The Arizona champion., 1890-05-03
HEADSMAN IN CHINA.
Where Women are Caroed
 to Death at the Stake.
Nine Crimes Invite Capital Punishment The ExecutiOner L. Kept Busy He Must be a Trained Ar
 tist, Without Nerves.
TFron the New York Sun. l

There are in the Chinese crimi- nal calendar nine crimes that are punishable with doath, and the ex- ecationers of the several provinces are in consequence kept tusy with the sword. The crimes are murler in any degree, rape, conspiracy, robbery, counterfei5ing, kidnapping forgery, assaulting parents, and swindling. The manner of execu- tlon is interesting, and the capital prisoners, like those in France, nev- CT know until the hoCr has alm Jst arrived when they are to be taken out to meet death.
 Chinese trials are never very long nor are the proceeding elabor- ate, and acquittals are infrequent. immediately after the convi ;ti n Of criminal the deathe sentence Is pronounced, and then the Governor of the province is officially notified. He Sets the day for the execution. All the condemned men are placed in one cell, Under a strong guard. The night previous to the day upon which they are to suffer all the mel occupying the condemned cell are feasted and wined. A genuine banquet is served at the expense of the Governor. The condemned men know that some of their nun bsr have been picked out to die tn. following day, but it IS imdossible to tell how many or who will be called out. So they all make the most of their feast and drink up al. the wine, and generally wind up the affair by turnbiing over on their strips of mating in state of com plete intoxication. It has been said that the wine and dinner were designed as sort of "bracer" pre- paratory to the criminals taking of. As rule the banquet lasts until daybreak, and lively farces, intro ductory to the tragedy; are enac4ed during the night in the cell where the keepers and guards act as walters.
 At daybreak on the morning of the execution a ''poye, or marshal, accompanied by half a dozen sol diers, appears at the cell door with list of names, which he solemnly reads of to the half-drunken wretch es. When he has finished he says: "Goon hi ta koo" q greet you on your ascension
 The cell door is then opened y the guards, and the soldiers, each picking out-or up, as the case may be--a man, Uegins to disrobe him. When the naked men have been stood up in a row, a short red cape is placed over the shoulders of each, and their hands are bound be- hind their backs with ropes, their feet are chained together, and ropes are tied around their heads at the line of the mouth. This latter answers a double purpose, as it makes a very handy and effective gag, and can be used with effect in lifting the head up. These preiimi- naries finished, the men are bundled into bamboo baskets like so many sacks of rice. The baskets are provided with ropes and pair of poles each, and the soldiers carr y them as they would carry sedan chairs.
 A procession is formed outside of the jail. The soldiers carrying the baskets, lead, escorted by the exc cutioners with drawn swords. I'm mediately behind them is a man with an enormous gong, upon which he produces, with the aid of a pad ded drumstick, a series of tolling notes. The sound is said to be mournful in the extreme. Then