Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-07

of punishment having been found as early
as the fourth century b. c. In Scotland
in the fourteenth century it was considered
as mild and pleasant form of death COM
pared to some other punishments then IN
high favor, and there are records of cases
of death by drowning which were COM
muted from other penalties by special
grace of the queen. Death by drowning
was abolished in England in 1911. 1t was
prescribed for certain offenses in France,
however, as late as 1893.
Death by burning was also another pun
ishment which was considered to be mild
and pleasant If the victim happened to
be friendly with the executioner he would
strangle him first, so that the burning
was mere after-thought. Burning was
Communication especially granted to women.
Even the great Blackstone said, 1.-The de-
cency due to the sex forbid the exhibition
and public mangling Of their bodies" and
urged burning instead. The latest burning
of which there is record was that of Chris
tan Murphy, alias Bowman, which &C.
Cured in 17S9 The law on the subject
was repealed in 1870 in the reign of George
III, and thereafter women were hanged as
were men.
The practice of boiling prisoners to
death was revived in 1881, during the reign
of Henry VIII. Richard Roose, who pol
soned the food destined for the household
of the bishop of Rochester was boiled to
death publicly at Smithfield. The law was
repealed in 1547.
The Honorable AK.
Beheading. which was considered an
honorable death by the Romans, was in
troduced into England by William the Con-
queror and f1ourished for a good many
hundred years. The first to die in Great
Britain in this manner was the Earl of
Huntington Northampton and Northumber-
land in 1915. Charles I, who was beheaded
in 1919. was probably the most famous
character to die by the ak. Lord Fraser of
Lavat. who was beheaded in 1747 on Tower
Hill, was the last to die by the ak in Eng
land.
The Rack and Thumb Screw.
The records of the Spanish inquisition are
regarded affording one of the bloodiest
and most cruel chapters in the worlds his
tory. Every possible means of torturing
the human body was devised and applied,
to the end of terrorizing heretics and fore
ing confessions, true or false, with which
to prosecute others. The rack, the thumb
screw, the wheel, the boot and other de-
vices were commonly applied in the secret
chambers of the religious and often the
civil offices, and the screams of victims
often mingled with the joyous voices of
knights and ladies in attendance at bril-
liant ceremonies. There are authentic rec
Ords of social privileges having been grant
ed to spectators to witness the torments of
with the sufferer was exceedingly low: Yet
some member Of the gay company that
watched the writings and heard the
screams of the tortured might be himself
tomorrow on the rack, be in the grip of the
screw or even the more awful agony of the
helmet, particularly fiendish instrument
that slowly crushed the skull
This callousness of the public toward the
cruelties of the rulers and induisitioners of
the middle ages has given place to a gen.
orally tender regard for the sufferings of
all human beings. In this change of feel
ing, perhaps, as in no other manner, lies
the evidence of new spirit sharply an
tagonistic to all efforts to restore any of
the long-a bandoned devices or machines or
methods of infiicting physical pain.
Knout and Bastinado.
There do remain, to be sure, some prac-
tees savoring of the dark ages among
people claiming to be civilized. The knout
is still used in some parts of Russia, If re-
ports of travellers may be believed, and the
bastinado remains in vogue in Turkey.
The knout is variant of the lash, con-
sisting of Negotiating bunch of knotted
ropes fastened to a handle. These cut
deeply into the bare back of the victim,
and often cause death. The bastinado is a
punishment of great, If not respectable
age, dating from prehistoric times Pic
lures of this process of chaStisement ap-
pear in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The victim was tied to the ground by
stakes and beaten usually upon the barred
soles of the feet slender reed in the
hands of a stalwart slave inflicting the
most painful wounds and causing intense
agony.