Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-08
The Cangue.

use of the PADDLE and the officers carry
from two to a hundred of them with them,
according to their rank. had one or two
with me during a large part of my tours,
but j, of course, did not use them. / can't
describe the horrors OF this padding. Many
foreigners have witnessed it, but few have
taken two; one was of one of the chair
bearers, whom 1 had my keso tie to the
rack to show me just how the padding was
done. He was. Of course. not struck. but
he was very angry at being placed in what
he called a compromising position. and we
had quite row about the matter after we
returned home.
How the Padding IL Done.
The other picture represents the padding
actually going on. The man is tied to a
board, which lies ON the ground on two
small blocks of weed. His body is barred
from the waist to his ankles. and he lies
upon his belly on the plank. There is a rope
around his waist which is fastened through
a hole in the board, and there are also ropes
about his feet, which bind him so tightly
that he cannot move. The keso stands be-
hind him with his paddle, and the officers
look on to see that he is properly whipped
Often half dozen n en- are padded at the
same time In this way. If there are no
planks handy, they are laid fiat on the
ground on their faces, and their feet are
sometimes fastened in this position in wood
en- stocks, so that they cannot move. They
are laid out in rows, and each man has his
paddler beside him. Each paddlers arms
are bare to the shoulder, and they work in
unison. They have their paddles raised
hack over their heads as far as their arms
can reach. when they are ready for action,
and they bring them down at the cry of the
Under officials, who, with swords at their
Sides stand at the head of the line of half
naked men and yell out sort of chant
which sounds something like this: La
he o-aa- hoo-oo. The paddles are raised at
the first la, and as the final oo-oo is uttered
they ara brought down wit n
pistol on the bare skin of the men, and the
eXecutioners grunt with the exertion They
have a way of pressing the paddle down on
the quivering flesh, and of pulling il off with
a rub before they raise it. i--Is 7 10
Snn'ip"per the Skin FROM the FIesh.
The first strike usually makes a blister
and at the close of the second the paddle
Is wet with water or blood. AS these exc
cutioners drag it off, they rub IL into the
sand, pressing 1t there until the kesos
again cry La -hoo-aa -hoo-oo.T Then the pad
dies are raised again, and as they are
brought down this time, they are covered
with sand. They pound the particles into
the flesh, and as the men drag them off
they take away the skin as though it We're
sandpapered. l can give you no concep-
ton of the punishment, and when you re-
member that any official has the right to
paddle any man below him, and almost any
one OF prominence can paddle those of lower
rank. you can get some idea of the condi-
y.
the people must be naturally kind. or life
here would be a hell to the masses. AS II
Is. sometimes men are killed by padding
Fifty blows would surely do it, and the or
binary dose is about twelve strokes Much
padding will reduce the flesh to jelly and
even after slight punishment men have to
be lifted up and carried away. They can
not rise of themselves. This padding goes
on in the army and a general or a colonel
can paddle private. and the privates pad
die the others and so it goes There is
such thing bribing the paddlers, so
that they pretend to kill the man, but mod
crate the stroke as it comes down and only
punish him slightly. In fact, bribery is
possible from the top to the bottom of
Corean official life and there will have to
be an entire reorganization of the whole
system of government here before the peo-
pie can have prosperity or peace. The
king, 1t must be remembered, knows but lit
tie of the horrors which go on under his
government He has been doing the best
he could for his people, and the rebellion
has been against the officials and not
against him.
nu>k Il. CNtr,>I~