Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-11-21

above his head, where he car
smell it but can not reach it.
Next the bleeding board, 8
board with spikes in it. or
which the criminal is placed
and strapped down. It is
arranged so that with a certain
pull the board will move alone
under the body and the straps
tighten, plunging the spikes
deeper into the body The per-
son thus treated lives but five
to seven hours and slowly
bleeds to death. Next the
drowning basket-is made of
some light bamboo materia! and
large enough for two persons.
Into this the offender is put,
where he soon browns, only to
rise again in a few days, and is
!allowed to float around in full
view of all.
Oh. the horror of it all. The
pnnishments of all classes of
criminals in China are made as
public as possible. The starv-
ing cages (Which we have de-
scribed) are stood around on
the street corners, in full view
of the passing public, as a
warming to would-be offenders.
Right here | stop and wonder
if such cruel treatment of the
poor unfortlnates does not
have a tendency to MAKE more
criminals instead of lessening
crime. 1t seems to me that for
children to be allowed to gaze
upon such cruelty from infancy
to old age, would certainly have
the effect of hardening their
sensibilities and thereby maxi
ing them cruel and hardened in
crime. But here, I'm not sup
posed to theorize about the
Chinese method of punishment,
but must return to my descrip-
tion of the sWhang-H Ho."
We were shown a large,
round piece of copper about 81
feet in diameter, which was
formerly used as a fog horn ty
the crew.
Now we are standing along
side the big rudder which is
used to guide the ship; it is.
here the pilot stands. We
could look down through the
hull of the boat and see the
deep water beneath. Directly
behind this rudder is the "Jost"
house, a small aperture about
four feet high, three feet deep
and three feet wide. This is
curtained off with pretty bright
silk curtains and looks very
much like a cozy corner, if it
were not for the queer Chinese
characters inscribed on the wal.
back of it, and just in front of
this queer little den is swung
from the ceiling a glass bowl.
in which a fire was supposed to
have been kept burning both
day and night in order to keep
the devil away. If from any
cause this fire was allowed to
go out, then the Pilot had a
goodly supply of bits of red
paper with a tiny hole in the
center Of each piece; this he
would cast into the water
around the rudder and His
Majesty was supposed to go
through the hole in each and
every piece of paper before he
could reach the boat. This was
a task his lordship never ac-
plished, and hence the ship
was safe.
This "Jost" house or altar is
too small a place for anyone to
enter, the worshippers are
supposed to PROSTATE them
selves on a broad platform,
just at its entrance.
Well now, we come to the
most interesting part of the
boat, (for the crew at least)
this is the kitchen. This place
is like a box about 3x6 feet.
Did you ask about the range?
Well of all queer things, this is
the queerest. This stove is
built of brick old and gray.
/ wonder if these brick were
ever red like the brick of to-
day. These were about 4 in.
long, 8 in. wide and 2 thick.
We could not see where the
chimney was, but the stove
looked like a slid square of
these brick, while right in the
center on top was a large pot of
some kind of earthernware
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