The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-08-01
| TERRIBLE TORTUREs
INFLICTED By CHINESE
Outclass All Other Pee
pie in Their
Cruelty.
IRE LOWER, THAN THE ANIMALS.
METHODS OF PREPARING j
CELESTIAL VICTIM FOR
TRIAL
Slow Torture Producing the Most
Awful Suffering the Favor
ite Means That Are
Used.

on the face OF the earth to-day the Chi
nese are the most cruel, the most de-
voted TO fearful fortunes oflhose il
their power. and the most adept in de-
vising ever new forms of martyrdoIn
for the objects of their hatred.
In their most simple cruelty they are
lower than the animals, SAYS the New
York Press If they merely delighted
in torturing, one might say it was a
perversion. But they do not merely
delight in it They torture living ere
atures, from rats To man. as simple
matter of course, and the native vic
tins accept it equally as matter OF
course. There is something supremely
terrible in the matter-of-fact, .stolid
way in which they subject a prisoner
TO demoniac pain With as much readi-
ness as a magistrate in New York
would sentence a man to spend ten
days on the island"
To begin with, there is the whipping
and scourging with bamboo rods. This
is so common a method of preparing
a victim for trial that it is hardly con
sidered punishment, much less torture.
Yet the bamboo is laid on hard enough
to bring blood at each stroke and.
especially when it is applied to the
soles of the feet, the victim often faints
from pain and loss Of blood combined.
One can hardly enter a Chinese court
of Justice without witnessing a
flogging.
The mildest punishment that is
known to the simple and kindly Off
eial Chinese soul is the cage or Cam
que. Its principle is that of all Chi
nese punishments-slow tortur. A Chi
naman would take no artistic pleasure
in anything that killed quickly or that
reached its elimination of pain quick
ly. His victim must suffer little more
each hour In that way he makes his
delight last long, and can keep whole
string of wretehes to charm him by
their slow dying for months If he
killed them at once his fun would BE-
over too soon.
The Cangue, then, is formed to keep
the agony of the penitent up for
months, till madness or death ends his
sufferings. 1t is delightfully."- simple
thing-so simple that there is nothing
at all terrifying about it at first. Il
is merely large frame of wood, with
a collar in the middle 1t weighs about
fifty pounds. and is so made that It
can be locked around a mans neck.
When IL is so locked it rests directly
on the muscles of the neck and on the
bones of the shoulders, and it is so
constructed that it cannot be shiftea
even a tenth of an inch, nor can the
weight be relieved with the hands. In
addition. the collar has a sharp rim
underneath. At first the victim does
not suffer much, except from incon-
venience. He is turned loose as soon
as the Cangue is locked on him. and
for an hour or two he waddles around
in fair comfort. But gradually as the
sharp edge of the collar cuts deeply
into the flesh OF his neck and all his
muscles are drawn more and more
tense. pain begins to conquer him, and
in a week the torturers have the fell
city of seeing maddened wretch
stumble and fall around blindly, weep
ing and yelling with anguish. Remem
Der. in addition, that the Cangue is so
made that the man in ii cannot feed
himself or drink, and must depend on
others. which gives his jailers The
chance to add the torture of hunger
and thirst to his other sufferings. and
the extent of this easy" punishment
may be estimated.
The bamboo furnishes favorite inn
plements for Chinese legal fortunes
Sharpened sliyers OF bamboo are used
for countless purposes in countless
ways. Indeed, if the reader will i'm
asine Just what he would hate most to
have done TO him with bamboo silver
he will hit something that the Chinese
are sure to do. The most simple and
merciful deeds are to stick tiny slivsrs
all over their victims and TO leave
them there to tester. Worse still is the
cheerful practice OF driving wedge
shaped pieces of bamboo under the FIN
ger or toe nails OF accused persons.
This Is done gently and slowly with
mallet. and the hammering is kept up
until the victim confesses or the judges
decide that 1t is enough.
: Implement is a popular amusement.
4 sharpened bamboo stake is used for
this pleasing diversion. The sufferer is
pinioned and laid on the ground. Then
the execusioner either drives the stake
through him as an insect would he
impaled on q pin. carefully avoiding
any immediate mortal injury. or the
stake is forced along the whole length
of the body, providing death some
what more swift but even more hid
eons to contemplate IN one uRspeak-
able form of implement the yellow
wretches do not carry II far enough
10 kin the -ietim at once. but stop Just
so that he will live IN l Incredible agony
for days and days and sometimes even
weeks, during which time he is placed
on public exhibition.
Crucifxion is q common form Of
punishment. hut usually it is only a
mere accompanying detail OF other
fortunes Thus, man may be erucifled
and left in the sun to die from thirst
or he may be nailed 10 cross with
his head shaved and covered with
sweet syrup TO attract insects that VIII
bite him to death after days Of suffer
ing.
OF alI panishments that involve cru
ciflxion. however. the one that delights
the ofIicial Chinese heart the most is
Ling Chez Ling-Che Is such 3 bril-
liant result Of ingenious thought thai
the executioners rarely nail a man who
Il 10 xpRer this form Of punishment g