The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-31

might have been pens for the carrying Of
hogs TO country fair. These were so low
That man could not sit up in them, and it
IS n these that criminals are often carried
TO execution. These had been used the day
before for the caging of criminals, and I
took look at the prisoners who had been
taken from TO the Jail | wanted to go
through this prison, but was told that if l
did so would probably have my clothes
torn from me by the prisoners, as they
were bad lot and had killed their Tailor a
few days before. l looked through hole
in the door and saw the most brutal faces l
have as yet seen in China. The men were
chained to the wall like wild beasts, and
some of them had chains about their necks
as well as their feet The smell was horri-
bic, and the Chinese prison is By no means
sanitary Institution. Each prison has its
dead house connected with it, and deaths
f,om semi starvation and torture are not
uncommon. The jailors make large part
of their salary by squeezing, and money
will do as much and more for the criminal
in China than it will in America. Judges
sometimes pay 700 and $4,000 for their
appointments, and he is poor money
maker who does not get rich during his
term. The tautoi of Shanghai gets a
salary of about 81 600 and his Office is
estimated to be worth more than 100000 a
year. The commissioner Of customs at
Tientsin nOminally receives a salary of
about the same size, but l am told that he
makes about 100000 year, and his profits
all come from brides or squeeZes. This
system of squeezing goes through the
whole course of Chinese Officialdom, and
the iaierS exact money from the relatives
of the criminals They have the right to
sell the food to the criminals, and they
make them pay high prices. If they cannot
pay, they must, in many cases, go without.
Tho prir,ir,n1- ,Cply +barnca1vyoc ho
jail, and they are allowed about 2 cents a
day for fuel They have an allowance by
the law of rice, but the iailOr gives them
this or not as he pleases.
Three coolies carried me in a chair from
the court in Canton to the execution
ground, and l had
CHAT WITH THE RXECUTIoNER.
He was nasty, dirty, bloodthirsty looking
fellow, with hair an inch long standing out
like bristles over the front of his head and
about his cue He had not been busy for
several days, and he took delight in explain
ing to me the uses of the heavy sword, and
the scientific cuts which he made with it.
This sword was abOu5 four feet long. 1t |
has blade as sharp as razor, and it is |
about quarter OF an inch thick at the |
back, and more than two inches wide. He |
used both hands in swinging it about, and |
ne told me that my neck would be an easy
one to slice off, but that he would not like |
to have to cut up my thin frame by the |
shcing process. This execution ground of |
Canton is used as a crockery factory, and |
the making Of pots goes on when executions
are not in progress. 1t is q narrow court |
between two high walls on the banks of the |
Canton river, and the heads are cut off in |
the open air. Upon my asking what was |
done with the heads of the criminals, he |
told me, through my interpreter, that they |
were often thrown into jars of quick lime, |
and that he would take one out and show me |
for the sum Of 10 cents. In the interest of |
THE HERALD, I subscribed this amount, and |
ne pulled out half-eaten skull by the pig |
tail and showed its CHASTITY ugliness to me |
There were about dozen of these earthen |
Jars at the back of this execution ground !
They were about tie size OF twenty gal |
lon ktg, and were covered with paper. |
They We're full Of heads, and probably rep |
resented a years executions. AS soon as |
the head is taken off it is carried up to the |
magistrate or officer in charge and shown. |
and IL is often exposed in a cage or on |
pole as warning to others. The cages in
which the heads are put are OF the size of |
little bird cages, and when