Show A japanese execution As each man stopped stepped from the path on to tile ho plateau his eyes eves were firmly bandaged with white paper p iper the only let act of mercy I 1 saw vouchsafed that morning mornin finally they were ranged in line tile the two 0 cripples huddled on th alie e ground their poor heads as they dropped from shoulder to shoulder being roughly ro buffeted to a proper angle by the policemen in charge this accomplished amid a silence so absolute that we could almost hear our hearts beat the great man on the camp stool rose and unfolding a largo large document read ina loud voice what we supposed to be a description of the crimes for which the poor fellows were to suffer and the process of condemnation and sell sentence this was a very long business and before it had nearly finished the native spectators were laughing and joking upon tile alie appearance of the doomed men with that callousness to human suffering in which so much blackens the otherwise amiable and pleasing asing character of tile the japanese pe people 0 ale at last it was finished As there were but five holes for beven prisoners two to would bo be obliged to remain in blind agony while hile their companions were bein being g dispatched five fire men were accordingly thrust forward with the staves and lists fists of the police each man was mado made to squat on a mound his clothes if filthy tattered rags could be called clothes stripped front frond his shoulders his hands tied behind his back and ilia his head pushed forward over the hole bole our fe feelings clings at this awful moment can better be imagined than described but I 1 think we felt tell quite as much pity for the two poor wretches clies left alone to listen to that wis was going on without that artificial aid to fortitude which the sight ol 01 i i crowd sometimes gives as for their corn com unions on oil their death seats Undoubted undoubtedly lf execution by the trenchant japanese sword is 13 as merciful a death as can be desired de hired but the oriental nature as if to kompen compensate for this erring earing on oil the side of inelly deicy counterbalances counterbalance s it by an undue prolongation a of the preparations for death which is worse than a hundred deaths so in this case As the poor fellows knelt over their holes the executioner slowly and deliberately took off his coat and bared his arms then lie he took from its silk bilk casing tile the fatal sword examined it fondly and lingeringly from the kasuri me or filing on the hilt bilt to keep tho the grasp from slipping along the kimmon or tile groove ja I 1 A the tha blade to tile the point lierd head it over a pail while a coolie trickled water down it arid and with a great deal of settling of his I 1 feet was ready I 1 felt sick and giddy but I 1 kept hept my eyes on the scene at a sign from the official on the camp stool the executioner raised his sword slightly hardly half a doen dazen inches and almost before I 1 could roli realize lize it the mans head was hanging banging aver the hole by a single ligament torrents t was gusling forth in torrents y I 1 then saw why the executioner had bad not completely severed the head and tile the wonderful skill of the japanese swords men using as they do the most perfect weapons in the world can be imagined in in so arranging the force of the blow that absolute decapitation does not take place lie he tore the head off and held it toward the four sides of the square then he gave it to a coolie who roughly ro plastered tho the severed portion with clay and stuck it on a kind of elevated shelf in the meanwhile two coolies were thumping on the abo back of the prostrate body to hasten tho the rush of blood after which one ot of the coarse mats imants was thrown over it and it was laid aside I 1 had seen enough and I 1 turned my licad head away as the executioner after wiping his blade with paper approached the second poor wretch cor Gent lemans magazine |