The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-04-02
CHINESE ARE CRUEL
Horrors Of the Place OF Public
Execution.
The Terrible Butchery of Criminals Re.
garded by the People as an Occasis.a
Tor Joking and Rejoicing
Work OF the Headsman.

Work OF the Headsman.
Some four years ago I spent fou
days in Canton, the metropolis o
southern China, on special mission Il
investigate Chinese justice, and the re
suits surpassed my most CHASTITY an
ticipation, says writer In Harper
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,
Is it is called by the Chinese, is a filthy
yard, long and narrow, like blind
alley, and, singularly enough, it is
used as a potter's field when not re
quired for execution.
On cold January afternoon pro-
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 elung on bam-
boo between two coolies On arriving
at the center of the ground these living
loads are pitched cut uneeremoniously,
and Immediately seized BY the execu-
TONER and his assistants, who arrange
them in two lines in a kneeIing posi-
ton.
At nod from the 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 a
broad blade and razorlike edge. With
out any compulsion, the victim, still
kneeling, bends his head forward, and
almost simultaneously 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-
atoms of the medieval head.sman, 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
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 iovial
humor, and signifies its light-hearted
enjoyment by ribald chaff at the ex-
pense of the remaining victims, who
frequently retort defiantly, and exhibit
the most stolid Indifference to their
fate
Suddenly burst of merriment arises
in one corner. A portly merchant has
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 ali is over. Justice is indicated.
and the crowd quickly disperses, all but
the ci:y gamins, who remain behind to
rehearse the whole proceedings and to
skylarlz with the bodies
Horrible though the sight has been,
death has, 1T any rate, being swift and
lnerciful, 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 ''Ding-chee,"
Or Thousand cuts" This is too CHASTITY |
for detailed description, but suffice it to |
say that the victim is first crucified to |
low cross, and then slowly sliced to
pieces with knife.
So skillful is the executioner that al |
though his victim soon becomes I'M
recognizable as human being, vet no /
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 a full house,
and even greater merriment prevails
than at mere head-chopping displays,
which SAVIOR somewhat of monotony to
the bIase Cantonese.