The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-09-05
A SIAMESE EXECUTION.
Startling Description of a Wife
Murderer Being Reheaded.

a Siamese named AT Yone, who
murdered his wife because she had
| forsaken him for a lover, was exc
cuted by decapitation, the method
| bearing q close resemblance 10 the
Chinese, and the spectators showing
| the same eager and unsympathetic
| interest in the proceedings and the
| same haste in quitting the scene OF
blood the moment the victims head
was Topped off.
At YoDe vas young Siamese who
lived near Phraptoom with his wife.
a bout four months ago she suddenly
decamped with a handsomer man.
The husband tracked the pair like q
bloodhound, never leaving their trail
till he ran them down in a house
where they were hiding. The lover
escaped, but the woman was over
hauled as she was flying ard was
horribly slashed with a sharp knife.
no less than eighteen wounds being
made by the maddened husband. He
was caught redhanded and convicted.
He never showed any fear when sem
fenced, but he refused to see his
mother, because, he said, the sight Of
her grief would unnerve him.
The execution was set for 9 In the
morning. AS early as ) o'clock the
prisoner was led out, heavily man
acled He formed the central figure
of an imposing procession OF officials
of all the state departments dressed in
their richest robes. The whole party
took boats and went up the river to
the execution grounds. The con-
demned man was among the coolest
in the crowd, chewing betel and appa-
rently enjoying the early morning
boat ride.
On the grounds q temporary altar
had been erected, and before this the
seven supcrbly built eXecutioners,
with drawn swords, made offerings of
boar's head, fowl, rice, etc, and
lighted large tapers. Then the
swords were Amounted. The con-
demned meanwhile remained on the
funeral barge, while Buddhist priests
gave him the last rites. He smoked
and chatted after the ceremony and
never showed any sign of weakness.
At last he was brought out i'll front
of the altar and placed on freshly cut
plantain leaves The eXecutioners
asked his pardon for killing him, after
they had wound red sashes about their
bodies and placed red handkerchiefs
about their heads. n snow white
cloth was wound around the con-
demned mans loins, his ears were
stopped with clay, so that he should
nOU near the lOOlSbtDS DIS
he came behind him; his neck-cGain
and handouts were removed and his
elbows were secured to a bambo post,
while he was forced to sitting posi-
ton. Then a white line was marked
on his neck as n guide to the swords
man,
The exeeutioner, lusty young
Samson, now approached from be-
hind, advancing with many fancy
steps and moving his sword like
the baton Of a bandmaster. His six
associates formed an attentive group,
and watched every movement. For g
moment the large sword cleaned iii
the air. Then it descended exactly
upon the white line. The body fell
to one side, the head dropped,
but hung by bit of skin, and the
mans blood leaped forth upon the
sand. One of the attendant execu-
TONERS severed the head completely,
and another neatly placed it on pole
and exposed it to a crowd of Siamese
and Chinese that filled the enclosure.
Then the body was hurried to the I'M
marked grave near at hand, and
before five minutes all the large
crowd had vanished and only the
grizzly head and the blood-stained
sand remained to mark the tragedy
S. +. Call.