The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1902-12-27
SCENES AFFEAIIhg A Fb0ggIng ~
"A WIFH The TERRIBLE RUSSIAN KHOuF
fk' Victim Strapped F't' D'xawua Upon hax Bench
90 RI. Kpautts shartAansd. long Bullock Whp-Au -.
Excavation tbs DEPTH Of S'pPl,ts Made in hs FLESH.

ed it. I quickly began to appreciate
what had appeared to me mere Ostenta-
tiousness in the preliminary stroke
practice. For, having once been start
ed the executioner's strokes were as
steady, as rhythmical, as precise, as If
done by steam engine, and as unre-
| lenting. Such was the precision of
| them that att the end of the fifth there
were exactly fifteen lines, scoring the
buttocks as evenly as If they had been
marked by q piece of chalk. Their
| force so completely expelled the blood
| from the surface that with chalk the
lines could not have been made whittier.
| By the wrist manoeuvre the blows
were applied with such carefully grad
| ed force that at the end of the first
| stage the part already attacked looked
| as if covered with an even sheet OF
white paper. There was not drop of
blood"
| Up to this point, or about the twenty
| fifth stroke, so violent were the at
| tempts of the prisoner to struggle and
| to yell, that death from suffocation
seemed as likely as from the flogging
itself. Then came dead silence.
1.-THE second stage commenced when
| the blood began to flow, and as this
proceeded more and more freely, the
victim appeared to revive and come to
life again. AS spectacle, this was by
| far the most horrible part of the pun
ishment, though for the victim 1t was
much less painful. At every blow each
| of the three knout-ended thongs, like
the claws and beak of a vulture, pecked
out fragments of dripping flesh. which
were scattered in all directions by the
backward swing of the lash. To avoid
them the officers-who were in white
uniform-and the doctors had to step
back and back for a considerable dis
| lance. After the skin of the side at
| tackled had been completely detached
and scattered, the screams OF the poor
wretch subsidized into groans and sobs.
| The excavation, now about the size
and depth Of soup plate. being filed
with oyerfowing blood, which poured
| over the edge of the table, the force OF
the blows was very much deadened.
The deeper and deeper the blowing, the
less and less was the pain. At last.
when it seemed as if the time would
surely never arrive, the marker, all out
| Of breath, shouted out, in a loud and
prolonged voice. "F-i-f-t-y! and the
governor cried, Halt!
At this point DR.. A. stepped for
ward, felt the prisoners pulse, stepped
back to the governor and made a re-
port of the mans condition. After
pause of about five minutes the execu-
toner and marker changed sides, like
cricketers:
"Again the executioner went through
the same process as at the first start
ing. Again the final command was
given, and with the same shrieks and
Eyells on the part of the culprit and the
same mechanical rhythm, persistence
and relentlessness on the part OF the
executioner, the scene continued until,
to the infinite relief of everybody, the
marker shouted out the welcome word
Ninety nine! The hundredth
stroke is always omitted as token of
imperial magnanimity. When what re-
NAMED of this poor wretch had been
unstrapped he was not dead. and his
quivering body was borne away to the
hospital"
The fiogging table was swilled with
buckets of water, and during the dry
ing of it DR.. Howard examined and
experimental with the bloody knout.
He says:
"Tbe handle of this instrument was
of thick wood. about eighteen inches
long. The main thong was of stout
rawhide, tied into a knot about eight
feet from the handle, where it was
split into three smaller thongs. These
were about three feet long, the ends
terminating, not in lead or iron hooks,
as 1 have seen falsely alleged, but in
knots so short and hard as to amount
to almost the same thing. At the time
I examined it the thongs were nearly
covered with blood clots and clinging
fragments of flesh. 1t was a most sick
ening object
Later, DR.. Howard accompanied DR..
A. to the hospital, and found the
logged assassin in one of the best beds
in the best ward, where everything had
been carefully prepared for his recep-
ton. The writer adds:
! "In the dressing of his wounds, the
selection of his diet, as well as in the
hospital attention Of the nurses, there
was neither stint nor limitation so far
as the resources Of the hospital depart
ment permitted. In the nature of his
case his treatment called for very little
incidence, but rather for moderate
stimulation and all the nourishment he
could take, and as he suffered very lit
tie actual pain, his condition and pros
poets were regarded by some OF the
other patients as being rather enviable