HAS CIVILISATION ADVANCED?

Evening Star, Issue 13091, 26 October 1908, Page 3

HAS CIVILISATION ADVANCED?

TWENTIETH CENTURY HORRORS. In different parts of the world... a series of events has taken; place more ■ befitting the days of ancient Rome, and the ninth and tenth centuries than oiir boasted “ advanced ” civilisation, ■ and serves, as a reminder that present-day methods, of’ dealing with, offenders against the { penal code are but a thin veneer to cloak; modern barbarism, that shows weaarte t not far. removed from the savage. -Yet this is the twentieth century, with its great educational advantages and its religious ideals. At Frieberg (Saxony), on June 21, thou-' sands of men and women assembled in the public square witness the beheading on a block of an eighteen-year, girl who had murdered her lover under revolting circumstances. Some time between sunset and midnight on the day, set for her death she was taken from her cell to the execution vault in the Freiberg Gaol. The executioner, who was said to be a Dresden butcher engaged to perform this gruesome seivice for the State at a regular fee, had arrived in the town a few hours before. He carried a long box containing the axo with which he did his work, and a handbag with a mask and a suit of evening clothes. The wearing of an evening dress suit by the executioner is an official requirement at all executions in Saxony. The preparations for the execution had been completed beforehand at* the prison. There was the grooved block on which the head of the doomed woman was to rest, a cushion for her to kneel on, .a basket in which to carry the severed head away, and a liberal sprinkling of sawdust all round the front of the block. The executioner did his work quickly, and departed from Freiberg as quickly as he came.

Let us change the scene to Grenville, in Texas (U.S.), where one week after the execution of Grete Beier, Tod Smith, a negro, was burned at the stake. About 100 women watched the burning, which took place in the Courthouse square. Smith was taken from the sheriff by a mob of 200 men, following the negro’s identification by a young woman, Miss Viola Delancey, whom he had murderously attacked. Probably 2,C00 men helped in the harty preparations for the public burning. The doomed man was dragged to the top of the wood pile and tied to the stake. It was barely 8 a.m. when the blaze was started. At noon the great pile of wood was still burning fiercely. The cries of the negro were silenced by the flames within a few minutes after they had reached him.

Execution by the sword in China is varied to lit the crime. In some cases the executioner chops the condemned almost to pieces before cutting off his head. Separate swords are provided for cutting off the arms, the legs, and the head, for separating the joints, and for removing the internal organs. Relatives of the deceased usually sew the body together again in order that he may ‘enter into the next world unmutilated. Several other ancient methods of execution are still practised 111 China. One of the most cruel consists in enclosing the prisoner in a wooden cage with his head projecting through a hole in the top. This hole just fits his neck, and does not permit him to move his shoulders out of the cage or to draw his head into it. He stands upon a pile of boards placed at the bottom of the cage. Every dav one of these boards is withdrawn, and gradually the prisoner hangs more and more by his head. Finally, his feet have no support at all, and he dies slowly from strangulation. This form of execution is practised in Canton, and has frequently been witnessed by foreign visitors. The victim is placed in a public thoroughfare, where passers-by may feed or torment him. In the Congo Free State, the dominion of Leopold, King of the Belgians, the condemned murderer about to be executed is bound firmly to a seat upon the ground. A supple young tree stripped of its leaves and branches is bent over until it reaches the man’s head, to which it is tied. The executioner then severs the man’s neck with a knife, and the head, released from the body, flies up on the end of the sapling, where it is left. Everyone in Russia is familiar with the Russian method of beating prisoners to death with the knout. This is often done in the public square, so that the people may profit accordingly. As often as the prisoner faints under the lash he or she is revived with stimulants and smellingsalts, and the whipping is renewed until nothing avails to restore consciousness. It is doubtful whether Nero’s human torches met with a more barbarous fate than is dealt out in many parts of the world to-day. In Persia capital punishment is finely graded. If the condemned man’s offences wore barely heavy enough to justify his execution he is quietly hanged, beheaded, or shot, whichever he prefers. If he was convicted of treason 'or rebellion he is either impaled, as was one of the Shah’s Ministers a few weeks ago, or he is blown to pieces from the mouth of a cannon. Impaling is too horrible a method of torture to describe. In being shot at the cannon’s mouth the condemned man is bound firmly to the muzzle of a field gun, so that the opening presses against the centre of his back. The usual charge, with a shell, is then fired, and the body is torn to shreds, so that no recognisable remains can be recovered. This method of execution was practised by the British upon the ringleaders of the rebels during the Indian Mutiny. In Persia political offenders are sometimes buried alive. The medieval bastinado is still employed in punishing criminals.