The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-26
DOES THE HEAD LIVE.
ONCE IT HAS BEEN SEVERED
FROM THE BoDYP
It Does, Says Naval Surgeon, Who
HAS Seen Many Decapita-
tions-His Observations
on the Results.

Philadelphia Press.
Does decaptation cause instantaneous
death? DIR. oliver d. Norton of the
United States Navy declares that 1t does.
soaal observations gained as wit
ness OF nearly fifty executions.
Dr. Norton has Deen in the naval SER
vice for eighteen years He rs at pres
emit stationed on the receiving ship Mln-
neapohs. at the League Island Navy
Yard. He has seen much service in the
Philippines and when the allied forces
marched to the relief of Pekin he ac-
companied them. 1t was on this expe-
dition that he gathered the data that
forms the basis of hts declaration that
the death of man beheaded Is not in
Simultaneous. At Canton he witnessed the
execution Of thirty-six Chinese in one
afternoon and studied the gruesome spec
| tacle from a purely scientific standpoint.
In telling about the spectacle yesterday,
DR.. Norton said:
1t was on a SUNDAY afternoon in last
November that the wholesale execution
| took place. l was standing outside pot.
terry where the official execution ground
| is situated, when there were loud shouts
and a crowd of Chinese came running
up. The thirty-six condemned men fol-
| owed in filters carried by coolies. The
mems elbows were drawn back and pin
Toned; their hands were bound together
and heavy irons were on their legs. The
filters were turned over and their occu-
| pants spilled out on the ground. Seven
came in the first batch and these were
| forced to kneel In the street and wait
nearly ten minutes for the arrival of the
| others. Piracy and murder were the
| crimes for which the majority of them
| We're to be killed. -.
When the Others arrived they, too.
We're made to kneel, the party being ar
| ranged in a long line, two and three
| abreast. A tag was attached to each
| mans pigtail apd similar tail was fast
| ened to the blouse. This was for the
purpose of Identification and to insure the
htrrx inn nf ooh ttyffh he hOl RI
| which 1t belonged. A stick stuck out of
| the collar of each mans blouse, and TO
| this was attached paper containing an
| account of the criminal and his crime
The men showed no sign of being under
the influence of opium and were appa-
rently unconcerned.
A high official with a red umbrella came
out to see that Justice was done, and
b guard Of fifteen soldiers lined up to
prevent any attempt az rescue. Many G.
the condemned men exchanged fa:ewtlls
with frien'is In the crowd, of onloo>'rs.
but there sere NJ signs Of grief or col
lapse on the part OF anyone.
Two Axecationers performed the entire
thirty-slx decafitations. The headsmen
swords. They did tfeir wo:k clearly and
| rapidly, and in all but three cases the
heads fell at single STROKE. There WAS
no pause TN the part of the cxecutioners
| the other by per forming the greater num-
| Der OF decapitations. Before each stroke
| the he3dsman rose on his toes and de-
| livered the blow with all OF his force
| His assistants followed him ard when
the bodies did not fall they pushed them
| over.
Tine executionersl begin at the front If
the line and those behind saw their com
| panions accept ttt fate that was to be
| theirs in few minutes. There was no
| hinching no@. and not man tainted or
showed any symptoms of bcing about
| to do so.
| A remarkable feature of the occasion
| was tho dem .anor of the spectators. AS
the sword fell on the first victim there
was wild ousburst Of cheering and this
| was repeated after each stroke. 1 asked
| Chinese the reason of the demonstration
and he said it was to make the doomed
| men brave.
| AS each head was severed stream OF
blood spouted from two to three feet in
| the air, and by the time the last man had
been beheaded the bodies lay in lake
of red.
DIR. Nortons observations on the re-
| sul's of decapitation have created a SEN
| sation In the medical world. AS each
| head fell the doctor watched closely and
was strongly of the impression that death
| was not instantaneous, but that it came
almost Immediately after the stroke ac-
companying syncope He fixes the
| ton at about FIVE seconds. Continuing
his story he said:
| "As the heads fell 1 examined them
closely. There would be a swift upward
movement of the eyes, an expression of
| surprise would come over the face as If
| the victim were wondering what had hit
| him, the lips would move as If in an at
| tempt to speak, and then the face would
| turn pale and a faint which speedily gave
| way to death would follow Many of the
| faces showed looks of intelligence at the
instant that the head fell, but this, of
course, was only for a second
| In number of cases a decided effort
to swallow was shown and repeated sew
eral times. In some instances there was
| a pronounced effort to speak. judging
from the expressio Is and movements of
| the lips This was not a convuls,ve
| movement but a most deliberate and e..
pressive one. The men were not in -
| act of speaking when the blow fell
kother cases there was nltu~' n
ment of the eyes as il loo--inl, ..A2 g
1 opening and closing of the lids ocC' -
| in any of the bodies or legs, the hei7s
| alone showing signs OF life. Close exam
ination of the facial expressions impressed
me with the idea that it WAS the face
| of a person In syncope. ard the eyes,
| eyelids lips, color and general express
sion were those of a person who was
about to go into a deep faint"
At the decapitation conducted by The
| Japanese. which DR.. Norton attended, the
| victims were made to kneel over the
graves which had been dug for them.
bodies fell into the trenches.
Before leaving China DR.. Norton com
| municated his views on decapitation to
Vice Consul Langhorne at Canton. Lang
horne afterwards attended" number of
executions and his observations bear out
DR.. Norton's contention that beheadng |
does not cause instantaneous death.