CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AMONG THE JEWS. IN a work on the "Criminal Code of the
- Jews," Mr. Benny gives an interesting
account of the various modes of punishment of those convicted under the Hebrew Law of capital offences. In accordance with the Mosaic code four kinds of death were in flicted, each appropriate to a distinct series of crimes. These were stoning, strangling, burning, and decapitation. Nothing can be more absurd, says the author, than the no tions generally current respecting the man ner in which these punishments were carried out among the Jews. The stoning of the Bible and of the Talmud was not, as com monly supposed, a pell-mell casting of stones at a criminal; the burning had nothing what ever in common with the process of consum ing by fire a living person as practised by the Churchman of the Middle Ages; nor did the strangling bear any resemblance to the Eng lish method of putting criminals to death. The stoning to death of the Talmud was performed as follows : The criminal was con ducted to an elevated place, divested of his at tire if a man, and then hurled to the ground below. The height of the eminence from which he was thrown was always more than fifteen feet; the higher, within certain limits, the better. The violence of the concussion caused death by dislocating the spinal cord. The elevation was not, however, to be so high as to greatly disfigure the body. This was a tender point with the Jews; man was created in God's image, and it was not permitted to desecrate the temple shaped by Heaven's own hand. The first of the witnesses who had testified against the condemned man acted as executioner, in accordance with Deut. xvii. 7. If the convict fell face down ward, he was turned on his back. If he was not quite dead, a stone, so heavy as to re quire two persons to carry it, was taken to the top of the eminence whence he had been thrown; the second of the witnesses then hurled the stone so as to fall upon the cul
prit below. This process, however, was sel dom necessary; the semi-stupefied condition of the condemned, and the height from which he was cast insuring, in the generality of cases, instant death. It may be well to mention, in this connec tion, that previous to the carrying into effect a sentence of death, a death-draught, as it was called, was administered to the unfor tunate victim. This beverage was composed of myrrh and frankincense {lebana) in a cup of vinegar or light wine. It produced a kind of stupefaction, a semi-conscious condi tion of mind and body, rendering the convict indifferent to his fate and scarcely sensible to pain. As soon as the culprit had partaken of the stupefying draught the execution took place. A criminal sentenced to death by burning was executed in the following manner. A shallow pit some two feet deep was dug in the ground. In this the culprit was placed, standing upright. Around his legs earth was shovelled and battered firmly down until he was fixed up to his knees in the soil. Movement on the part of the condemned person was of course impossible; but care was taken that the limbs should not be pain fully constrained. A strong cord was now brought, and a very soft cloth wrapped around it. This was passed once round the offender's neck. Two men then came for ward; each grasped an end of the rope and pulled hard. Suffocation was immediate. As the condemned man felt the strain of the cord, and insensibility supervened, the lower jaw dropped. Into the mouth thus opened a lighted wick was quickly thrown. This constituted the burning. Decapitation was performed by the Jews after the fashion of the surrounding nations. It was considered the most humiliating, the most ignominious and degrading death that any man could suffer. It was the penalty in cases of assassination and deliberate mur
