New-York tribune., 1898-10-02
CHINESE JUSTICE.
1T IS SOMETIMES METED OUT WITH A
vIGOR THAT SHOCKS EUROPEANS.

vIGOR THAT SHOCKS EUROPEANS
From Travel.
One night we halted at a place called Hung
ay, which In the stern, stiff language OF THE
Universal Gazetteer" may be said to be a
small town in the Yunnan Province Of China
population about five thousand; products, heas
and oti er small deer We making hur
ried from the wretched place when
Lowe suddenly missed his camera. Five min
utes before starting II was strapped on the
machine, but now ii was gone. swift run was
made to the inn. Had the landlord seen 1t?
No, he had not; ald besides he didn't want to
be disturbed, for he was eating rice. Had any
body seen the camera? Not a soul There
nothing for it hut visit to the mandarin at
the Yamen. He kindly young fellow OF
about our own age He listened quietly while
stood there had been thieving he turned the
color Of paper with rage. A troop of soldiery
was dispatched to the inn with orders to ar
rest every body.
visibility Of the dead keeping out OF hell and
the living out of yamens. Landlord cook,
sweeper, stable cleaner and all the hangers-on
were however. marched to the yamen in chains,
and every one trembling with fright. There
much confused jabbering. In the end one
of the men marched away, but In ten
minutes he was brought back with the camera.
His countenance proclaimed him an arrant
rogue. and when the mondarin saw that the
leather case had been cut open with knife,
and was informed that three Photographic APP
pliances still missing, his rage was un-
bounded. Putting on his magisterial robes. he
sentenced the thief to be thrashed He held up
one hand as an inquiry If fifty strokes would be
sufficient punishment. Plenty, minated the
foreigner Down was the man pitched on his
face, the legs tied the flesh barred, and heavy
fell the blows. Well said Lowe. "as I've
been put to considerable Inconvenience over
this rascal think I'll take snap shot Of his
thrashing" Ard one was taken. The beating
went on and on, the ruilian screamed and
blood was running from the wounds his
limbs Hasn't ne had the nftN VptY' was
asked. Fifty, why his punishment is five
hundred strokes. and ne has not had four hun
dred yet" A plea put forward for mercy
But the mandarin. with his lips tight, would
not listen. 1t was no good telling him that the
quality Of mercy was not strained, or that it
droppeth like the dew from heaven that it
He was paid 10 punish offenders. and he was
going to punish them. However it was soon
all over and the wretch lay on the ground
groannE, writhinF and bleeding
Then in marched the soldiery with five other
men heavily manaced. The prisoners fell on
their knees and put their foreheads on the
ground The mandarin hecked the lot like a
Partisan judge. He fixed on the ring
leader of the robbery If five hundred stripes
was the punishment Of an accomplice, what
must be the chastisement Of the thief in chief?
Torture reserved for him. He was made
to sit on his launches His wrists were tied
tightly in front of his knees. and pole was
stuck between his arms and his legs and then
vested two tables so that the culprt swung
head downward. Strong twine was slip
knctted about each big toe, and two of the
soldiers pulled apart This necessarily brought
q tremendous strain on the roped wrists. They
blackened Immediately The agony must have
been excruciating for the screamed. He
began curling and twisting. but a soldier went
forward and put his foot on the thief's dragging
pigta and kept his head down. The victim
foamcd at the mouth. and whenever he on
the point of losing consciousness he was raised
up by the queue TO give him breathing space
swung head downward again, and the twine
about his toes tugGed 1t in vain for the
foreigner to appeal that the barbarous torture
should cease. There nothing for il but to
forsake the sickenng and revolving spectacle