The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-05-17
CHINESE CRUELTY.
Horrors Of tho Place OF Public
Execution.
The Terrible Butchery of Criminals Re-
garded by the People ~ an Occasion
for Joking and Rejoicing
Work Of the Headsman.

Some four years ago | spent four
days in Canton, the metropolis OF
southern China, on a special mission 70
investigate Chinese justice, and the re-
suits surpassed my most CHASTITY an
ticipation, says a writer IN Harper's
Weekly.
What l 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 l suffered
from perpetual nightmare.
The place of execution, or "Matou,"
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 potters 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 a kneeling posi-
ton.
At a nod from the presiding manda-
rim, and with incredible swiftness, the
butchcry 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 Il 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 ever
forward, and shrill burst of approving
"Hi-yahs" goes up from the crowd.
After the uncertain and clumsy oper-
atoms of the medieval headsman, one
had been led 70 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 Oft q
head than they would in loppirC: 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 it's 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 joke!
The last few heads are falling now,
when my hand is plucked by an ex-
cited youngster of ten, dancing with
delight, who cries, eagerly: "Ho-tai?"
isn't it beautifully | repress a fierce
desire to throttle him, and in few sec
onds all is over Justice is indicated,
and the crowd quickly disperses, .all but
the city gamins, who remain behind to
rehearse the whole proceedings and to
skylark with the bodies.
Horrible though the sight has been,
death has, at any rate, being swift and
merciful, but another day the supreme
horror of Chinese justice is revealed to
us.
For certain offenders, notably parri-
cides and women who kill their hus-
bands, the penalty is the "Ling-chee,"
or thousand cuts" This is too CHASTITY
for detailed description, but suffice il to
say that the victim is first crucified to a
low cross, and then slowly sliced to
pieces with knife.
So skillful is the executioner that al
though his victim soon becomes un-
recognizable as human being, yet nc
vital wound is inflicted till perhaps half
an hour of this torture has elapsed,
when the agony is ended by decapita.
ton.
So superior an entertainment as this
is naturally rewarded by full house,
and even greater merriment prevails
than at mere head-chopping displays,
which SAVIOR somewhat of monotony to
the blase Cantonese.