The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-31
THHHEADs ARE TIED TO TREES
lies they hang down by the cue.

I'm h1AO 10 AM TED 10 1hhEO
or poles they hang down by the cue.
At the back of this execution ground
stood half dozen wooden crosses. If you
VIII take piece of telegraph pole eight
feet long and set a similar pole five feet
long into it at right angles two feet from
the top you will have the Chinese cross
II is upon these crosses that the criminals
are bound when they are to undergo the
punishment of Ling Chi or slicing to death
which IS the sentence for all who murder a
brother, a parent, a teacher, husband OF
an uncle. The criminal is stripped, and
his feet are raised upon a brick or a stone
His cue is tied up to the cross, and his arms
are stretched out upon its arms A British
naval officer, whom l met at Hong Kong,
described an execution Of this kind which
he Witnessed q few weeks ago.
1t made me feel very green at first, .
said he, but after it was begun I could not
keep my eyes off of it. l have had the ex-
perience over again three times in my
dreams, and l would not want to see it
again. | had the best guide in Canton, and
we saw the execution from the roof of one
Of the buildings beside the execution
ground. There were two criminals, and it
took about thirty minutes to cut each Of
them to pieces. The first cuts sliced off the
cheeks, and the second the eyebrows
After these, a man held fan before the
faces Of the prisoners, and all we could see
Of them was the blood running down upon
their bodies. The next cut was of the flesh
between the hand and the elbow, and the
arteries We're first bound above the place
cut so that the man would not bleed to
death before the ceremony was completed.
THIN THE SHOULDERS WERE CUT OFF.
Then the flesh of the thighs, and after this
the calves of the legs. The seventeenth
and eighteenth cuts removed the hands, and
the last cut took the head from the body
In both cases the men did not faint away
The pain was too terrible. They could not
their writing were horrible. The last cut
killed them. 1t was not a very safe place
for myself and my friend. There were
several hundred Chinese present, and
more hardened looking set | have never
seen. They caught sight of US and the
boys among them began to yell at US, and
to their fingers and draw them around their
threats, pointing at US as though they
would cut our heads OFF Our guide got
frightened, and he took US down and put US
in the cellar of the house through a trap
door where we stayed for couple of hours
until the crowd had dispersed. They We're
very threatening, and the blOOdthirsty
sight had reused their passion to such an
extent that if they had caught hold of US
our lives would not have been safe"
Mr.. Cheshire, the Chinese secretary of
our legation at Picking, and one of the
ablest of our representatives in China pur-
sued his studies of the Chinese language in
Chinese clothes, living in a Chinese house
and wearing a cue. He went into all parts
of the Chinese cities, and into the most out
of-the-way places. He described to me two
executions which he witnessed. One by
strangulation and the other by decapitation.
1.-The Chinese" he said, ''prefer to be
strangled rather than to have their heads
cut off. The man who is beheaded can
only come to earth again to fill the Office Of
executioner and this is the Vilest of Chinese
occupations. Strangling is a respectable
method of taking off. 1t is inflicted on
izidnappers and on all thieves who steal
articles of more than $500 in value. The
prisoner is fastened to a cross, and strong
piece of Irvine is tied around his neck and
fastened at the upper part of the perpen-
dicular bar.
SUCH DEATHS ARE SLOW;
and another method is twisting the cord
until a man dies. The agony l cannot de
scribe. but l shall never forget the
strangled mans face"
seThe man saw decapitated," continued
Mr.. Cheshire, twas forced to kneel. His
hands were tied behind him, throwing his
neck to the 1rOnJ anu LIie dSSlSOan6 VI Lle
executioner pulled the head further out by
holding on to the mans cue. One blow of
the sword severed the neck, and the execu-
toner ran with the head to the magistrate
At this execution half dozen prisoners
We're brought to the execution ground, but
only one of them was beheaded, the sent
ence of the others being committed at the
last moment. Before the execution took
place, I walked among the prisoners smok-
ing. One of them asked me for cigar,
and l gave it to him. He lighted it and
smoked it with gusto. 1t was this very man
who was picked out of the half dozen to
have his head cut of. Curious, wasn't
lit"
might fill another column with the
stories l have heard of Chinese punish
ments and crimes The bamboo which
grows to the height of fifty feet and up
ward, gets its entire growth in few weeks.
1 have heard of prisoners being tied over