AUCTIONEERS, DIURNAL, ASSISTED BY BAR

KERS AND PUFFERS.

These Auctioneers are Swindlers, who take out Licences and open shops in different parts of the Metropolis, with persons at the doors, usually denominated Barkers, inviting strangers to walk in. In these places various articles of silver plate and household goods are exposed to sale, and made up on a slight principle, and of little intrinsic value; associates, generally denominated Puffers, are in waiting to bid up the article to a sum greatly beyond its value, when, upon the first bidding of the stranger, it is knocked down to him, and the money instantly demanded; the goods, however, on being carried home and examined, are generally found to be very different in reality, from what their appearance exhibited, and upon a close examination the fraud is discovered.

Neither the common Law, nor the Act of the 30th George II. cap. 24, seems to be sufficiently broad and explanatory to include this species of offence; and hence it is, that this mode of selling goods continues with impunity, and seems to increase. It is not however, meant here to insinuate that all petty auctions are fraudulent. It is to be hoped there may be some exceptions, although probably, they are not numerous. A licence from a general Board of Police, and to be subject to certain restrictions only burdensome to the dishonest,. and obliging the parties to find security, would, in a great measure, regulate this kind of business, in a proper manner. Colquhoun.

BANISHMENT, (MODE OF) IN CHINA.

In China, a person sentenced to Transportation, is led by an officer of justice into the country ap. pointed for his future residence. He carries a mat to serve him as a bed, and a leaf of a palm-tree, to protect him from the weather. Upon his back, his crime, his sentence and his name, are displayed in conspicuous Characters.

This punishment is inflicted on those who have struck an elder brother; who have incurred debts by gaming, which they are unable to pay; and for such other offences as appear to render the perpetrator unworthy to continue in his native country. When offenders are thus conducted into some dis. tant province they are to be recalled; but if into Tartary, their banishment is perpetual. Punishments of China.

BANKRUPTS, FRAUDULENT.

The fraudulent Bankrupt should be punished in the same manner with him who adulterates the coin; for to falsify a piece of coin, which is a pledge of the mutual obligations between citizens, is not a greater crime than to violate the obligations themselves. Beccaria.

See IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

BASTINADE, or BASTINADOL.

An offender undergoing the bastinade in China is thrown flat upon his face and held in that position

by

by one, or more if necessary, of the magistrates, attendants kneeling upon his back, whilst another applies the pan-tsee to his posteriors.

The pan-tsee is a thick piece of slit bamboecane, the lower end of which is about 4 inches in width and the upper end small and smooth, to render the instrument more convenient for the hand. Mandarins of power have usually some persons in their train, who attend them with these pan-tsees, whenever they travel or go into public, and who are ready at the nod of their masters, to exercise their office in the above mentioned manner. After this ceremony it is customary for the delinquent to return thanks to the mandarin for the good care he takes of his education. Punishments of China.

In Turkey and other countries the Bastinadoes are inflicted on the feet or back. See PUNISHMENTS, TURKISH.

BEHEADING AT VIENNA,

Four men convicted of robbery aggravated by circumstances of cruelty and inhumanity were sentenced to die at Vienna by the sword of the executioner. They suffered on the Esplanade, without one of the gates of Vienna, upon a circular space or piece of ground walled in, railed twelve or fourteen feet above the level of the Esplanade. in order to have a better view of it, I got into a cart placed near the scaffold, whence I could distinguish even the countenances and features of the criminals.

The first of the four malefactors having been seated in a chair screwed down into the ground, his arms and body were next tied with cords, in order to prevent him from moving, and his neck was laid

bare

bare quite to the shoulders. A bandage being drawn across his eye, four Augustine monks with a crucifix approached, and after prayer confessed him. The executioner's assistant then, collecting his hair, pulled up his head with a view to afford a fairer mark. Meanwhile the executioner, who was a very decent man in his figure and dress, arrived in a hackney-coach. When all the requisite preparations were made, he threw off his cloak, and being in his white waistcoat, he unsheathed the instrument of punishment. It was a strait, two-edged sword, of an equal breadth quite to the point, prodigiously heavy, broad, and sharp as a razor. Coming in flank of the criminal, who was blindfolded, and ignorant of the precise moment, he took off the head at one stroke, with a dexterity and celerity exceeding imagination. The assistant held it up streaming with blood, and then laid it down on the ground; while the decapitated trunk was allowed to remain for some seconds in the chair, the blood spouting up at first to the height of three or four feet in the air. Two men next untied the corpse, and taking it by the legs and shoulders, bore it to a little distance. The head was carried with it, and the whole covered with a large mat.

Previous to beheading the second culprit, the chair was wiped clean from the blood with which it had been stained; the ropes were washed, and sand scattered over the place; so that when he was brought up to suffer, no trace of the preceding execution was visible. About half an hour elapsed between their respective deaths; the last three being beheaded with the same dexterity as the first, and with similar circumstances. The velocity with which the sword passed through the neck, and dissevered the head, was such, that the blade scarcely appear

ed

ed bloody. After inflicting each stroke, the executioner took out a white handkerchief, and carefully wiped away the globules of blood which stood upon the sword; then sheathed, and laid it down at some paces from the chair, concealed by a cloak. The whole ceremony being ended, he advanced forward, and holding up the instrument of justice immediately after he had taken off the head of the last criminal, he addressed himself to the assembled multitude, demanding whether he had well performed his duty. They signified their approbation, and he then withdrew; while the people, before they dispersed, joined with the monks in prayer for the souls of the departed. The four trunks and heads were exposed during some hours on wheels, to the view of every one, and afterwards intered. Anon.

Different modes of Beheading in different Countries, and for different Offences.

In China, persons guilty of Murder are beheaded, except where a person kills his adversary in a duel, in which case he is strangled. Decapitation by the Laws of China is considered the most dishonourable mode of execution. Colquhoun.

This sort of punishment being deemed in the highest degree ignominious, is only inflicted for crimes which are regarded by the Chinese government, as the most prejudicial to society, such as conspiracy, assassination, committing any offence against the person of the Emperor or attempting the life of any of the imperial family; revolting, insurrection, striking a parent or any other unnatural crime. The malifactor who is condemned to be beheaded, is made to kneel upon the ground,

the