QUEER PRESENT-DAY PUNISHMENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7417, 31 May 1902, Page 6

QUEER PRESENT-DAY PUNISHMENTS.

Perhaps no punishment of to-day is so curious as that known as "eating one's words," in vogue in certain parts of Russia. A few years ago there was published in St Petersburg a book which strongly asserted the rights of the subject and censured certain actions of the Czar. The author was tried for treason, ancl condemned to " eat his own words." ; On a scaffold the offending book was publicly separated from its binding, and the margin of its pages -was cut off. The leaves were then rolled up and placed, one by one, in the prisoner's mouth, the latter bedng . compelled to swallow the paper under pain of the knout. When he had eaten as much paper as was considered <a* one time consistent with safety, the punishment was adjourned until the" next day. Three of these enforced meals had to be< gone through before the last words were eaten. Besides the Imperial Provost (who was responsible for the proper carrying out of this sentence), a magistrate, a physician, and the surgeon, of the Czar were also in attendance. Another instance of " punishment by eat- ? ing " was that witnessed some years ago by the writer himself, when travelling in a I little-frequented part of Portugal. The scene was a certain remote township in. the j Province of Beira. A young peasant girl : had some time previously borrowed a. small cum from a local farmer, who was also a money-lender. This she hadi repaid, with compound interest, but for all that she ( still owed the rustic Shylock about seven milreis (about twenty-4hree shillings). Threatened by him with horrible penalties if the money were not forthcoming, the frenzied girl put an. end to her existence. The cause of her suicide soon became known, and. it was resolved! by the local authorities to punish her persecutor. Ths sum claimed by the usurer was quickly subscribed, and he was ordered! by the local justice to appear before him at a public meeting in the market hall, when he would receive his dues. The day came, and the impromptu court of jx-stice was crowded! with villagers from all the country-side. Shylock received his money in full, but, for his heartless conduct, was condemned by the Court to swallow it in the form of 100 reis notes (each worth about 4d), or to be kept locked up without food until such, time as he had' done so. Water was fetched, and then, in, th« presence of the. entire assembly, the prisoner procee&M to swallow ibis seventy greasy bank-notes. # a few years ago the Austrian newspapers chrroicled an extraordinarily barbarous sentence-, pronounced' on a heartless rogue and vagabond by a Servian court of law. Convicted of having forged and uttered .certain lottery tickets, and of having thereby swindled many poor people, he was ordered to be branded across the forehead with a I word signifying " Swindler." In certain 'Fremch-Camadian villages an

Northern Quebec, it is at the present dayno uncommon thing ior -wife-beaters and similar offenders to 'be summarily punished by the "Habitants" themselves. Should it be -winter-, the delinquent is frequently condemned "to sit in the .Snow Chair" for five, ten, or even fifteen minutes. The prisoner is firmly lashed to an ordinary wooden chair, -winch is kept in position 'by means of banked-up snow. The men and youths of the village tihen assemble, -well supplied with ammunition in the shape of snow-bails, and for the next few minutes the wretched living target has a pretty 'bad time, of it. The fact that no member of tihe "firing party" may aim at closer range than about forty or fifty feet is but little advantage to the prisoner, for "Jean Baptist*" is notoriously a fine shot. Only last year there appeared in tihe American Press ,an account of a horrible punishment inflicted on an Indian' in Mexioan territory. T?or a very grave offence ihe. had been sentenced by his tribe to be lashed, face upwards, to tie back of a mustang, and to them <be driven into the desert to perish. It is a well-known fact that American Indians aw sometimes sentenced to death by their own tribe, and are then set free for a week, « jnontlh, or even, a year — after undertaking to present themselves for execution on a specified date. There is mo record of a. Redskin having broken his pledge in order to save ibis life. Quite recently a celebrated Indian player, whilst linden sentence of death by his own people, greatly distinguished himself in a (base-ball match against an American team. At the time the Sunday papers chronicling his prowess on the field were going to ■press, tihe hero: of the game was back in Indian territory, preparing himself for execution. One of the most horrible of Chinese punishments at the present day is "death by being kept awake." A criminal ishus condemned is confined in a small cajge, in which it is impossible for him -to/lie down or stand up straight. Should his eyes close, but for one instant, a. guard gives him a savage prick with <bbc point of his sword. To add to the refinement of the torture, tihe prisoner is liberally supplied with food, and it is seldom that life is altogether extinct before the ninth or tenth day oi punishment' .