PRISON HORRORS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 62, 13 March 1878, Page 4

PRISON HORRORS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

A contributor to the Melbourne Argus gives a graphic description of the City of Canton in China, the fidelity of which, all who have visited that place will recognise. Referring to the prison of Canton, he writes :— From the Temple of the Five Hundred I pass to the Gaol of Canton. This place ia like, I suppose, what gaols were in Europe before the efforts of Howard had called attention to their disgraceful state. Anything more disgustiog (ban the gaol at Canton cannot be imagined. My rqueamish guide refused to go into it. The nasty smells that came betwixt the wind and his gentility mado him sick, he said. I might go in if I liked, but wes likely fo catch gaol fever if I did. As no prophecy wbb ever fulfilled in me, I regard them not, and passed through a rotten old gate into a dirty courtyard. In (his place men were standing about with heavy atones chained to their feet, That and the greater misery of utter idleness, is one of the puuisbments. Passing through a narrow filthy passage I look into what eppears to be an old stable, but is an apartment of about 25ft square. Through some iron bars that help to keep it out, I look upon a sight that cannot be forgotten. The smell of the dungeon was very foul, and the eight more so. About fifteen men were here cooped up, each with his head thrust through a heavy wooden collar, made of several pieces of planking nailed on each other. This strange instrument of torture was about three feet square, projecting over the shoulders on each side. With that on there is no lying down for the wearer, and no rest to be had io any position. Its weiphfc must be considerable, and its torture also. It ia worn for a fortnight or three weeks at a time, and is equivalent to the British punishment of hard labor added to short sentences. Hard labor would be no punishment to add to a Chinaman's sentence if of the lower orders. His whole life ia made up t f lhat. The poor wretches crowded ( o the bars of this pen with outstretched hands. What good money could do them in that place I could not imagine, but they h.d what change I poasrssed. If it, made them less miserable for a moment only it was well given. In anoilur part of the prison I found oiher punishments in progress. Culprits were receiving heavy blows on the face wi;h leather things made like the sole of a sho; 1 . The jaw is frequently broken by this punishment, but that matters not. It is left in a broken state. Others were tied in a kneeling position, and one with outstretched arms tightly bound by cords to bars of wood. I did not see the thumb screw or the scavenger's daughter, or the iron boot anywhere in use. The Chinaman is too conservative to adopt Europeau custome. A goaler sat at a door, which I asked him to open. He did so, and I walked into a quadrangle, in which about 20 men were walking or sitting or lying about. The cells WBre all around. They were not bound or ironed in any way. I thought that it might be the hospital or lunatic ward that I had got into, and went out to inquire from the guide, who was playing with hia toothpick outside. I learned that this was the condemned cell. He said— " Those men you see there are not punished beyond imprisonment. They are to have their heads cut off next week : you stop and see if. I will take you to the execution ground this afternoon ! " These men were then condemned to die — as we all are — but these knew when 'twas to happen. I went back to see them and took them some tobacco, which Ah Kume suggested as (he most likely thing wanted. Though knowing when their lives were to be ended, they all seemed quite careless about the matter. Life is not a very dear thing to a Chinaman — in poor condition. The waiting a week for death was, I think, their chief misery. The tobacco was a rare gift for them. They all seemed ready to die • •'en and there to get a share of it. Walking about among 20 condemned criminals is not an every day occurence. Their bunds are not, however, stained with murder. People are hanged io Cbina for things which the Insolvent Court clears them from the western world. I hud no doubt that umoug these 20 men there were as good as among any other 20 that I had passed amoutst anywhere From the goal to the temple of horrors waß an appropriate profession. It is a temple lilted up to represent tbe punishment of the wicked, whether here or hereafter I could not well make out. There cannot, however, be much difference. A man was represented as sandwiched betweon two planks, and being sawn through down the middle. This is a death still in fashion in Chiua. Others are being mau<'lad in their way, and that too horrible to look at. Yet this temple is more crowded with visitors than ure any others. It is to be hoped lhat tbe moral lesson intended is not lost.