The morning call., 1894-09-09

r. @A-D
Treason is nowhere so terribly rewarded
as in Korea. My blood runs cold when l
think of the punishment which Will be
meted out to those who have rebelled
against the King, should he become vic
torious and his Majesty's corrupt officials
be allowed TO carry out the laws which
now exist. | have told you how the body
of the dead rebel Kim Ok Kium. was
brought to Korea, how 1t was cut into six
pieces, and how the bloody head, the
hands. the feet and the trunk were carried
over the country and hung above the
gates of the cities as a warning 10 rebels.
Not only this man himself was killed,
but his whole family and all of his
relatives have been terribly punished.
His father did all he could to pre-
vent his boy from rising against the
King ten years ago, and after his rebel
lion he went into retirement. He was old
and blind, but after Kim's death he was
dragged out and his head was cut of. The
men of the family, even of the third and
fourth generation. were executed, and the
women, including Kim's seventeen-year-
: old daughter. were given over to be the
slaves or concu ubines of the officials. After
this rebellion, the mothers, the wives and
the daughters of all who have taken up
arms against the King will become the
common property Of the Government and
of the magistrates of the provinces in
which they live. They will be dragged
from their homes as concubinss and
slaves. As their beauty wanes. they Will
be handed from one high official to a
= lower until they descend to the bot
tom dregs of the Government service.
They will have no rights that anybody
will be bound to respect. and their only
chance OF happiness will be in death.
l went out one morning during my stay
in Seoul with Korean noble to the exc
cution grounds. They are situated just
outside of the west gate of the city at
point where the main roads crossing Korea
from the north to the south meet, and a
SCOT which is considered the most public
place 10 the whole hermit kingdom. There
is quite city surrounding it. though it is
0u lsde o. the walls of the capital, and a
big bRsiue is done by the shopkeepers
with tie travellers who cross it on their
way through the country. The west
gate is the lowest and least honor
able of any of the entrances to the
Korean capital. 1t Is through this gate
that all cOffins are carried out of the
city for burial, aDd it is by this way that
criminals must go on their way to execu-
tion. The Korean who went with me was
well versed in the laws of the country and
he showed me just bow traitors are exc
euted. They are brought from the prisons
in rude carts drawn by bullocks, and their
last days are filed with the refinements of
torture. The carts have no springs, and
the street through which they are carried
is so full of stones that it COMPARES with
the corduroy roads of the Black Swamp Of
Ohio. The criminal is not allowed to
stand or sit in the cart he is tied to a
cross which Is built up Just over the
wheels and nailed to the cart. This cross
is so high that when his arms are stretched !
out and tied his toes are still six inches
from the bed Of the cart. block is then
put beneath them and this block is so
short that the tips Of his toes barely touch |
it. The road grows rougher as it nears
the west gate. and thence to the exc
cution ground it is filed with ruts and |
great rocks. At the west gate the block |
is knocked out from under the toes of the
prisoner, and he hangs by his arms and
his neck. The bullock is then whipped by
the driver, and the cart bounces up and
down over the rocky way to the execution
from the cross. He is stripped of his
clothes and laid upon his back in the dust
of the road The executioner is ALWAYS a
murderer. and his weapon is a sword.
which is so blunt that it mashes rather
than cuts the head from the shoulders.
There is one sword which has been used
for years for this purpose. 1t is said, in
deed. TO be five hundred years old, and ii
has hashed up thousands of necks The
worst of the rebels are cut into six parts.
as was Kim Ok Kium. Men OF less promi-
nence and guilty of less serious offenses are
simply decapitated. But the bodies of all
must lie out in the sun for three days be-
fore they can be carried away.
All sorts of crimes are terribly punished
In Korea. The truth about such matters is
kept as far as possible. from the foreign
eIs, and you will find little information
about prisons and punishments in any of
the books on Korea. There is, in fact. but
little published on the country, and the
information which l give you was only
accessible to me on account of the letters of
introduction which carried and the risks
which took in going right in among the
people and perssting in my questions and
Investigations, Notwithstanding the objec- |
tons Of the officials. am, believe. the
first American who has ever visited the
Korean prisons. They are as bad almost as |
the hells into which l looked in some of the |
interior cities Of China. l can't reconcile |
the cruelties l saw with the many noble |
qualities which l find among the Koreans. |
They are in some ways the most polite and |
most refined people. They are lovers of |
poetry and flowers. They are particular rs |
TO etiquette. and their souls in most ways
are as refined as ours. Still, these punish
ments are such that they would be dis |
grace to the ID oct ignorant and savage ma
tions Of the African wilds, and wonder if |
after all our humanity Is not civilization
veneer, and whether we would not be quite
as bad had we not for generations been
studying how to do better. We are the
same Christian people who burned witches
at the stake only a generation or so ago,
and our great-great-grandfathe punished
the least stealing with death. What was