The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1895-07-19
CHINESE CRUELTY.
Horrors Of the Place of Public
Execution.
The Terrible Butehcry of Criminals Re
garded by the People as an Occasion
for Joking and Rejoicing
Work of the Headsman.


southern China, ON a special mission to
investigate Chinese justice, and the re-
suits surpassed my most ghastly an
ticipation, says q writer In Harper's
Weekly.
What / witnessed was nothing un-
usual, and is the daily practice of the
country, but L am compelled to tone
down the details to make them pre-
sentable for publication. Nothing but
the strongest spirit of inquiry, sup
ported by an iron resolution, carried
me through the horrors of those days,
and for weeks afterward / suffered
from perpetual nightmare.
The place Of execution, or "Matou, I"
as it is called by the Chinese, is filthy
yard, long and narrow, like a blind
alley, and, singularly enough, it is
used as a potter's field when not re-
quired for execution.
On cold January afternoon pro-
ceeded thither to witness the final re-
lease of batch of poor wretches who
had already undergone a prolonged
course of torture
On this occasion the death squad
consists of thirteen, who are tightly
bound hand and foot and carried in,
huddled up in baskets slung on bam-
boo between two coolies. On arriving
at the center of the ground these living
loads are pitched out unceremoniously,
and Immediately seized by the execu-
toner and his assistants, who arrange
them in two lines in kneeling posi-
ton.
At a nod from Che presiding manda-
rim, and with incredible. swiftness, the
butchery commences. The assistant
seizes the first victim by the shoulders
from behind, while the executioner
steps up to his left side, armed with an
enormously heavy short sword with
broad blade and a razorlike edge. With
out any compulsion, the victim, still
kneeling, bends his head forward, and
almost instantaneously it leaps from
his body, severed by one swift stroke.
The assistant pushes the trunk over
forward, and shrill burst of approving
"Hi-yahs" goes up from the crowd.
After the uncertain and clumsy oper-
ations of the medieval headsman, one
had been led to suppose that human
head required great deal of sever
ance; but so adept are the Chinese ex-
ecutioners that they seem to display no
more effort or emotion in cutting off a
head than they would in looping a
poppy from its stalk.
With fearful rapidity the slaughter
proceeds, and not five seconds elapse
between the fall of each head. One
unerring stroke ends each life, and the
victims are so arranged that each can
witness the fate of all those in front of
him before his turn comes.
The crowd is now in the most jovial
humor, and signifies its light-hearted
enjoyment by ribald chaff at the ex-
pense of the remaining victims, who
frequently retort defantly and exhibit
the most stolid Indifference to their
fate.
Suddenly burst of merriment arises
in one corner. A portly merchant has
approached too near, and his long
white coat is splashed with blood. How
the bystanders laugh! Was there ever
such good jokel
The last few heads are falling now,
when my hand is plncked by an ex-
cited youngster of ten, dancing with
delight, who cries, eagerly: ''Ho-tai?"
Qsn't it beautifully 1 repress a fierce
desire to throttle him, and in few Sec
onds all is over. Justice is indicated,
and the crowd quickly Jisperses, ,'all but
the city ga1iRs, who remain behind to
rehearse tie whole proceedings and to
Skylarlz wi,.l the bodies.
Horrible cloAgia tae sight has been,
death has, at any rate, being swift and
mercifa1, but anot'.ier day the supreme
horror of Chinese justice is revealed to
us. -
For certain offenders, notably parri-
cides and women who XII their hus-
bands, the penalty is the "Ling-chee, :"
or Thousand cuts" This is too ghastly
for detailed description. but suffice it to
say that tlae victim is erstcrucifed to a
low cross, aad thea slowly sliced to
pieces with a knife.
So sldllfrl is cae executioner that al
though his vip5i,a soon becomes un-
recognizable as kzlan being, yet no
vital wound IS inflicted till perhaps half
an hour of tliis torture has elapsed,
when the agony is ended. by decapita-
ton.
So superior an entertainment as this
is naturally rewarded By a full house,
and even greater nerriment prevails
than at mere head-ehopping displays,
which SAVIOR somewhat of monotony to
the blase Cantonese.