Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-27
From The STARS Travelling Commissioner.


ROOM scESE-EArINs BAMBoo-MoUrH SLAP
PING AID ANKLE NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
From The STARS Travelling Commissioner.
Reader, be warned. i have looked upon
men being cruelty tortured; l have stood in the
shambles where human beings are slaughtered
like pigs; my boots have dripped with the
blood of my fellow-creatures; l must exercise
memory with my pen. Therefore, gentle
reader, unless your nerves are fairly strong and
your taste healthily sorry, pass this letter by.
Turn rather to the harmless editorial.
1t was in Canton, a city like no other Chinese
city have seen, a colossal human ant-hill, an
endless labarynth of streets dozen feet wide
and score high. crowded from daylight to
dark with double stream.of men and women,
exactly like the double stream between an ant
hill and carcase. All this mass of humanity
Is presided over by the most foreigner-hating
viceroy in China, and therefore it may be i'm
agined what is the temper of the populace, es-
pecially as the Cantonese are the most turbu-
lent people of the fowery kingdom.
THE STREETS OF CANTON.
During the day the streets of Canton are in
semi-obscurity, as they are closed in at the top
by broad strips Of cloth and long advertising
streamers; but at night they are as black as
Tartarus. Public safety and order are sup
posed to be preserved by occasional posts OF
soldiers, with a collection Of weapons and in
struments of torture hung up outside to strike
terror into the evilly-disposed. But, as may be
imagined, crime of every kind is rife in Cam
ton, and so bad is the reputation OF the place
that very often a servant from another part Of
China. travelling with his master, will rather
forfeit his situation than accompany him there.
And where the crime is, there is the punish
ment too. 1t by no means follows in China
that the person punished is the criminal, but
there is enough cruelty in Canton to glut an
Alva. Respect for the presence of an occa-
sional foreigner causes a good deal of it to be
hid, and the spectacle of man hung up in a
cage to starve to death in public is not a COM
mon one there, as it is in other parts. But
think can describe enough to satisfy you.
DISPENSING JUSTICE.
The magistrate sat in his yamen dispensing
justice. He was benevolent looking. man Of
perhaps forty, with an intellectual forehead
and an enormous pair of spectacles. He
glanced up at Us as we entered visiblv an
noyed at the intrusion and hardly returning
our salutation. But as we were under the wing
of a consul for whom Chinese offcialdom has
no terrOrs whatever, fact of which the Can
tonese authorities have had repeated ex-
perience, we made ourselves quite at home.
There was little of the pomp of western law in
the scene before us. The magistrates own
chair, drsped with red cloth covered with in
scriptions In large characters, was almost the
only piece of official apparatus, and behind it
were grouped half dozen of the big red pre-
sentation umbrellas of which every Chinese
official is proud. Before him was a large
open space and motley crowd, in which the
most conspicuous figures were the filthy black
guards IN red hats, known as ''yamen runners"
whose business is to clear the way before their
master IN the streets and do anything else that
he wishes, down to the administration of tor
hA oot fl1v
silent, writing busily, while several persons
before him gabbled all at the same time. These
were presumably the plaintiff, the defendant
and the policemen.
EFFECT OF WORD.
After while the magistrate interrupted one
of the speakers with a monosyllable spoken in
low tone without even raising his head, but
the effect was magical. The crowd fell back
aud one OF the little group in front of the chair
wrung his hands and heaved a theatrical sigh
Before we could realize what had happened
half dozen pairs Of very willing hands were
helping him to let down his trousers, and when
this was accomplished to the satisfaction of
everybody he laid himself face downward on
the floor. Then one of the runners" stepped
forward with the bamboo, a strip of this tough
est OF plants three feet long, two inches wide
and half an inch thick. Squatting by the side
OF the victim and holding the bamboo perfectly
horizontal close TO the flesh, he began to rain
light blows on the mans buttocks. At first the
performance looked like a farce, the blows were
SO light and the receiver of them so indifferent
But as the shower of taps continued with mo-
notonous persistence bethought me of
THE OLD FIESDIsH TORTURE
of driving a man mad by letting a drop of
water fall every minute on his shaved head.
After a few more minutes OF the machine-like
rap-tap-tap, rap-tap-tap, a deep groan broke
from the prisoners lips. / walked over to look
90 - a L
the dogging. Then it became congested with
blood, and whereas at first he had lain quiet of
his own accord, now a dozen men were holding
him tight. The crowd gazed at him with broad
grins on their faces, breaking out from time to
time into a suppressed ''Hi-yah" as he writhed
In special pain or cried out in agony. And all
this time the ceaseless shower Of blows con-
tinued, the man who welded the bamboo put
ting not particle more force into the last
stroke than into the first At length the mag
istrate dropped another word and the torture
stopped as suddenly as it had begun; the pris-
oner was lifted to his feet and led across the
court 70 lean against the wall For obvious rea-
sons he could not be accommodated with a
chxir."
SHAM PUNISHMENT.
The next person to be called up was a police
man. The magistrate put question or two to
him and listened patiently for a while to his
rambling and ELUSIVE replies. Then as before
tAt lalaA HpSsAAdDio uTOppeQ from his IDS,
With the greatest promptitude the policeman
prepared himself, assumed the regulation atti-
tude and the hagellstion began again. But I
noticed that the blows sounded altogether diff
ferent from before, much sharper and shriller.
like wood falling upon wood, rather than
wood falling upon flesh. So drew near TO
examine. Sure enough, there was a vital
difference. The policeman had attached a
small piece Of wood to his leg by means
OF wax, and on this the blows fell taking no
more effect upon his person than if they had
been delivered on the sole Of his boot The
fraud was perfectly ransparent-everybody in
the room, including the magistrate himself.
must have known what was happening Thus
another popularity Of Chinese justice is evil
IDENTIFY that the punishment of an ordinary Of
fender is one thing while that of an erring
official is quite another. l learned that the DO
hceman was ordered to be bambooed for not
bringing In prisoner whom the magistrate
had ordered him to produce. When the sham
punishment was over he jumped briskly to his
feet, adjusted his clothing aud resumed his
duties about the court.
RECALLING THE BRUTAL AGES,
While We had been watching the process of
''eating bamboo" far different punishments
were going on in another part Of the court
room, unnoticed by us. The bamboo is not so
very far removed from still existent civilized
deterrent methods, but what was now before
Us recalled the most brutal ages. In one cor
ner man had been tied hand and foot on small
bench the length OF his back, in such manner
that mis- body was bent as far back as il could
possibly be stretched in the form of a circle,
L.. y II.