Tortured to Death.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1455, 15 September 1885, Page 4

Tortured to Death.

AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF A N A M E R tC AN T BAD E R *S CRUELTY. " # There have been sworn m Hongkong, btefore n Justice of the Peace, informations charging terrible crimes ngainst 0. P. Holcombe, nn American citizen, trading m nn island called Gnab, among the Carolines. It appears that the com- ° v merce carried on thorn ir ono of barter, the foreigner exchanging good? of western manufacture tor dried rocounut, or copra. One night Holcomlie left his store m charge of dilative boy 8 or 9 years old. N«»xt morning it wa3 found that some 200 dollars worth of goods had been stolen. The amount is a matter of little consequence, but we n)ay mention that according* to the estimates of others, it could not have exceeded 50 dole. On discovering his loss, Holcomba.took the litile boy and screwed his fingers m a blacksmith's vice. The child soon wailed out the names of two natives m an adjacent village, antj Holoombe, Hoisting them put them m irons. Their chief, however, interfftred, and obtained from the child an admission that its confession had been extorted under tortur<>, and was not true. Holcombe was accordingly .obliged to release the men, their potentate being too powerful to disobey. H«« ftad resource, once morn, to the expedient of screwing the child's hands into the vice, and onea more the lad named £wo men . m another' villingft. These /Holcombe, arrested, and having con .ducted them to his dwelling, set about .torturing them after his fashion. Their '.toes, fingers, and noses were screwed into vices, until the' hones were crushed. After. some thr«e weeks of this treatment, varied by suspending the men by fheirhair from traes so that their mnti.lated toes barely touched the ground, > Ho)c<''tnbe took them out and htnsred them. At ihe execution the little boy had to adj> st the ropes, and as he failed to perform tho oj erati m to Holcombe's sattsfaet'on, the latter sharpened his wits by fi'inr a revolver at him. To the truth of this tale two eye-witnesses, Englishmen, have sworn, and the officer commanding the United States squadron has been moved to* dispatch a man«of ■ war to make inquiries.