Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-09-02

SUCH sentences, out was. perhaps. sur
passed by some of the colonial inQuis-
itors. who burned out the popula tion of
whole districts. suspected of relapse in
to paganiSm. On the Rio EIOvaS on
the island of Porto Rico, several thou
sand ''renegades" We're cremated in
1920. and the barbalities practiced by
the colonists under some legal preteXt
or other seem actually the ne plus ultra
of all The inhumanitieS of man to man
ever perpetrated on this planet. since
III less than forty years the native pop
ulatlOn of 100000 harmless Indians had
| become entirely extinct
The age of manslaughter continued
until the aborigines of the West Indian
islands had disappeared and the popula-
ton of the American continent had
been reduced one-half lin Peru about
tWO-thirdS). and only the fierce retri-
buttons of the buccaneers made the
butchers think it worth. while to miti-
gate their appropriately by the enact
1nent Of more humane laws
The last American burned for hereSy
was executed i'll Rogota in 1874. but
other almost equally atrocious penal
ties for religious offenses We're enforced
'lp to the era Of tie republican revolt,
and III Brazil until after the accession
of Dom POdro. who at first was rather
in favor of theocratic rigor but event
Ually became one of the most humane
i rulers of the nineteenth century. and
i could rarely be persuaded to sign Il
! i
! stances
That western Europe has not always
champloned the cause of mercy may be
inferred FROM the monster feudal laws.
! which In France We're repealed only
! after the outbreak Of the revolution
and Blackstone enumerates not less
than 1oS capital offenSeS. As late lis
ITO, French, German and Danish Grim
lnalS. guilty of murder under aggravat-
| ed circumstances, We're "brOken on the
wheel, a process only a little less bar
barOuS than crucifiXion. since culprits
OF exceptional vitality might live for
| hours after the bones of their arms and
legs and some of their ribs had been
broken by the strokes of Il heavy ham
>
stadt. near Copenhagen. there is an
iron wheel about three feet and a half
/ III diameter and measuring four inches
! across the tire, with Il ring for the in
Sertlon OF chains at The end Of every
second spoke. \ culprit fastened by
| means of those chains could not move
! much more than Il man on the cross.
tn q
| he WAS left to die with his head down
ward, in way tending to apoplcXy or
Stupefaction. influential friends of the
condemned occasionally bribed the exc
clltloner to administer Il coup de graS in
| the form Of 4 blow on the heart. but
1Fucllent judges took special proven
tons against that manner of cirrrn-
! venting the law.
When Patkne. the envoy of Peter The
Great delivered Il rather insolent mes
| sage of his master to Charles MI, the
lraSclble Swede ordered him to be
broken on the wheel. and instantly
caShlered the commanding officer of
the fort when he learned that the pro
voSt marshal had been permitted to end
al
the fourth or fifth stroke. BY order of
the same monarch three spies. convict
cd on rather doubtful evidence, were.
simultaneously executed in the same
manner
At present China and the KINGDOM of
Dahomey dispute the championship of
legal baIbaritieS. The subjects of the
African autocrat are often buried Awe
on the mere suspicion of diSloyalty. or
tied to stakes and shot to death. with
arrows aimed from Il distance of 100
yards. and as apt to Craze as to pierce
the living target
But 1t might be questioned if :, friend
OF Il first class archer would not prefer
that mode of death to the alternative
OF being boiled to death-a judicial pro-
cess Which in China is still applied to
l"r'urerS who have caused the cyc,u-
ton OF IN innocent person. The iudgrs
OF the celestial Kingdom SEEM also to
have originated the penalty Of dccapi-
tatirn. and in some of the PRINCIPAL
cities still give the hcadsman opportr-
mites for superintendent practice, since
the sword of an expert functiOnary is
IN COre:l Il whole brigade of SIuug"lcrS
WAS heheaded last winter by order of Il
circuit court. After the rebellion of
1860 the human skulls in the yard of
the fort jail OF Marking are said 10 have
formed pyramid fourteen feet high.