The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-01-04
DEATH PENALTIES.
Modes Of Capital Puni-hment Em-
pIsyed in oIden Tia1e-

The term capital punish ne NJ
meaning a fatal operation upon thai
most vital part Of the human frame,
the bead. j. NOW no missioner. but the
tine was when the death penalty Was
By no means directed AZ the head
alone. Death by stnning was. IN al
p-nbzsiiitv. the earliest method OF
Furnishing crimes. the Jews and other
o-ientai nations bSzaz especially gwen
10 this form OF supreme penaly- PROM
the extremely comprehensive code OF
capital offenses which appeared III the
Mosaic code, it Is 70 be concluded that
death By stonIHg was a very com
mon occurrence. and that the "young
mea Of the congregation 10 whom
va intrusted TIE duties Of exeeu-
toner. must have become quite expert
in their office. X Is quite possible,
however, that personal retaliation an
tedated punishment by the eornmnnI-
IS. and that the eye for eye, tooth for
tooth and life for life doctrine was
vigorously carried out For the IN
Simultaneous dispatch OF an offender
the Jews used the sword, but stonIng
continued to b the set form OF capital
panishment up TO the time OF the
christian era. Then cr1citixion took
it, place, form OF death penalty boz
rogEed from the Latin ccnquerors-
According 70 tradition. however, the
Assyrians we're the inventors OF this
particularly unpleasant form OF being
| keu, in suspense. and IL Is a woman.
Sefuirarais. who has the doubtful hon
or az being the first 70 employ i. The
ordinary method of intiieiing i was by
mailing the victim 20 a cross, where he
was left until dead. Occasionally.
however. a cheerful innovation was in
troduced By setting the cross on ire
before the victim death, or Dy letting
wild beasts devour him in his defense
les position. Both the torch and the
laws Of the wild beasts' fangs were
really merciful reIiefs, for eases are on
record in which the victim fingered in
agony for eighteen and twenty days.
Death by crueiGxion was inflicted on
women as well as on men, and such
unspeakable atrocities were practieed
under the guise of Just punishment
that the cross was abolished BY Con-
s;antine the Great about 4. ID. 3l5.
DIFFERENT ROMAN METHODS
Though the Romans were given to
crucifying, il can scarcely be said that
they had any one national form of
capital punishment. They acted
largely after the mikado's plan Of let
ting the punishment ct the crime.
Christians were buruec torn to
pieces by beasts. 5rowne,i in ouag-
inires and rivers and viyisected. Po-
litical offenders. on the other hand,
we're thrown from the Tarpeian rock.
This was a lofty and precipitous
| promontory on one side OF the Capito-
| line bill. Runaway slaves when re-
captured were turned adrift into the
deserts or woods overrun with wild
| snimals; or else bound to a rock and
| left to starye. Ii was customary for
while in Rome TO permit capital Of
| Tenders te select the manner by which
they would meet death and be al
lowed 10 inhict the penalty upon
themselves This custom also OBJ
| tanned in Greece. and when Socrates
was condemned to death for spread
| ing disbelief in the national religion he
chose 10 die by drinking hemlock.
| One OF the most cruel and unusual
OF punishments was that which the
Romans in the latter days OF the re-
public melted ont 10 those who muir
dered either OF their parents. Luke
Owen Pike. II. Il. author OF the His
tory of Crime in England in refer
ring 10 this punishment says;
Not in the amphitheatre. not at the
stake. not on the cross was the parri-
eide 10 perish. A sack was to be his
winding sheet; in that he was to be
sewn up alive and yenomOls serpents
with him. He was to be thrown into
! the sea, if the sea was near at hand
and il not, into a river, so that the
heavens might be hidden from him
while still alive, and the earth deny
him grave when dead.
| Often, however. in addition to the
vipers, there was dog, monkey
and a rooster sewed mp in the sack
with the victim, who was naked. The
sack was usually OF leather.
The oriental nations have always
| been remarkable for the ingenious
cruelty of their death punishments,
although it is doubtful whether they
have been more cruel than the self
| styled highly civilized nations OF the
west Death has come from slow
strangulation from a rope, as was in
vogue in China, for instance. and at
the same time from the use of boiling
oil, which was poured on the joints
after they were dislocated; by mechan-
zeal means, as in France and Germany ;
from tiaying, or stripping the skin off
the body, as was formerly done in
England; and from pressure between
planks, on the upper of which great
weights were placed. as was also in
vogue in England at one time.
CRUELTY AIDED BY INGENUITY.
Every method which human cruelty
could prompt and human ingenuity
devise has been reSorted 10 at one
time or other in ancient or medieval
days, and among nations protesting
to be civilized, to administer torture
| and death. 1t is true that japanese
offenders have been executed by the
slow passage Of a spear upward
through their entrails, and that the
| Chinese criminals have been gradually
beheaded with a banlhoo saw. but az
the same time that most barbarous
form of infliCting the death penalty
the boiling in a caldron. was Eu-
ropean invention.
Decapitation ceased in England in
l745. bat il Is stu performed in France
and some Il the German states, in the
first country By the guillotine and in
the second by the sword, the instru-
ment employed in England having
beer the broad-ax Decapitation with
the sword is also capital punishment in
China. The two-handed sword was in
use in France before the guillotine
was introduced, while for great
crimes the victim was broken on the
wheel II seems 20 have first come
into use in Germany, where il was
employed aS early as the tenth cen
fury. Francis /, about 1925. intro
duced it into France. Ii was en-
ployed for a time also in England
The prisoner designed for death bv
this method was bound 10 an inStru-
ment resembling wheel his legs
and arms being separated as far as
possible and attached TO CrosShars cor.
responding - ~pukcs. As the wheel
revoive3 the limbs of the victim were
/ fractured by heavy blows from 3
heavy iron rod delivered below
the knees and elbows Some
times the rod was held i'm position
Z mechanically. the limbs Of the prison
er, A. he whirlei on the wheel. coming
IN contact with IT, Usually. however,
the rod WAS held Ia the hands o. an
execuuouer, who administered the
blows rs RAPIDLY as he could WELD il
In France the torture Of this mode Of
punishment was esserei in MANY
cases by heavy blows being dealt on
the head and chest of the victim. so q,
Ia shorten Ii. The q bioWs were
called COUP. de zFICe 1r strokes O..