The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-08-01

| The cross. Tnev fear the pain from
| that raEgss interfere With his enjoy
Esrt q the real performance. Which J:
nothing less than saicing him TO assts
| TsTA dizbozieaI skin. Therefore. shs
nan whc IS "a suSey LEng-Chee gen
crafty Is bs1uu5 10 the cross Ther
i there arrives sfse execution@r. An exc
gasaousr sks1lfal AZ I-tng-chee Is vFeEsi
/ wi-h high respect IN the empire. uGeh
IS 4 Successful bull fighter Is yiexesi il
I Snaia- To hrngie IN Ling Chez and &
I sliee - muea from the victim early "a
/ The game that he faEnts. or. worse still
dies before he has suffered all the Sic
TX that HIS been dscrsed Eoali
/ slzEken the sxeeuticners name forever.
| and might eTez make him the next
subject for Ling-Chse-
The sxee4ticnsE IS received with a
little murmar of appreciation for his
record Is as veil kept in mind as Is
the record OF an athlete In America
or England He boxs 10 the high dig
nitaFies and then takes one Of his
swords from the sword-cSTrier, who
has followed him They are wonderful
sworls that are used b. the Ling-Chee
execgtiouers. Sometimes they are hun
dreis OF years old and have records 20
long and bloody that a person with
nerves might well shEdier TO touch
them The exeeutioner does not sh1i-
der. He knows what depends upon mis-
deIicacy of touch. Swiftly he swings
the great weapon around his head till
IL whistles Satisfied that il is ready
for business. he approaches the victim
slowly. Remember that all this time
The poor wretch has been staring 81
the assemblage. at the executioner, at
he array Of swords. He is TO be kept
in suspense still longer, for whens the
executioner approaches him he does aot
begin at once to slice him. First he
TENTS at him and then withdraws.
Then be makes believe again Sudden
IL the sword shoots in wichedly and
one of the victims eyebrows is sliced
OF so neatly that it scarcely draws
blood. Now begins wonderful work
,gonderful and deyilish. IL may be that
the condemned man has been the sub
Jet OF great imperial mercy. IN that
sase he may have been blessed beyond
compare by having his sentence COM
mutea so that he is to be killed in
only twenty slices, whereas hardened
offenders might have been sentenced
10 die only after seventy-five cuts. or
even more. Ii the victim is very fucay,
the sword will be at him so swiftly that
the eye can scarcely follow it AT each
stroke some part of the poor bound
body viii fail TO the ground. Now, ii
- - -
breast, now an arm. Suddenly the last
cut is made. 1t is straight at the heart
and the weapon cuts ii out and ends
the suffering of the wretched man. But
the spectacle is not ended. The execu-
toner now has to dismember the
corpse, and this he does with passes
of the sword, each carefully studied and
done according to regularly laid out
rules, till there is absolutely nothing
left on the cross and only a pile OF
terrible fragments lies at its base.
When Ling-Chee is to be long op-
Grafton and the victim is to die only
after long torture the slicing is some
times done so slowly that half the day
elapses before the condemned man
dies. The eXecutioner knows just what
to cut without killing, and he goes to
work as carefully as would surgeon.
Muscles and tendons and flesh are
stripped from the body with the razor
blade of the sword until only dread
full framework remains that still has
awful life in it And at this terrible
spectacle the Chinese gaze stolidty,
without an expression either of pleas
are or loathine.
Another ingenious torture that is
much used is to suspend the condemned
man with his head down in a pit. At
the bottom are snakes, toads and all
kinds of loathsome reptiles, which
Writhe within a few inches of the vic
TINS face. Here he is left until the
torture of the position, hunger, thirst
and reptile bites Kill him.