The record-union., 1896-11-08
BURIED In PLASTER OF PARIS.
Terrible Mode Of Execution Used by a
Governor Of a Persian Province.
Revival of Catching" a Hideous Form
OF Execution Practiced Some
Forty Years Ago.

Forty Years Ago.
When affairs do not go right in Per-
sia the authorities adopt harsh meas
ures to make the people respect the
law. The murder of the Shah seemed
to encourage the nomad tribes to acts
of lawlessness. On the road between
Bushire and Ispahan there were large
number of robberies. In some instances
caravans and villages were looted, and
an Englishman was stripped naked and
beaten with sticks. The roads were
strewn with merchandise that the rob-
Eers did not want, and during one week
it was admitted that they secured booty
amounting to $500,O00.
Something had to be done to check
the marauders. The Governor of
Shiraz, H. r. H. Rehkn-ed d-Dowleh, de-
cided to strike terror into the hearts
of the people, and the method he chose
was the revival of catching" hid
eous form of execution which has been
in allegiance for forty years. To ''gatch"
a victim hollow pillar is erected over
hole about two feet deep. Into this
well the prisoner is put, sometimes with
bis head downward and at others with
his head sticking out of the top. Plaster
of paris is then emptied in, and be-
tween each bucketful water is poured
down the well. The "gatch" then sweils,
and the circulation stops as it hardens,
causing the most intense agony
For his horrible example" the Gov
ernor did not select men who had been
engaged in the robberies In his heart
less Persian way he considered that
catching" anybody would serve as an
object lesson to his subjects, criminal
or otherwise. He picked out five men
who had been imprisoned for non-pay-
ment of taxes. This is a heinous offense
in the eyes of Persian officials, and the
Governor thought that their execution
would not only scare the robbers, but
be warning to other tax-dodgers that
prompt settlement with the collectors
was eminently desirable.
On Sunday, May 10th, writes an eye
witness of this latest exhibition of
catching" the five prisoners, chained
neck and neck, were marched out Of
prison, and slowly escorted by a large
mob who were kept from pressing too
close by soldiers with fixed bayonets
and others with long sticks, were taken
to the Koran Gate, near the Bagh-i-
No, on the town side of which, along
side the road, their wells had been pre-
pared. It took one hour to reach the
Eagh-i-No, but the torture of this form
of execution being unknown to the pris-
oners, they walked along without a
sign of fear.
They were taken into a high walled
garden, a guard being placed at the
entrance, and in a short time the first
to be executed was brought out. Round
his neck was steel collar with a
chain, which his guard held tightly In
his hand. Some one offered him a
pitcher of water, from which he eagerly
drank, and then, not knowing to what
awful death he was doomed, he walked
calmly and without a word to his well.
1t took nearly half an hour to fill the
well with catch, during all which time
the sticks Of the soldiers were in use
to keep the crowd from pressing too
close and hampering the movements Of
those employed with the catch. After
this the second was brought out, and
the crowd moved to the well prepared
for him.
Having obtained a photograph of a
form of execution which I hope has
been resorted to for the last time, /
hurried from the spot, and only just in
time, as l afterward heard, to escape
the most heartrending scenes. When
the Catch became solid and frightened
On the poor prisoner his yelis were
frightful to listen to, and as they We're
carried over the walled garden those
waiting their turn realized that the
death to which they were doored, so
far from being the painless one they
had hoped for, was, instead, terri
BILE nature
AS the fourth man was led from the
garden he begged the executioner to
take him to the bazar, where he would
find some one to give him ten humans
$40, after which he could cut his head
off. The fifth man became even more
frantic as the yells issued from the
mouths of his companions. Spare me.
Spare me-" he cried, land I vii! show
you where 1000 humans $4,000 lie
hid" but his offer came too late. When,
| three days later, I passed along the
road 1 found capitals had been added
to the pillars covering the heads Of the
poor men who had thus horribly been
| done to death.
The Governorship of State Is neld
yearly by the man who gives the Shah
the largest present; during his period of
office he collects from the people the
| taxes, the present he has given the
Shah and good substantial sum into
| the bargain for himself. Absolutely
pitiless, his men will often seize the last
sticks of an old man, and if the people,
seeing starvation staring them in the
| face, resist, they are liable to be put to
death by torture, al in this case, if
what was in the mouth of everyone
was true. In the old days it was neces-
sary to make a frightful example of a
| few caravan robbers to keep the road
| through the kotabs safe. In coun-
try where 1t is customary to commit
suicide in fanatical way-as, for in
stance, when wives throw themselves
on their husbands funeral pyres In
lndia-an outcry often is made ir
| Europe, and yet, in a country full OF
Europeans, men are taken out in broad
daylight and cruelty murdered by tho
roadside.-New York Herald.