Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-03


treated to fifty strokes on the mouth with
the clapper. He described the punishment
to me. Said he:
"One policeman held the woman's head
back against his knees while another struck
her across the mouth with the clapper.
Her lips bled at the first blow. After the
fifth they began to swell, and at the end
they were thick as your three fingers
Did she scream?" I asked.
"Of course she did," replied DR.. Hykes.
well, after that" DR.. Hykes went on,
I'VE saw man get 500 blows with the
bamboo. This punishment was terrible, for
the mans flesh was torn away. AS looked
I said to Judge Tu. the mandarin in charge,
I don't see how you can stand it
why not? Why not?' he replied. They
deserve it! They deserve it,! -
Starved to Death in Cages.
In a further chat with DR.. Hykes he de-
scribed a terrible punishment which he
witnessed in Kukiang a few years ago.
Said he:
Il was riding on horseback upon the walls
of the city, when 1 saw a crowd on the
street below me. 1 stopped and some of the
men asked me to come down and see the
fun. I did so and found the crowd was
gathered about two wooden cages, each Of
which held a man. bare-headed, bare-footed
and dsfigured with beatngs Their heads
were upheld by shelves into which their
necks fitted, so that their whole weight rest
ed upon the toes. The shelves were fasten-
Ell near lIS Top Ol The cages, 81 lIldl WHell
they attempted to rest their toes they hung
by the necks. The men had been sentenced
to death in the cage for robbery and out
rage Pasted on the outside were placards
which warned all persons not to give them
food or drink. This was in the middle of
July, when the heat was intense. Three
days after that 1 learned they were dead
The Growing Bamboo.
1.-THE ordinary punishment of the bamboo
Is very severe" continued DR.. Hykes, land
when more than 300 blows are given it
sometimes results In the victims being
MANNED for life. There is considerable
science in giving the strokes and the po-
liceman can make them heavy or light as
he pleases In many cases the prisoners
bride the policemen to let them off easy,
and rule it is only the man who has
no money who receives the full sentence.
Speaking of the bamboo. have heard of
a punishment In which the living plant Is
made the eXecutioner. | have never seen
this punishment and l am told that it Is
not permitted by the laws of the land The
bamboo grows very fast. 1t jumps upward
several inches in night, and its stalk has
a sharp point which will force it's way
through anything. In the growing bamboo
punishment the criminal is fastened to
stakes over one of these sprouts, and the
plant grows slowly through him. causing
his death
Buried Alive.
''While 1 was living at Kukiang" said
DR.. Hykes, "a young man in one of the viii
lagos near by was buried alive punish
ment for murder. The criminal was noted
for his violent temper and general worth
lessness. Among his other faults was the
lack of filial piety, which is one of the
greatest of sins in China. He quarrefed
with his father. and he usually failed to
give him present of a mess of pork on
the 18th of every month. as is the custom
with good sons. One day his father took
him to task for this neglect. The son be-
came angry and killed his father with
hoe.
The murder caused great excitement
for parricide is here considered the most
terrible of crimes. If a man kills parent
not only himself, but all his neighbors and
relatives punished. The parricde is
tied upon a cross and slowly sliced to death
The officials of the province degraded
and the crime is an injury to the district
for years to come. When the above murder
occurred the leading men of the commu-
nifty hushed it up and asked the family to
perform the punishment There was a
meeting of the murderers clan. and the
result was a sentence that he be buried
alive. His own relatives dug the grave and
his mother threw the dirt into the hole
upon him and tramped 1t down with her
feet"
Punishments for Parricides.
No one but those who have studied the
Chinese can realize the horror with which
they look upon PARTICLES and ma tricides
Nothing will excuse the killing of father
or mother by the child. In the Pekin Ga
Zette l find numerous instances of iunatics
who have killed their parents and been
sliced to death. In this sicing not only is
the flesh cut away bit by bit. but the victim
is, to a large extent, skinned alive. One
of the first cuts is across the middle of the
forehead. after which the executioner takes
the skin and rips it off. Next the cheeks
torn off then the brea ibiCbc
and calves. all cut by cut, the skin being
torn away until the man is dead.
Accidents are no excuse for such killing
1t was only two years ago that a boy of
eight living in a little town about twenty
miles from Shanghai was playing with a
stool. He was tossing it up in the air
when his mother ran out of the hut. and
1t accidentlv fell upon her head and killed
her According to the law the earliest age
ar which the punishment of slicing to death
be inflicted is sixteen. You would
They did not. He was put at once in
prison. and will be kept there until he
reaches sixteen. when the punishment will
be inflicted He has six years more to
wait
"a Misftw
/ have never seen Chinese execution,
and / do not envy any one the sight. The
brutality of the executioners is beyond con-
ception. A missionary told me how he re-
Gently saw the heads of five robbers cut off
There were two executioners." said he,
lone an expert, the other an amateur. The
sword of the expert went through the
human necks as though through cheese
but the amateur bungled his work The
robbers placed on their knees with
their heads outstretched. AS the sword
cut through the necks the heads fell to the
ground, some rolling twenty feet away. The
blood spurted out in great jets from the
bodies. which strange to say still remained
on their knees:
when all the heads were off I asked if
might not go inside the line and look. The
magistrate said. of course: why not?' and
I went in. / pointed to one body and asked
the executoner which head belonged to 1t.
He replied. I will see,' and he picked up
one of the heads and laid 1t on the neck.
"'Oh" said he, with a laugh, this Is
misfit.'
He then threw it down and picked up
another. 1t was also a misfit, the head
having been cut somewhat the slant.
The third head fitted exactly
LAS we left the execution grounds the
heads were being put into little wooden
cages much like bird cages. There was
head in each cage The cages,Swere to be
hung up the wall on poles near the
spot where the crime was committed. Such
fruit may often be seen on Chinese trees"
The Punishment of the Cangue.