INTERVIEW WITH CHINESE EXECUTIONERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1598, 23 June 1887, Page 4

INTERVIEW WITH CHINESE EXECUTIONERS.

I once visited Canton along with some companions, and, of course, we did the sights there. "We visited pagodas and temples galore, silk factories, an artificial duck egg hatch, ing company's premises, jade and ivory shops, cat and dog butchers' shops, pawn shops, and the city waterclock, all of which have been "done" and described befi-re times innumerable. During our meanderings in the' city our ears were :assailed with the Cathay synonym of the Egyptian backsheesh cry till the caverns of our brains resounded and echoed it " Cumshaw ! cumshaw!" yelled immature possessors of pigtails, and mature possessors echoed the sound wherever we went. When the youngsters' requests were not complied with they, after a little; invariably changed their cry to " Eanquai! fanquai! " (foreign devil, '• foreign devil). > We marched into the magisterial yaum to the accompaniment of the cumshaw tune. Here we were shown the instruments whereby bamboo chow' chow is given to. the nadal, callosities of the wicked, also rattans and short bludgeons for slapping the faces of the untruthful witnesses, thumb-screws and racks for exacting confessions (no criminal can be executed according to the laws of China until he has confessed his crime,) canquals, a species of collar which for ! largeness and uncomfortableness even ! the .mashers', and which are ■ rectangularspkines of wood with neck and band holes. . Tbe gloomy, small depository room of these torture instruments»we .thought to be a fair representation of what a European mediaeval chamber of "justice" has been. We were next taken in our sedan chairs through an overcrowded busy part of the city to the execution ground, passing on our way the new Eoman Catholic Cathedral, 'whose gigantic spires pierce the clouds. The execution ground we found to be a small enclosed rectangular space, about 15 yards by 50, entered by a gate. On the right on entering ran a row of small squalid houses, the habitations of potters, whose rough, unbaked, work lay all about on the ground, drying in the sun, but we were informed that it was cleared away when an execution was about to take place. Facing the potters' houses was a high wall, at whose base, and leaning against it, were some large crocks, all of which had their mouths earthed over except one. Here our guide introduced us to three poorly-dressed' Chinamen, whom we noticed gambling at a fan tan table near the gate on our arrival. One, a big, brutishlooking fellow with a vilianons cast in one of his eyes, was|the head executioner, and the other two, who were smallish men, were his assistants, Through our guide we told the head executioner that we wished to see the instruments of his calling, and thereon he produced a short, very heavy twohanded sword and a long knife. The following conversation was carried on between us and this " boss " through the medium of our guide:—" How do you use this sword ? Where is the block ?" "We don't use a block. What we do is to make the prisoners kneel down in two rows, facing one another, and bending their heads down. Then I take the sword and chop, chop, one on each side, and the heads fall off; so on till they're all done, as you'd switch the top off green weeds with your walking-stick." " But you don't always chop a head off with one blow?" "Always." " What is the knife for ?" " Eor the ling che, or death by many cuts. We tie the culprit who is condemned to death to that cross there (pointing to* two rough unbarked sticks roughly crossed), and we commence by cutting off the eyelids, ears, nose, and so on, ending by sticking the knife into the heart. The cuts vary in number from eight to a hundred and twenty, according to the heinousness of the culprit's crimes." " What class of criminals are condemned to the ling che?" "Parricides, matricides, and women who have killed'and mutilated their husbands form the majority." "Do the executions interfere with your appetite and- sleep ?•' The three executors grinned* sardonitally at this question, so we asked:—" How many persons have you executed in a day ?,' " I have chopped twenty heads off my- 1 self in two minutes. See that darklooking place on the ground over there —that's caused by the bipod of the last batch we had." " What is done with the bodies?" "The friends take the bodies away, but we keep the heads in the crocks over by the wall there, and when we have a large number which are no longer iodentifiable we bury them. Would you like to see some of the heads." We declined, and one of my companions began to grow pale and complain of not feeling well, so we ordered tbe guide to lead us away. " Gentlemen, give twenty cents each, cumshaw, to the executioners," said the guide, which we gladly did to escape from the staring of the " boss" butcher's swivel eye, and so ended our interview with these High Executioners of the Great Chinese Empire. —Pall Mali Gazette.