Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-09-25
TRIP TO THE Orient
Clarence e. Edw0rds Touring the
Eastern Countries.
II is OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
INTERESTINGLY WRITTEN IN WEEK
LY LETTERS, WHICH WILL AP.
PEAR IN The RECORDER.

LY LETTERS, WHICH WILL AP.
PEAR IN The RECORDER.
Shanghai, China, April 6:--I am
now waiting for a vessel to carry
me away to the South Seas, and
glad | shall be to shake the--I was
going to say dust, but it was mud
of China from my shoes. l am
glad I came and saw China but |
do not want to come again. |
would advise everybody to come
once. They would see much that
would make them contented with
their own countries and their own
lot in life. But they will not want
to come again unless they are more
hardened to human misery than l
am. have told of the filth, of
the starvation, of the ignorance
and of the savagery of the Chinese,
and there remains the worst OF all
to be told | have visited the
prison and have seen an execution,
and if there remained in my make
up a single feeling of respect for
the Chinese it has been most effect
ually eradicated, and there is now
nothing left but loathing in the ex-
IRENE. Chinese exclusion should
be the cry of every true American.
Cruelty is, in its most varied
form, the predominant feature Of a
Chinese prison. The Chinese who
does something against the law,
and there are so many ways OF
breaking Chinese law that it is a
wonder that everybody is not in
Jail, is punished by imprisonment
and by stocks, for minor offenses;
and by death, either sudden or lin
gering; if the infraction be serious.
When he is put in prison he is at
the mercy of his friends and rela-
tives, for if they do not feed and
care for him he will starve to death
as the government does not give
food to it's prisoners.
The common punishment for mi
nor offenses is the bastinado. The
culprit is tied face down on a
board. Then he is logged from
head to foot with a heavy whip,
and this is followed by beating the
soles of the feet with a bamboo
rod until they are so raw that the
offender can not walk for week
or more. The next higher form OF
punishment is to put the culprit in
a frame of wood so that he hangs
by his neck, his toes just touching
the ground. His hands are fasten-
ed so that he cannot ease the strain
on the neck, and he is kept in this
condition for days, and sometimes
for weeks, his relatives feeding him
and doing what they can to relieve
him.
I saw one poor devil standing in
this position, his mouth open and
his face covered with crawling flies,
some of which crawled in and out
of his mouth, all feeling apparently
being gone, as he made no effort
to keep the flies away. If the cul-
prit is a malicious offender the
stocks are covered with spikes and
sharpened nails to keep him In con-
slant torment.
saw one felon strapped to q
board through which small nails
had been driven. These were
piercing his flesh in dozens of plac-
es, and his blood had caked all ov.
er his body and on the board. He
was being prepared for execution
and it was thought necessary tt
torture him first. 1t is believed
that if Chinese die without his
body being mutilated he will 60 te
the abode of the blessed, but if his
body be mutilated when he dies ht
will have to remain in the place Of
the bad until his wounds heal, con
sequently in order to make the
punishment fit the crime the Chi