The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-09-02

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them from time to time with paddles.
They would strip them half naked, sus-
pend them by their elbows, and torture
them by touching their bare legs with red
hot pokers. Now and then they would let
them out in the yard, and If the minister
came in sight would warn them that they
had better keep quiet, for he was a danger
Gus man. and was already inclined to cut
their heads off for the nonpayment Of the
money. Think of such a thing actually go
ing on for weeks without the minister
knowing 1t, and I am told that a somewhat
similar state OF affairs prevailed for a
short time in connection with the quarters
Of one of the missionaries.
In another case. a teacher of one of the
government schools found that his popular
ity was waning. The people did not seem
to like him, and he could not tell what was
the matter until he found that his servants
had been borrowing money of the people Of
the neighborhood, and that under compul-
sion, in his name. He believes that one of
the chief officers of the school had a hand
in the scheme. and it was only stopped up
on his threatening that the imposition
would be reported to the King, unless a
change was Immediately made and the
money returned. / did not buy anything in
the Seoul shops unless 1 saw the money
handed over for my purchases. Otherwise,
my soldiers might say that / had just
taken it, and inasmuch as / was a foreign
er, and OF presumably high rank, they
would, to a certain extent, have to grin
ana bear it. The greatest squeezers in
Corea are the Chinese, and the Chinese
minister. Yuan. is supposed to make a
great deaf of money in this way. The Chi
nese consul at Chemulpo made something
like 5000 out of a squeeze, which he ma
nipulated In some way, on the shipments
of rice from Corea, just before the pres
emit trouble, and the whole of the social and
governmental structure of this country
and of China seems to me to be honey
combed with corruption and bribery.
MONEY OR BLOOD.
There is nowhere in the world that the
almighty dollar is worth more to a man
than 1T is in Corea. He can often save his
skin by plating the palm of his enemy with
silver, and persons sentenced to fogging
can ransom their punishment with money.
They have, in fact, a fixed rate for this in
Corea. Ten blows of the bamboo will be
omitted on the payment of about So; twen-
ty blows for so, and so On upward. There
are few men who would not give all they
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to a jelly, and the bamboo is a great per-
suader. At the same time. officials are
sometimes punished for their cruelty. and
those who cause the death of persons by
torture receive 100 blows and are dismissed
from the public service. 1 am told that the
present dynasty has much less terrible
punishments than were common in the past,
and that within the last $50 years knee
crushing and branding a been abolished
and there is no cutting off of the noses and
feet Of men, as was done in the middle
| ages.
Still, the p~unishments are bad enough. /
will devote my next letter to describing
them. They are far worse than anything
that is known outside of China, and the
wives and families of rebels and criminals,
even to the third and fourth generation,
are included in the sentences of their hus-
bands and fathers. Here is a curious meth
cd, which, 1 am told, prevails in Seoul, Of
executing the fathers of rebels. 1t is almost
necessary to understand the structure of, a
Cerean house to appreciate it. The rooms
are heated, you know, by fires which are
built under the house, and the flames of
which run through fiues, covering every
part of the floors of the rooms. These
floors are of brick or mortar, and they are
covered with a thick, white paper, we'll
oiled. With a good fire, they turn the
rooms into ovens, and a small room soon
becomes a furnace if a big fire is built I'M
der it. Among the owest classes in Corea
are the butchers, and it is in a butchers
house outside the west gate of the city
that the fathers of rebels are sometimes
poisoned. The poison is mixed with rice
water. which has been left over night in
order that it's taste may be bitter. The
officer of the law takes the man to this
house. He wears wooden clogs, and thus
keeps his feet from the red-hot floor upon
which he puts the man, and where he forces
him to drink the poisoned water. In the
back Of this room there is a great jar OF
Corean pottery which holds almost as much
as a hogshead. This is filled with water
After the official has given the poison he
breaks this jar and the water flows out
upon the floor. If the man does not die OF
the poison the steam and heat soon finish
him. and the body is parboiled before it is
taken out. 1t is carried through one of the
dlshonorable gates and cast out Of the city
1t must be left there for a certain time, anC
then, If its relatives do not take 1t away
the birds grow fat over it's cooked meat.
These punishments will give you some
idea of the horrors which are bound t
attend any protracted wal in this part o.
the world. The Japanese will carry on theil
struggle on Western methods, but the Co
reans and the Chinese will do as they hav,
done in the past, and woe be to the pris
oners who fall into their hands. DurinJ
the war between the Chinese and Englisl
about a generation ago the foreign prison
ers were carried about in iron cages, and
met an English consul at Canton a few
years since who had his whiskers pulled on
one at a time while he was being shown
as a curiosity to the people in an iron pen
the roof of which was SO low that h
could neither sit nor stand within it. Thi
man said at the time that China SHOULD
give up a life for every hair he lost from
his beard, and his position, I am told
was such that he was able to carry out hi
threat. The father Of the present Kins
who is now at the head Of the government
murdered the French missionaries and tn
Corean Christians in the most barbarou
ways. The heads Of some of them wer
cut off, and their topknots being tied to
gether they were hung high on poles, lk
so many onions. The bodies of the dea
were brought to Seoul in straw bags, an
were cast on the ground outside the south
east gate. Such things are hardly posi-
foreigners. and the officials have too niue
sense to allow the people to massacre them
Still, this was only a few years ago, an
when war comes in at the door commo
sense flies out at the window.