MAN IN A BOX FOR 15 YEARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 148, 23 June 1923, Page 19

MAN IN A BOX FOR 15 YEARS.

MYSTERIOUS CHINA. A LOPPER OF HEADS. Mr. J. R. Marsh, for many years an American official in mc Chinese Customs, had some strange experiences in Mukden, Tientsin and Mengtsz. He saw many strange things; he saw where they put out the surplus girl babies to be eaten alive by dogs; he saw where the wild women came down from the hills to dance at night; and he saw a robber lying In a small box who would have to lie i there for fifteen years. "He was shut into | a box too short to permit his lying extended and too low for him even to sit erect," writes Mr. Marsh. "A diamond-shaped hole was cut in the side of the box and this was all the means of ventilation anrt j light he had. When I peered into his flashing eyes, for all his energy was gathered in his eyes, be had been imprisoned for only seven years. "His limbs were atrophied. He had become a more automaton, a mockery of nature. I wanted to speak with him, but I did not know his tongue, so I merely smiled, for I thought he would rather that I smile than do anything else. And I shall always remember how his eyes seemed to soften as if be had not misinterpreted my j meaning. There was a pitiful whining noise, and I turned away." Mr. Marsh conversed with an old man who had been an executioner for many years, and asked him how many people he had executed. "I lopped off ten thousand , and then I lost count," said the old chap, j "Then the mere business of lopping oft heads meant nothing to you?" asked Mr. Marsh. "Ah, the business; that meant a great deal," was the reply. "It meant food for, mc and my family. But, you see, I did not allow the personal relation to enter into it. j I never had dealings with friends. As for j the others, I saw nothing but a little band of flesh. I swung and passed on. For such things I have no memory."