The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-12-31

ONNl Nhdl RN III llt DiuUutIDuSSg
pulled the gun from my forehead as ik
exploded and it flew out of the Pom-
bo's hand. Kill himl Kill himp thet
mob cried az | laughed at the accidents
He shows no fear. Kill himp Thes
Pombo, always superstitious, blamed
the jumping of the matchbox from his'
hand TO some supernatural force anS
not to the overcharge OF powder He'd
seemed reluctant TO proceed with thet
execution This was my opportunity.J
cried, If you kill me to-day you wilR
all die tomorrow For a while theyS
we're silent, but again the mob cof1-
menced TO cry for my life The Polnbo 1
now worked himself in an ever grsater:
frenzy and froth fecked firm his
mouth A Lama handed him a hssyy5.
two-handed sword and tucked VIZ n,st
sleeves to give his arms free plaS Hell
ordered MERIDA to bend down my hsadT
TO receive the blow, but reaisteE
with all my feeble strength. II sasr
to die ! would die with my heao up. >
would never bend to the bru,ss ee-
fore me. !.
The Pombo advanced toward me )
swinging the shiny blade from d. tCS
side. He measured the blow required
10 behead me by drawing ths DfIde 4
across the back of my neck. And J
then he made mighty stroke ssrd the 4
blade swept past me. 1t was I'D H.
realize that my head was not III. fr
think ! ceased to breathe. Thz Porlbol u
went to the opposite side alsi ssein 4
drew the keen blade across -, 1es4 Z
and then with his trembling naSd sG6 n
with all his might, made blow st Iat ~
Again he missed the blads Bkssrrx
over my hair The crowd hosCIcd ic' 4
my blood but the Pombo res1cC ,itss \
my apparent indifference, refused e.
proceed with his ghastly wortc. 1sa
later learned that this apparent mics q
ing of the mark in an execution was Il
merely one way of prolonRing thy a
agony and torturing the victim. D
The Tortures Continued. 4
"Mansing was now brought toward d
me and we were informed that both 4
of us were to be beheaded on the y
morrow. The execution was being de
| layed we were informed, with the OBJ
ject Of getting a longer performances
out of it. We were getting weak from d
hunger felt my strength giving out.
| asked for food, saying, If you do not3
give us some nourishment we shall diS
of starvation and defeat the execuy
| ton This was reason, and the Lamassi
brought us food and stuffed il witfS
their fingers down our throats. Agairt
our tortures were continued. My leg&l
were torn wider open and fastened to-
logs. Mansing's were treated In th&I
same manner. My hands. as we'll ass
! Mansing's. were fastened behind and
then pulled up by a rope passed.
through a hole in a post We were,i
stretched as far as possible without (,
tearing our bodies apart and the ropes
were fastened. The joints of my armS
were twisted in their sockets. and tho
agony was beyond description Mana
sings neck was tied to mine with tha
object of keeping the strain on ouS
arms.
Il made many attempts to escape;s
but my weakness was so great thatt
they were ineffective. We were hoggedt
when It suited any passing soldier. !
And each succeeding hour brought A.,
with it more torture. All night the I
rain fell and | could not help thinking
that we would not survive the treat |
ment even if we were not beheaded
the next day.
" In the morning my baggage, that !
had not been searched, was opened, |
and it is due to the ignorance and |
superstition of the Thibetans that tho
world ever heard of my torture. The
series of accidents, that were easily
accounted for by myself, were looked !
upon by the Thibetans as supernatural
doings, and I encouraged the belief.
For instance, when the Pombo opened
my undeveloped Photographic plates
and exposed them to the light they
turned black, Why is this? he cried.
That is a sign that you will suffer for
what you have done to me- He
squirmed, and ordered the plates to
be buried out of his sight.
Under the plates there was huge
bath sponge. which by the weight of
the plates had become fattened down
to the thickness of about quarter of
an inch, The Pombo held ii before
me, bit it, and tore it. Sponges were
absolutely unknown in Thibet, and he
was puzzled. What is III? he de-
manded as he threw it in a rain pool
beside me. | saw it commence TO
Swell This was another opportunity
to scare them | held an animated |
talk with the rapidly expanding |
sponge, which grew larger and larger |
every moment. The Thibetans |
watched me in fear. cried, If you |
harm me any more this will grow and /
grow till II floods your nation and de-
stroys you all could see their ter
ror, and when the sponge had reached
its normal size | asked it in Thibetau +
to cease growing till further command
A great show of relief came over my
captors. The next accident that helped
me was the bursting of my rife One /
of the Lamas who had been very cruel
took the weapon, which had been
jammed into the mud and choked, and
asked how II was used. ! told him,
and, putting in a cartridge, he fired
al a yak few yards away. With a
terrific reports the rife burst and
smashed the face of the Lama. My
supernatural powers were now estab-
lished at least, in that locality
mot long after this my bonds
we're removed from my deadeneG
limbs, Clinping 10 the ropes were
nieces OF flesh and skin. I rolled over
on the ground helpless and dead with
the. evception Of nv brain. Thus
ended the worst twenty-four hours Of
my life. Later was freed and con-
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