Year: 1879

:onoon St0ndord letter from the
seat OF war in Afghanistan describes the
punishment inflicted upon some nat;ve
prisoners. as follows: Between the SOL
diers hundreds of natives couId he oea,,
squatting patiently for the proceedings to
commence, and it was curious to not;co
here and there Afghans with their lono
black hair, sitting quietly among the
crowd of Hindoos. A party of low caste
Hindoos were busy digging a laroe
square hole close to the gailows. Eyerv'
BODY understood its use. To the right
the men OF the hussars were quietly exer-
clslng their horses, and the fields above
them were dotted with soldiers belonging
to the Ninety-second Highlanders, who
were quite content to see the execution
from a distance. At eleven o'clock a
company OF the Twenty-tirst marched
down to the gallows with six prisoners in
their midst. Two were TO be lashed and
four to be hanged. The four condemned
men were singled out and led to the
front. Their dress consisted only Of q
long, blue cotton SHIRT and loose pTgamas
ued IN at the ankles. In tpo of the in
stances the shirts were mass of rags
trayed into ribbons at the edges. and
holding wonderfully together. None of
them wore sandals or head dresses. There
they stood staring curiously around them


with their Jet hair hanging over their
faces and their hands strapped behind
their backs, and all looking thoroughly
desperate rufians. The provost marshal.
stout-built sergeant of the Tenth Hus-
sars, showed each man his p.ank and
made him walk across it. This all the
men did without much compulsion.
They did not appear to realize what was
about to happen to them, and kept look
ing over their shoulders to see what was
going on. Their legs were strapped to-
ge:her. What appeared to be their old
blue puggarees or turbans were tied over
their faces, and the nooses We're fixed
round their necks. Then they appeared
to realize what was coming, and ali COM
menced crying out prayer to Allah.


While they We're doing this one of the
prisoners who was standing behind, wait
Ing tor bis tiogging, shouted out to them
tnat they were never to mind; he would
be lett alive and he would avenge their
deaths. All eyes were turned toward
him, but only for a second. as the scene
being enacted in front was of more ab-
sorblng interest. -Four European sail
ors caught up ropes attached to the
planklng: signal was given, and they
pulled at the same moment. sweeping
away the scaffold and launching the
prisoners into the air. But it was only
tor second that the condemned men
, hung. The cross beam creaked and broke
with startling crash, and the four men
fell to the ground hanging, half resting
their feet upon the earth. Scarcely had
any person time to feel Mortified at this
unfortunate accident, before the provost
| marshal drew his revolver and sent q
bullet through each mans brain. One of
the Afghans was then stripsd d naked and
tied up to one the poles IT the gallows.
A stalwart hussar gave him a dozen and
half lashes as warmly as his arm could
lay on, then another hussar completed the
three dozen The fellow grinned consider
ably but bore the iogging marvelou sly
he never uttered groan the whole time
he was receiving his punishment. One
OF the hussars threw his clothes at him
and told him roughly to salaam. This
the man did not understand. 1t was a
grim joke at the best. He quietly put on
his clothes-they were but rags--and
ccolly asked if he might go. He was told
that the next time he was caught with a
loaded rifle near British camo he would
not get off so easily, and then be was
marched across the river BY t1o armed
slkhs, who gave him a parting push with
right good will. The other man who
was to have been fogged was marched
back to camp in custody.