Year: 1859

Executions In China. Horrible scenes.


The horrible executions still continue In
Canton, notwiths tanding the place is In the
occupation OF the English. A letter to the
Boston Traveller, written May 3lst, gives the
following account of2n execution:


The execution had been fixed at noon A,
half-past eleven half q dozen men arrived al
the execution ground, each armed with what
resembied cleaver rather than sword, and
preceded by bearers Of rough pine boxes
decorated with sides painted as If with blood.
These were collins for the gang to be executed
which that day numbered one hundred and
ffty. General uhconcern and even a stoicaf
indifference marked the countenances of both
soldiers and spectators, who together amount
ed to about one hundred and fifty. A breeze
sprang mp, which carried the intolerable
stencil from the quarter occupied by the for
eigners, who, 10 the number of a dozen, had
obtained admittance to the top of one of the
houses on the side of the street at the en-
trance of this '.fleld of blood" Soon after the
arrival OF the executioners and the collins, a
division OF the condemned appeared on tn.
ground, consisting of ten individuals, speedi-
ly followed by the rest of the unhappy
wretches in companies of the same number.


Each prisoner had his hands tied behind his
back, and label stuck in his tail or long
queue, while he was thrust down in wicker
basket, over which his chained legs dangled
loosely, the body riding uncomfortably, and
marked by long paper tally pasted on strip
OF bamboo, thrust between the jacket of each
condemned individual and his back. These
IMAM baskets as they are called, swung with
small cords, were carried by bamboo poles up
on the shoulders of two porters As the pri-
soners arrived they were taken from the bas-
kets and made to kneel, facing the south. In
space of twenty feet by twelve were counted
as many as seventy prisoners, ranged in half
a-dozen rows. At five minutes TO twelve,
Mandarin, wearing a white button, arrived,
and the two individuals who were first 10 be
cut in pieces were tied to the crosses which
had been planted. This was probably design
ed to increase the terror of death to those who
were about TO experience it, just rs though
the natural bitterness was not sufficient. Ia
the meanwhile that this frightening process
was going on, the execution commenced, and
twenty or thirty were headless before our
friend was aware of it. The only sound TO be
heard was a horrld chesP cheep chssp. as the ex-
ecutioner's knife or cleayer fell upon the neck
of the victim. No signs of fear were seen in the
faces of the prisoners, as they knelt and await
ed the fatal moment. No entreaties were
made; no shrieks were heard. One blow was
sufficient for each, the head tumbling between
the legs of the victim before the body fell As
the sword fell, the trunk, spouting with blood,
sprang forward, falling on the breast, and was
still forever.


In four minutes the execution was compile
ted, and one hundred and fifty human beings,
of all ages, had passed into eternity. Thereon
the other sections commenced a work still
more barbarous and horrifying it might be
said to be even deyilish-for what could be
more sol


The victims of torture were tied TO thoc crosses
which had been plan ted at one end of the
arena, when an executioner approaching, cut
slice from under each arm with a short,
sharp knife which he carried. low, sup
pressed, fearful groan from each victim fol-
lowed the gashing, but nothing like a scream
or outcry. Dexterous as butchers, Il slice was
taken successfully by the operators from the
calves, the thighs, and then the breast of each.
Il may be supposed, or 1T any rate it may be
hA,,a hat hv i'm 1g
become insensibe to pain, though they were
not dead. The knife was then thrust into the
abdomen, which was ripped up TO the breast
bone, and then twirled round and round as
the heart was separated from its holdings
Up to this moment, our informer says that
having once set his eyes upon the victim under
torture, they became fixed as If by strange
spell; but now neither he could stand it nor
they be riveted any longer. A whiring sensa-
ton ran through his brain, aud it was with
difficulty he could keep from falling. But this
was not all the lashings were then cut; and
his head being tied by the tail to limb of the
cross, was severed from the body which was
then dsnembered of hands and arms, feet and
legs separately.


After this the Mandarin left the ground, to
return however with man and woman, the
latter, as it was said the wife of rebel chief
and the man a leader of some rank among the
rebels. The woman was cut up in The way
already related, but for the man a more horri-
bic torturing still was decreed. He was liter
ally flayed alive. Our informant did not see
the operation; his overpowered sensibilities
did not permit it; but an American sergeant
of marines did, who described the horrors of
the scene. The knife was first drawn across
the forehead, AT which a piercing scream was
set forth by the sufferer, and then the flesh was
pulled over the eyes, and SO on till the horri-
bic butchery was ended. There is a temple in
Canton which visited, called the Item lie of
Horrors because in several apartments are
the most horrible representations of the tor
lures of the Buddhist hell. But nothing there
was more internal than what was seen here.
Such were the tortures inflicted by Y eh upon
at least 100000 human beings in the city OF
Canton. 1t is not surprising that the news of
his death and the arrival of his body caused
outbursts of exultation among the Chinese,
who either had lost some of their friends un-
der the operation Of his cleaver, or else stood
in constant fear for their own lives. THous-
ands were put to death who were entirely in
nocent, except that they happened to be the
wives or children of others, or else had COM
mon family connections. The calmness and
even indifference with which the Chinese meet
death, are past belief and unaccountable and
yet, as the late war has shown, they are q M
ton of towards but cowardce and cruelty
usually go together. / was told an incident in
one Of these execution scenes which defes cre-
dence, and yet is affirmed to be only the sober
truth A young man was brought on the fatal
ground with several hundreds who Were TO be
beheaded at the same time. All We're upon
their knees, and awaiting the fearful signal for
the commencement of the days butchery. A
fruit pedlar happened to be passing, when the
young man happened to remember he had a
few cash, or farthing pieces, in his pocket. He
was hungry, for he had been brought a long
distance in his basket, and had gone without
his breakfast. Eyeing the length of the rank
to which he belonged, he could calculate the
the time with much exactness when the cIeaver
would fall upon his own neck Nothing
daunted, he bought some bananas and ate them
kneeling, the cleaver, however, almost inter-
cepting them before they had passed from the
throat in to the stomach! Sometimes twenty
five or fifty condemned rebels were cast into
the river together in their baskets, to save the
labor of execution and the expense of inter-
ment These Chinese are a mystery-I cannot
understand them.