from the
Board of Punishmcnts at the Tsung Ii.
Yamen. This tr.bunal requires sylla-
bus Of the case as matter Of form, but
almost invariably and on principle in-
dorses the verdict of the Magistrate. No
counsel are employed, and the culprit
makes no appeal, nor does he have an OPP
portunity Of challenging the jury, be-
cause his fate is in the hands of one man,
and though sometimes (as in most civ
ilized countries too, money will turn
aside the sword of justice, it then only
remains for the murdered mans faction
to see the issue out-lynch law and its
immunities being recognized in China
! too. ~ - -. E.
An ordinary decapitation may be de-
scribed as follows: The death order has
arrived from Pckin, and the condemned
is given as few hours as possible before
sundowu of the same day. Like our
Western institution, he is allowed as.
good o meal rs he likes to take, and what
is more desirable still, enough rice-dis-
titled spirit to almost stupefy him. Then
he is stripped to the waist, his hands
| tied behind his ba k. and marched of
TO the scene of execution. Perhaps sew;
eral other cases have been dealt with in
the same dispatch from the Board ol
| Punishment, and th n thereis q batch to
be disposed of, with makes it less de-
sirable, as affecting the city editors de-
partment of the local press; but the pub
lie are treated to one great collection OF
portraits, biography and incident, and
then the Chinese paterfamilias has no
| need to keep continuance OF detail:
from the reading OF his famRy. 5as: 81
The execution ground is usually .
square of some quarter of a mile on every
side, with Yamen or grand stand at its
northern end, for the accommodation OF
the principal officers of the show. In the
open ground in front of the dais of the
chairman of the proceedings is q small
sanded patch where the butchery is per-
formed. The public are freely invited,
and patronize. the entertainment in such
numbers that, unlike here, there is very.
/ little that few favored chroniclers can
tell of it that would como nnder thehead-
ing of news. The culprits kneel in q
little group at the side of the sand -pateh,
| under charge of few soldiers, inva:
riably exhibiting stolid indifference and
lack of emotional fear. There are no
addresses to the crowd, or cries OF mercy
or fainting away, nor any of those scat
fold scene demonstrations which our re-
porters 80 love to reyel in. The same
sort of thing has been going on for thou
sands of years in China, so that conven-
tionality has taught the sufferer how TO
behave. Perhaps 70. Q will vince when
he sees No. Us head roll on the sand. but
he will step up and kneel down on the
bloody spot with sang froid.
The exccutioner, big burly fellow
with two handed sword, waits q mol
or exclamation from the chairman and
the blow that "o.lows is usually enough.
While the signal is waiting an assistant
has pulled up the condemued's bound
arms from his back so as to force the
neck and h:ad out in position for the
stroke, and when it has fallen the trunk
is allowed to fall forward lengthwise, the
head is removed in a BASKET to be 5ex-
hibited somewhere in the vicinity OF the
committal of tie crime, and the body.
when dragged OF to the side, is either
left on the ground to be devoured by
beast and bird or handed over to the
| friends. But this is a matter for pecuniary
arrangement with tho presiding author.
tiles and matters not much either one
way or the other If there is not some
chance of eventually obtaining the head.
The Canton execution ground is Uttered
with human bones, and the city dogs
often gather there; but in Soochow and
mid China this extremity. is not much in
vogue.
q. There is one peculiar and almost In
credible thing which will givea fair idea
of how the Chinese regard the death
penalty and serving to show what hu-
man life is there valued at. 1t is an &C
tual fact that in s,me cases substitution
can be instituted, ard in such cases 9
substitute can be readily found. Money
will secure almost anything in this en-,
lightened country, but we have yet to
hear of one who can be paid for execu-
tion by proxy. Money here will make
men risk almost certain death, but it IS
TO be doubted whether Vanderbilt had
millions enough tn secure man to stand
for hanging in cold blood. Any one ac.
auainted with the ways and customs OF
China will, however, testify that soo
will at any time, and in numbers, secure
men to step up beneath the executioner's
sword and die An explanation can only
be given in considering the perfect de-
gelopment of the p,triarchial system in
China; a development which makes it
possible for a fam ly or clan to persuade
one of it's number of the perfect advisa-
bility or legitimacy of his laying down
his minute and valueless life for the ben
eft of anything that may accrue to the
surviving strugglers. It is tremendous
md inexplicabIe theory for US to crap
ole with, respassing, as it does, on the
foundation of our civil atom. We would
,huddcr at it in the abstract, just as we
,h:rk, with our niceties, all the terrible
sides of the struggle for existence. But
the Chinaman, toned down by four
thousand years of existence, looks all the
lime with the same material and matter
of-fact eye on the value OF human fesh
and blood as when condemned to take
his last turn on the sanded patch.
San Francisco Call.