The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-01
ExEourIoNs IN oHINA.n


 Cruel and Revoiiing Forms of the Death Punishment-stranguia Esteeme" as Rare Favor-Cuttins the oasndsr in Pisoss-Horribis Exposures of tho Heads of Victims.
 From the New York sunl
 Few people regard the great eventu- ality" with less dread than the Chinese Their nerves survive shocks which would prove fatal to 6 more finely or ganized people. and they practice meth- ods of self immolation for unselfsh ends inconceivabie to the western mind. Such a custom. for example. as substi- tuting ones self to be executed in con alteration Of A certain sum of money. that the family may be left enriched and independent, is beyond our ken. and the toleration of 1t is impossible of understanding.
 It Is a queer anomaly that these Asi- atics infiict, through their laws. fright full punishments of torture and death, and, on the slightest provocation. hu- man blood Is poured out like water. while in their social relations they are kind-hearted and good-natured. and the thoroughly brutal. hardened rufiian who beats his wife and starves his chil- dren Is probably rarer in Shanghai than in shoreditch.
 Under the heading of Death" in the Penal Code come the several modes in- fiicted. A sliding scale of capital pun ishment Is used to mark their sense of the varying heinousness of murderous crimes.
 For parricide, matricide and whole sale murder. the usual sentence Is that of Ling Chih." or "Ignominious and slow death." In ordinary cases execu- ton by beheading Is the common mode, and still another is strangulation. With the exception of those cases of highway robbery" and burglary with murder" and of rebellion and trea- son." in which the guilty have been caught red-handed, the death penalty must be paid within forty days. the criminals sentenced to death in Pekin and other cities are executed in the au- tumn.
 The date is fixed by imperial edict and is usually about ten days before the winter solstice. It is then that the emperor proceeds to the Temple of Heaven to render an account of the great altar of his past years steward ship of the power intrusted to him as the one "agent on earth" of the most high in heaven"
 In the general record of the imperial acts is included a statement of the names and crimes of those who have suffered death by his will during the year, this record being burned on the shrine, and it's contents thus waited up to the cognizance of heaven.
 Preceding this ceremonial, of course, the wretched culprits have been tried before the Board of Punishments Cor Criminal Court). where quivering pros trate they have heard the fatal ."Ch'ing Shin" (found guiltD droped QA$sby the clerk. There is no jury to- try the un- fortunate delinquents; there is no oath predicting the testimony of witnesses; there Is no, pleading by shrewd lawyers, but an autocratic condemnation. sub ject to no appeal. In spite of this, mer-
 
 condemned to death is saved from pun ishment if it be proved that aged pa- rents depend upon him for support.
 An prisoners look eagerly forward to these trials. They feel only Joyous re- lief from the conclusions of them or the calm certainty of death. They are about to escape the indescribable hor- hors of Chinese prison. The filth and dirt of the rooms, the brutality of the jailers. the misera ble diet the entire absence of the commonsst sanitary ar engagements, and their beds" more like straight-jackets, with the vermin that infest. every nook, make any change welcome to the miserable culprits.
 Among the tortures incidental to a compulsory confession is the, sitting cage. This is strong box of heavy tinbers made just the height of the shoulders of the cu1prit and just large enough to hold him in a sitting or doubled-up position. An opening at the top is made to encircle the neck, the head being held without, In this cramped position he is kept for long hours until the pain is so great relief must come in unconsciousness or con- fession, it may be, to obtain physical ease. ..-
 The swinging pole," from which hangs the prisoner suspended at one end byffis queue, his arms bent back ward, as also his legs, at the other by his feet, gives perforce exquisite agony and leaves the subject too lame, if not broken of bone and taut of sinew. to re- sist any demand for full confession.
 The Triple Cangue," seemingly SC simple, is severe enough in its heavy drag on the bones of the spine, as bleed ing necks and lacerated shoulders at- test, while swarning mosquitoes. pes. tiiential flies and unrelenting unmen. tionables persistently torture, the col lar being too wide to permit the free use of the hands to drive them away.
 Perhaps not least in pain is the ''Chain Coil" One sees some wretch stripped of his trousers, kneeling with hard barred legs on coil of rusted chains. He is supported by a man on either side with a long pole run under his arms, which are bent behind him A similar poieeis placed in the bend of his knees, and on the ends of this pole the demons who torture stand and stamp, pressing down the raw flesh of the victim on this heap of Jagged iron. StrsngIlatton;ts an honorable death, and very much mercy is thought to be shown the condetnned in ,pernitting it instead of decapitation. because the method does not involve mutilation of