Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1905-01-26

Our New Possessions.
CCorrespondence Of the Beacon.I
CHINESE LAWS.
Are very just to q certain extent,
and most brutal in general. The ad-
ministration OF such barbarous pun
ishments as, cutting of the ears,
nose, binding, and mutilating the
body. are but q few OF them. In
minor cases, exposure in the pillory,
castigation-whipped through the
streets with manacled hands and q
heavy wooden collar around the neck,
and . policeman carrying large
sign with the name and offense on Il
COMPRISING the ankles ia bamboo
grooves, squeezing the fingers into
q jelly, beating the lips with sticks.
wrapping the hands with oiled cloth
SO as to burn ther., suspending the
body by the thumbs. splitting or
cutting of the tongue and various
others. The Chinese have q great
dread OF going TO courts or having
anything to do with magistrates,
owing 10 the illegal punishment and
Imprisonment they have to endure.
The illnesses as well as the crimi-
nails are punished. Neither torture
or Imprisonment is ranked among
the five punishments, but there is
probably more deaths caused by
them than otherwise. Sometimes,
punishment, such as mailing through
the hands to boards are given, hot
irons, boiling water etc.
The Emperor is at the head of the
whole, II the possession OF great
power and being the object of pro-
found reverence can impart happi-
ness, then he is certainly to be con-
sidered- the happiest mortal living.
He is also looked upon by the Chin
ese as vice-gerent from heaven, es-
pecially to govern ali nations; is
supreme in everything holding the
highest Legislative and executive
power without limit or control. He
is also known or rather enjoys the
benefit OF most exalted titles such as
we give God. Some of them are
Tien TT Celestial Sovereign } Tien
Ts'z lSon OF Heaven } and various
others. He is also the Head of the
Church.
The least ofTense q Chinaman COM
mits will generally cost him his
head. Woo Sung, just below Shang-
hal, is one of their beheading places.
Also, the walled city of Shanghai.
When last l was there, only last
year, happened TO be in the Walled
City and there were 20 to be minus
crown piece" in a very short
time. Allow me to say, it is not q
very pleasant sight to see one be-
headed. The ceremony is conduct
ed in this way: The criminal is led
out before thousands of people, his
name and offense read out, then he
and his people plead for his life, but
they may as well not waste their
breath for the good that is done. He
is then led to the block, his neck
laid in the grove with the pig-tail
clear of the mock and hands tied.
Theexecutioner then takes password,
somewhat like scimiter, the Turk
ish sword, and takes it by the handle
and center Of the blade and LAYS it
on the neck, then he brings it to his
shoulder in the same position very
slowly so as not to miss his aim,
then il descends swiftly and of
comes the head, the body stag
gers and falls in a heap. The
last one killed, let out a CUR
gle, and know it would have taken
one OF our crack runners to catch
them. even the executiouer. But
they came back in few minutes.
This was owing TO the superstitious
belief Of the people who thought
that his spirit had come back TO
avenge him. More persons die from
the effects Of the torture and priva-
tons in prison, than by sword or
executions. Very little is know of
the management OF prisons, or
"hells" as they are called. But
the cruelties of the turkeys and
older prisoners are something hor-
rible, to extort money from new
Corners. The prisons resemble a
barn, having an open central court
occupying about a quarter of the
area. with small dirty stalls cover
ed by . roof SO that each prisoner
will be locked in at night.
FORTUNE TELLING.
There are no more people more
enslaved by fear of the unknown
than the Chinese. None resort more
frequently to sortilege tosee whether
this thing or that will be success
full. This is prevalent among all
classes and thousands consult fate |
with bamboo slir,S hoa.;r. ..-.