Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-23

way every year, and one of the first
things that attracts attention of foreign
! ers travelling in Persia is the number of
manned n half blind persons whom
they meet.
If a prisoner will not confess his wrong
doing he is punished with the bastinado.
His bare feet are tied to a pole which is
fixed to two uprights, and while in that
uncomfortable position he is beaten on
the bare soles with a long and heavy
stick. A few applications of the stick are
usually sufficient to extract a confession
of some sort, but if the prisoners soles
are exceptionally tough or his spirit is
unusually stubborn more severe meas
ures are taken. Thus the assassin of the
late Shah was not only bastinadoed, but
also subjected to far more awful tOrtures
in the hope Of Wringing a confession from
him.
In case Of serious crimes decapitation
is the usual punishment. The execu-
toner is supposed to hack the victims
head off with a sharp knife. but this he
seldoms does. preferring to open two or
three veins of the throat with his knife
and let the condemned man bleed to
! death.
On extraordinary occasions death is in
f1lcted by "gatching.' This most cruel
mode of punishment, after being in abey-
ance for nearly half a century, was re-
vived a few years ago by the governor Of
Shiraz, Fl. r.. H. Ruhkn-ed Dowlah. He
found that ever since the Shah's assas-
%sination crime was increasing throughout
the country, and he resolved to suppress
it by inhicting upon any notorious Grim
inal who might be caught one Of the most
horrible deaths that can be imagined.
When a victim is to be ''gatched" a hol-
low pillar is erected over a hole about
two feet deep. and into this well the
prisoner is put, sometimes with his head
downward, at others with is head stick
ing out at the top. Plaster of paris is
then emptied in, and between each bas-
ketful water is poured down the Well.
AS a result the 'gatch" swells, and as it
hardens circulation of the blood stops,
causing most intense agony. The first VIC
Tins selected by the governor for this
punishment met their death on May 10,
1896. They We're five in number, and,
curiously enough, they We're not notori-
Gus criminals, at least in the American
sense of the word, the sole charge against
them being that they had failed to pay
! their taxes.
Chained together, neck to neck, the
five doomed men were led to the Koran
Gate, near the Bagh-i-No, where the ne
cessary we'll had been prepared. Round
the neck Of the first man was a steel col
lar, with a chain. which his guard held
tightly in his hand. He, being the leader,
was to die before his fellows, and calmly
he waited during the half hour that was
spent in filling the we'll with Catch
Some one offered him a drink of water
from a pitcher while he waited, and he
accepted it eagerly. Meanwhile a troop
Of soldiers stood around in a circle, press
ing back the eager and impatient crowd,
When the five wells were ready the
prisoners were thrust into them, and, as
each minute passed, their agony became
greater. Slowly the "gatch' became
solid and as a cnnSpnIpOcp. niti1aSS1y
and slowly the flow of their lifeblood was
checked, until finally they We're tightly
encased, as it We're, in a living tomb
Terrible were their sufferings during the
last half hour. Persians almost always
meet death bravely and stoically, blu
there are some tOrtures which no hu
man being can endure, and of such a ma.
ture were those suffered by the five mer
in this living tomb. An eyewitness says
that their yells We're frightful, and tina
even if they had been silent the agony
stamped on their faces would have
shown how greatly they We're suffering
When the Shah, Nasr-ed-Din, was as
sassinated, in May, 1896, there was a gen
eral demand among the courteriers an(
officials Of Persia that his murderer b.
first made to confess, and then put t,
death in some unusual manner, and step!
were taken at once to mete out to hin
the penalty of his crime and at the same
time punish him in such a manner tina
his fate would be a warning to all NAL
contents who might be inclined to fol
low in his footsteps.
1t is said that the unfortunate man
Mollah Reza his name was-was hor
ribly tortured on various occasions, bu
his life was still strong in him when h,
was led out to die on August 1O-thre,
months. after his crime was committed
Why he was not executed sooner il
rather "a mystery, as in Orienta coun
tries the infliction Of punishment follow,
very soon after the commission of crime
This, however, was an exceptional crime
and the supposition that a portion of TIL,
punishment consisted of e~xtraordinar,
%tortures. renewed at frequent intervals
may not be erroneous.
The execution took place on the mackl
meidan, which is the great square il
Teheran where the annual military ma
neuver take place. There a very tai
s'allows had been erected. the evident oh
ject of the authorities being to have tn,
victim high up in the air, so that h,
might be clearly seen by the thousands
who would surely come to witness TIL,
unusual spectacle.
Surrounded by soldiers the prisonel
was led out at sunset, and in q Few min
utes he was hanging high aiove tn
heads of the mob and soldiers. Fo- .,our!
the crowd remained around thu .AllCws
70 rthe most part silent anoo -pparentl.
rather 2waSirlel- Then .hav went fhn