The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-10-19

That the awful custom Of buryins
people alive still prevails in Southern
China is an old story with the foreign
colony here, but the other day your
correspondent and a handful OF Eu-
ropeans had the terrible truth
brought home to them-saw the vic
tim with their own eyes and rescued
him, Of course. We bought this hui
man life for 500, paid to his par
ents. while the authorities agreed to
see to it that the promises given were
faithfully carried out.
The person whose life we bought
for the paltry sum is the son OF a
poor artisan in Shanghai suburb,
not more than twenty miles from the
foreigners quarters. He is only
fifteen years old, and for ten years
has been terror" stealing, robbing
and generally misbehaving himself.
The parents came near limbering the
life out of the youngster; the village
elders gave him the bastonade time
and again. He was placed in the pill
lory, was excluded from visiting his
ancestors temple; he wouldn't be
good; it wasn't in him. Finally the
father called a meeting and gravely
announced that he had decided to
bury his hayward son. All agreed
that that seemed the only way to stop
his badness.
Next day the father and twenty
abled bodied neighbors started out
with the village elder at their head,
all armed with spades and ramming
blocks. In their midst walked the
victim, arms and legs shackled. His
three elder brothers held the ropes
to prevent any attempt at flight.
When the sorry procession arrived at
the execution place they found it
thronged with spectators. The whole
village had turned out to witness the
show-men, women and children. A
branch of tree was secured and the
culprits height, from the soles Of his
feet to his neck, was measured. At
the same time the neighbors began
to shovel the grave, hole only deep
and broad enough to take the body
upright. When finished the lad was
disrobed.
The victim offered no resistance,
nor did he ask for mercy. He jumped
down into the hole. His father and
brothers each threw a few shovels of
dirt after him; the neighbOrs did the
rest, while the whole village helped
trample down the earth and ram it
with sticks and clubs. The ceremony
lasted but five or six minutes; after
that all that was visible of the bad
boy we're about six inches of neck
and his head.
The same evening a pale English
man named Graham burst into the
British-American Club. Boys,
nearly decapitated Chinaman-
must be one of those buried alive
parties. The thing nearly fright
ened me to death, but having no tools
to unbury the rogue. l drove here al
breakneck speed for help. Come
with me at once. My chauffeur is
buying spades, axes and the like"
The buried alive opened his eyes
wide when we set to work to rescue
him. He had been quite resigned to
his fate-to starve to death or being
eaten by dogs or hogs. Besides, he
told our interpreter, it was of little
use. AS his parents were determined
to get rid of him, they would repeat
the operation as soon as he was
found. Hence we had to add bribery
to our Samaritan act. One hundred
dollars bought the boy berth in a
reformatory, whose president agreed
to see to it that his parents and the
village were no more bothered with
the lad. When we related our ad.
venture at the club, a Catholic mis-.
sionary, visiting there, reported a
number of similar cases that came
under his own observation in the
course of the last ten years or so
He said: China Furnishes murder
like most other countries-with
death-death by Quartering or cru.
cifixion. But, at that, according to
the current Interpretation Of the law
burying alive is not murder as long
as the head of the victim protrudes
from the grave or in case the victim
consented to the act. Most of the
person whom l know to have been
buried alive were passionate gamb-
lers, professional thieves, opium
fends or lepers-persons constitut-
Ing moral CT physical detriment to
their relatives and to the commu-
nifty"
The missionary told Of the strange
case of an opium fend, the head of a
family. Owing to his devotion to the
drug this man refused to work and
In order to get money to buy opium
sold first his land. then his wife. then
his sons. When but one child. a