Evening star., 1900-07-30
.ATROCIOUS CRUELTY
Some Of the Horrible Customs of
Barbarous Chinese.
BRUTALITY TOWARD PRISONERS
How Criminals Are Punished After
Conviction.
IN A CHINESE COURT

| distinguished American traveller, who
| on more than one occasion represented the
United States at European courts, and who
| was keen observer Of the habits and Gus
toms of the Chinese during residence of
many years in that empire, expressed it as
| being his calm Judgment that morally the
Chinese were the most debased people on
| earth. This opinion was shared by num-
| ber of other travellers, principal among
whom were the following. whose works on
| the subject can be found in nearly all of
the large libraries throughout the country:
| S. Wells Williams In 1.-THE Middle King
| dom.'' Gray in the History of the Laws.
Manners and Customs of the People of
| China" NJ. rAbbe Hue in Journey Through
| China
| Speaking of the Canton revolt of 1871, Mr.
| Williams said: I'm some instances the
| troops actually devoured the bodies of the
| citizens Surely barbarfc brutality can go
| no further than cannibalism, especially a
| cannibalism that is not the outgrowth of
| necessity and appetite, but of a senseless
| and unbrfdled ferocity. Little more could
| infanticide is the prevailing custom"
Murder of Female Infants.
Writing abort the practice of numbering
/
ing districts in the neighboring country the
| family which has several girls born to It
destroys all after one or two, unless some
of their friends desire to bring them up as
/ future wives of their boys. In this city
| tFoo-Chow) the custom of killing girls is
probably not so universal as in the country.
| Some Intelligent Chinese estimate that the
probable proportion of city families which
/ destroy one or more Of their female children
| In case they have several is about one-half.
! The principal methods Of depriving these
unfortunates of life are these: By drown
| ing in tub of water, by throwing into
some running stream by burying alive.
| The latter method is affirmed to be selected
by few families under the belief that their
next child will be boy. The most common
way Is the first mentioned. The person who
| usually performs the murderous act is the
! father of the child
Nailed by the Hands.
| In his Journey Through China" Mr. Gray
said: lone day when we were passing
along the road leading to Pekin we met a
party of soldiers with an officer at their
head, escorting a number of carts. in which
were literally piled up a crowd of Chinese
| who were uttering horrible cries. AS we
stopped to allow these carloads of human n
beings to pass we were seized with hor-
ror on perceiving that these unfortunate
creatures were nailed by the hands to
the planks of the cart A satellite whom
We interrogated replied with frightful cool
ness, We have been routing out a nest
Of thieves In neighboring village. We
got good many of them, and as we had
not got chains enough we were obliged to
| contrive some way to prevent their escap-
ing. so, you see, we nailed them by the
hand
But do you not think there may be some
innocent among them2T
"'Who can tell: They have not been
tried yet. We taking them to the trtb-
unal. and by and by. II there are any in
nocent men among them they will be sep
arated from the thieves
| The fellow seemed to think the thing
quite matter OF course. and YVES even a
httle proud Of the contrivance Perhaps
| what was most hideous of all in this dread
fus spectacle was the mocking hilarity of
the soldiers who were pointing out to one
| another. with an air of amusement the con-
| tortiOns and grimaccs Of the miserable
pie can exhibit such barbarity as this in
quiet and peaceable times. 1t may be i'm
agned of what excesses they are capable
under the excitement Of revolution and civil
| war"
Chinese Prisons
Speaking of the prisons Of China GRAY
said they consist according to their class
Of a certain number of wards. In each
ward there are four cells, arranged two on
| a side so as to form the two sides of a
square. and resemble cattle sheds They
are paved with granite and each Is furnish
| eu Win q raised WOODEN dalS, on which the
prisoners sit by day ard sleep by night,
They are polluted with vcrmin and filth of
| almost every kind, and the prisoners seldom
or never have an opportunity afforded them
OF washing their bodies or even of dressing
their hair, water in Chinese prisons being
scarce commodity. and hair-comb ar
ucles almost unknown. In each cell are
placed largo tubs for the use of the prison.
ers and it Is difficult to conceive how hIl-
man beings can breathe the stench-for the
air seems nothing else-whIch arises from
these tubs, more particularly during the
hot season.
The mortality in Chinese prisons is sc
great that a dead house is regarded as 4
very necessary adjunct. The bodies OF
those who die in prison arc thrown into the
dead house and remain there until the nee
essary preliminaries. which are of a very
simple kind have been arranged for theil
iIterment In the course of my repeated
visits to Canton prisons. covering O period
of more than three years, 1 frequently saw
these receptacles, full of corpses, presentinp
the most revolving and disgusting appear.
ance.
Punishing Criminals.
zone mode of Furnishing q criminal IL
that Of confini 3 him in cage. The cages
are Of different forms. One is too short to
allow the prisoner to place himself In q
recumbent position and too low to admit
of his standing. Another Is a narrow cage
not high enough to admit OF the offender
standing altogether upright. To the top ID
L attached n WOOden ,olIar hv uhIDl, th>