The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-01-05
DEcAPlTATloN IN CHINA.

DEcAPlTATlON IN CHINA.
Mode of Execution OF Convicts Described
by an American Writer.
The execution of the two Japanese
spies whom America delivered up to
the Chinese and the decapitation OF
man-of-wars captain accused OF cow
ardice in the sea fight off Ping-Yang,
were recent notable instances of the
use of the headsman's sword in China.
There have been other beheadings, for
offenses growing out of the war and
for the ordinary criminal offenses. and
these have lent new interest to the
subject, even to foreigners resident in
China, who frequently read of such
punishment, but seldom witness them
or hear them described. have been
ESQ fortunate as to fall in with distin-
guished European who witnessed the
legal slaughter of a number of crimi-
nails in Picking. The accoant he has
given me of what he saw is SO unlike
the popular methods of justice that
have written down the substance Of it
for publication in Harper's Weekly.
''The official On duty on the morning
of which speak having reached the
mat shed clad in all the glory of man
darin's dress-button, necklace, breast
cloth and all-ordered the men brought
before him one by one. The law says
that in such cases the condemned men
shall admit their guilt and ask that
punishment be no longer deferred.
Like most all good laws and almost all
good logic in China, this regulation is
turned into mere ceremony anu pre-
tense. The prisoners neither say nor
do anything, but a man who stands be-
hind each one pushes him over, bumps
his head on the ground, and says Vow
This word. or one with that sound,
means, 4 want and the presiding
mandarin understands it to have been
uttered by the prisoner and to mean
Il want TO be punished While the
official ticks off the mans name upon
the list before him the man is pressed
down upon the ground and a red cross
is painted on his neck. This is done
in order that the right head may be
fitted upon the right body afterward,
if proof of the mans death is required
for official entry.
The prisoner thus painted is pulled
away to the execution ground, where
the headsman is heating his sword in a
great caldron of hot water. The
swords are rather more like knives
than swords Each is a yard in length,
half an inch thick at the edge, and an
= ,1o1] .,f
the back. If you should weld together
| nine or ten of our heaviest axes, one
laid beyond the other you would make
something like one of these knives.
The victim is Laid ON his belly and face,
and his legs are tied together A long
! piece of whipcord is Topped under the
mans jaw and tied into his pigtail. So
much of it's free end is left that two
men go off with it to a distance and
pull on it with all their might, while
the third one sits on the condemned
! mans neck. The executioner seizes a
knife and stands over the victim, whose
neck is seen to pull out-and out-and
out The knife falls, the head is severed,
and frequently the men who are pull
ing the whipcord fall backward and
roll half over, like tumblers in circus.
The executioner picks up the head and
holds it carelessly and calmly, and
makes a mark upon the tally list in
front of him. I was less stolid than he,
especially when, happening to glance
at one of the heads, I saw it open it's
mouth just as it was held up to the
mandarin's view. 1t was then placed
; beside the body, and the next felon
was brought out and treated the same
| way.
1.-TWO or three prisoners were to be
strangled on this occa sion, and though
I went away twice from sheer inability
to witness their execution I was urged
back by a friend who accompanied me,
and thus | saw enough to be able to
describe that mode Of punishment also.
; The executioner tied short bit of
whipcord around each mans throat,
and then put stick of wood in the
slack of the cord until it was evident
that it could not be made tighter.
For some reason he Immediately loos~
ened the cord lin each case, Others said,
! and frightened it again and fastened
it, The victims made no sound, but a
culver passed over their bodies, and
their fingers were seen to curl in as if
their fists were being clinched. That
] was all. The mandarin sent clerk to
, check off the names of these victims,
and thus the law was indicated, or
,, avenged
BOTH CAT HOME"
A Scotch Professor Quantity Answers =