(1.) MANDARIN AND WIFE.
(See [page 1429].)
(2.) MODES OF TORTURE.
(See [page 1436].)
To beheading the Chinese have the strongest aversion, because they shrink from the idea of appearing headless in the next world, and they will therefore do all in their power to avoid it. A most remarkable instance of the extent to which a Chinaman will go to avoid decapitation is given in the following extract from a letter to an Indian newspaper. The man was a well-known and most abandoned criminal, who with his wife had been arrested.
“On his trial before his judge he refused to criminate himself, although repeatedly scourged until his back was raw. If a female witness fails in giving satisfactory evidence in a court of justice, she is beaten with a leather strap across the mouth. His wife, desirous of sparing her husband, refused to give evidence, but after two or three applications of strap her courage gave way. She confessed his guilt. The prisoner was then sentenced to decapitation,—deemed by the Chinese to be the most severe of punishments, because they imagine that if a man leaves this world minus any of his members, he appears in the same condition in the next. The culprit, therefore, prayed to be crucified instead of being beheaded.
“The cross was of the Latin form, the foot being inserted in a stout plank, and the criminal, standing on a board, had nails driven through his feet, and his hands stretched and nailed to the cross-beam. His legs were fastened to the cross with an iron chain, and his arms bound with cords, and on the cord round his waist was inserted a piece of wood on which was written his name and offence; a similar piece on his right arm contained his sentence, namely, to remain on the cross night and day until he died; another on his left arm had the name of the judge, with his titles and offices.
“The criminal was nailed to the cross inside the Yamun in the presence of the magistrate, and then carried by four coolies to one of the principal thoroughfares leading from the city, where he was left during the day, but removed at night inside the prison for fear of his friends attempting to rescue him, and again carried forth at daylight in charge of two soldiers. He was crucified at noon on the Wednesday, and Mr. Jones conversed with him at five in the evening. He complained of a pain in the chest, and thirst. On Thursday he slept for some hours, when the cross was laid down within the jail compound. No one was allowed to supply him with food or drink, and during the day there was quite a fair in front of the cross, people being attracted from a distance, and the sweetmeat venders driving a large trade.
“On Saturday he was still alive, when the Taotai was appealed to by a foreigner to put an end to the wretch’s sufferings, and he immediately gave orders that the vinegar should be administered, which he expected would produce immediate death; but the result was otherwise, and at sunset, when the cross was taken within the jail, two soldiers with stout bamboos broke both his legs, and then strangled him.”