The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-09-13
CRIMINALS IN CHINA.
They Are Subjected to Horrible Tortur
and OfyIctn1 Fxtortion

4
and Onlcial Extortion.
had talk with o Chinese sxecu-
tioner in the execution grounds at Can
ton. He was a surly looking devil, with
q sword as long as my leg, and he pointed
with greedy eyes at my neck as he ex-
planned his business. At one side Of the
execution grounds I noticed number
Of big clay pots with lids on them, and
asked the. man what these were for.
He replied by pulling off one of tho lids
and yanked out ghastly head, holding
it up by long black cue. 1t was cut
off, my guide told me, three days before,
and all Of these pots were, he said, filled
with heads in greater or less degree of
decomposition. In the prisons ut Shang-
hal saw men chat ned to the walls like
wild beasts, and they scowled at me
fiercely as / looked through the bars of
the door. / wanted to enter the prison,
but the jailer would d not permit it, He
said that some men who had gone in
few days before had had their clothes
torn from their bodies by the prison
ers, and it was by no means safe for
foreigner to enter.
Chinese prisons are the worst in the
world The mon are crowded in with
out regard to sanitary regulations, and
if they do not find enough money to buy
something of their jailer they are in
danger Of starvation. The law requires
that each man should have two pounds
of rice and two cents worth Of wood ev-
cry day, but the jailer who, like all Chi
nese officials makes his profits out of
his squeezes, starves them IL they can
not fee him. The turn keys torture
money out of the prisoners and the re-
suit is that the mortality in Chinese
jails is terrible. The pri soners are ex-
pected to cook for themselves, and the
worst of them are heavily ironed. Many
of those 1 saw had iron bands around
their necks, and not few had chains
about their waists.
1t might be supposed that such pun
ishments would decrease crime. They
do not seem to have this effect, and the
Chinese jails are full, and the police
have plenty to do. The Chinese are BIZ
no means moral people. They are in
some respects like the French. They
abound in polite phrases, and will smile
courteously upon you while cutting your
throat. They are tho most sensual
people in the world, and the vices Of
Sodom are common all over the Chinese
Empire. The language used by the
Chinese roughs is more vile than
that of the Bowery or of White
Chapel in London, and superstition
is everywhere common. Tho opium
vice makes many criminals, and you will
find opium saloons everywhere and
thousands smoking in them. / spent
one night in going about with the boys
at Shanghai, and was Mortified with
the sights of the Chinese slums. One
of the opium dens which / visited on
this night had hundreds of smokers,
and its receipts are, am told, $1,000
night. 1t was gorgeously decorated
the furniture was of the finest black
teak wood, and the painted walls were
inlaid with the finest of marbles The
electric light shown through the sicken-
ing opium smoke, md the ceilings of
richly-carved woods had the finest Of
Chinese lamps hanging from them to
add to the scene. The opium smokers
were in little cells, and on each side OF
little glass la mp two men lay on red
cushions resting their heads on blue
pillows and SIN oking. The crowd was
made up of the rich and the poor, and
men dressed in silks lay side by side
with half-naked coolies. From here /
went to singing saloon, where pretty
Chinese girls picked the banjo. and
visited dozen other opium dens filled
with horrible sights.-E G. Carpenter,
in National Tribune.