The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-04
EASTERN BUTCHERIES
UTTER LACK OF HUMANITY DIS
PLAYED ny AsIATICs IN ALL AGES.
The Slaughters Perpetrated by GenS-
his Khan md Tamerlane-Asiatic
Disregard of Human Life.
st. Louis Globe-Democrat.

horrible Turkish atrocities in Armenia, of
which the full particulars are only now
coming to light, suggest that in spite of
the attempts at civilization that have from
time to time been made by Oriental ma
lions, no real success has been attained
that Immediately under the thin veneer
lies the merciless savage. How far the
same statement would hold good in the
case of nations enjoying greater advan-
tages than the Turks, Chinese and Japan
csc is matter about which there must al
ways be some controversy, since the mas
sacres by the French communists are still
fresh in the public mind, and every war in
South or Central America gives evidence
that among other peoples than the Orient
ais civilization is only skin deep. But
there is this Importance between the do
ings of the Commune, the occasional
slaughters in Spanish american civil and
military contests and the frightful mas
sacres by the Orientals, that the latter are
too often done in cold blood, attachments
of troops being sent for the deliberate and
well-understod purpose of ravaging whole
provinces, of destroying cities and putting
to death the entire population, making lit
tie if any discrimination between the in
nocent and the guilty. This was the case
in Bulgaria during the last Turco-R Russian
war Wnen ferocious and und1Sclplmed
soldlery was turned loose on defenseless
people. and 5000 to 10000 persisted; it was
the case at Chios in 1922, when the entire
population of the island, variously stated
at from 10000 to $4,000, were put to the
sword by the Turks; it seems to have been
the case only the other day in Armenia.
Inc truth Is mat the Epentaa ,i Is almost S,
manltarian sentiments that prevail in West
ern countries. He knows nothing of the
it. His nature seems to be filled with an
intensity of selfishness that leaves no room
Tor eonsderlng the wishes Oh others Tnat
prevails among civilized people Is unknown
to him. He has no feelings. He has no
nerves. He witness the most horrible
scenes of human carnage without being IN
the least affected by them, either at the
time or subsequently. He views an execu-
ton only as a curious spectacle, without.
the slightest regard for the feelings of the
condemned. In China the prisoners on
popular jest and ridicule; in Constanunople
condemned murders are hung up to the
doors of wine shops in the pubic streets,
and Turk seems to regard the usage as
at all extraordinary; in Persia political Of
crowds eager to view the spectacle; in
Japan, only a generation ago, minister
who had fallen under the displeasure of
his sovereign invited large party OF
friends to witness the hari-kari; they all
came, and in public hall, engaged for the
event as for any other show, he made has
appearance on the platform as the star of
the OCCASION bowed to the audience and
with steady hand disemboweled himself
in their presence. Such a mental condition,
to us most extraordinary and unnatural, as
would prompt a scene. of this kind, seems
to the Oriental a perfectly natural thing,
and he regards the Western humanitarian
ism as a sickly sentimentality.
EASTERN PUNISHMENTS.
Nothing more genuinely devilish can be
imagined than the punishments devised by
Eastern potentates for such persons as
have excited their displeasure. They are
fiendishly ingenious. The Oriental is not
III H.
world, but must remove him in some hide
ously painful way, in order that the re-
| venge may be complete. Cruel and brutal
punishments have reached their perfection
| in China and Persia, where the law pre-
| sents itself to the subject in the guise of a
revengeful tyrart, not satisfied with killing
| alone but only to be glutted with torture.
| In China, for instance, the cases ere COM
| paratively rare in which criminal or
| political offender is put to death by be-
heading in some other simple way; he
must be tortured to ..eath. lis limbs are
| broken to splintersy by heavy blows of an
| iron bar, and he is left to uie; his lands
/ and feet are cut off, and, lesr he should
escape his tormentors by dying too quickly
| the wounds are scared with a red-hot iron
| to stop the bleeding. lie is imprisoned ir
| a cage, the top of which holds his head by
| inclosing his neck, and is adjusted at such
| a height that his knees are bent, and in the
| course of two or three days he becomes a
] raving maniac. Details of guards are ap-
pointed to keep him ;.wa.Ie, and in weet
| he goes mad and dies. He is fayed alive
| little by little, the fiaying process some
| times continuing during months, and it ha:
| happened that the greater part of the vic
| TINS skin was thus removed ere deatf
| Incredibly came to his relief.
| only few months ago the civilized
| world was Mortified to learn that the Shah
| of Persia had ordered some pecuiators o.
| the royal revenues to be boiled alive, ant
! that the sentence was carried out in thu
| public square of Teheran, in the presence
of thousands of spectators Six years age
twelve robbers apprehended in. the Ar
menian mountains, were impaled alive Oh
the road where their crimes crimes had been com CON
| bodies and they were left to die. Most o.
them died before the dawn of the fourth
| day, three survived to the fifth, one to thu
| seventh Ingenious as are the modern
| Persians in their torture of criminals. how
cestors. The punishment of 1.-THE boat wa
| one of the most frightful pieces of say
agery that the mind of revengeful maj
| ever devised AS practiced by the ancien
Persian Kings, the victims fortunes wer
sometimes prolonged for, weeks. He wa
bound hand and foot and laid in canoe
from which semi-circular section, to fl
his neck. had been cut at one end: Anothe
canoe, similarly prepared, was lad eve
The condemned was laid in such wa.
that during the day the sun shone in hi
| which was poured into his mouth and the
smeared over his face and head. Grea
| swarms of flies, bees and wasps were thu
attracted. and being powerless, to driy
them away they almost distracted him wit
| their constant presence. The improper foo
| caused Indigestion and constant sickness
| and nausea In q few days worms mad
| their appearance in the boat and the SUI
| ferer was literally eaten alive. Two o
| three weeks of this torture generally sui
| feed, but instances are on record wher
| the victim lived for six weeks, and in on
case he survived until the sixty-first day
ORIENTAL NERVE.
The nerve, or, to speak more properly
total absence of nerves. displayed by tn
| victims of these atrocous fortunes, is on
of the most remarkable features of Ore@ t.
life Fatalsts all, they receive what fat
has in store for them without murmu
and rarely complain, even in the midst {
the most cruel agonies. But there reall
| seems to be something more tnan phi
| osophy in their conduct, which can hardl
| be accounted for save the hypothesis
| insensbility or indifference to pain In TT
case of the impaled Persian bandits a
English traveller, with the permission of IL
guards, offered one a cigar. The robb,
| took it, lighted it, smoked it with apparel
| satisfaction to the stump, then asked Il
| another, and smoked that. too Chine:
criminals undergoing torture are Co
| stantly known TO reply to the jibes of Il
| | spectators, sometimes with very witty r
| joiners, showing the full possession of the
mental faculties. Bayard Taylor was on
| present at a Chinese execution, where Il
criminal was to be cut to pieces, and aft
his arms and legs had been cut of, his no.
, and lips removed, scaffoidng near by fe