i
The History and
Romance of
Crime
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
TO THE PRESENT DAY
THE GROLIER SOCIETY
LONDON
ii
A Prison in Tangieriii
Oriental Prisons
PRISONS AND CRIME IN INDIA
THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS
BURMAH—CHINA—JAPAN—EGYPT
TURKEY
by
MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS
Late Inspector of Prisons in Great Britain
Author of
“The Mysteries of Police and Crime
Fifty Years of Public Service,” etc.
THE GROLIER SOCIETY
iv
EDITION NATIONALE
Limited to one thousand registered and numbered sets.
NUMBER 234
v
INTRODUCTION
It is as true of crime in the Orient as of otherhabits, customs and beliefs of the East, that whathas descended from generation to generation andbecome not only a tradition but an established fact,is accepted as such by the people, who display onlya passive indifference to deeds of cruelty and violence.Each country has its own peculiar classesof hereditary criminals, and the influence of traditionand long established custom has made the eradicationof such crimes a difficult matter.
Religion in the East has had a most notable influenceon crime. In India the Thugs or professionalstranglers were most devout and their criminalacts were preceded by religious rites and ceremonies.In China the peculiar forms of animismpervading the religion of the people has greatlyinfluenced criminal practices. Murder veiled in obscurityis frequently attributed to some one of thelegion of evil spirits who are supposed to be omnipresent;and to satisfy and appease these demonsinnocent persons are made to suffer. So great, too,is the power of the spirit after death to cause goodor ill, that many stories are related of victims ofviinjustice who have hanged themselves on their persecutors’door-posts, thus converting their spiritsinto wrathful ghosts to avenge them. The firmbelief in ghosts and their power of vengeance andreward is a great restraint in the practice of infanticide,as the souls of murdered infants may seekvengeance and bring about serious calamity.
Oriental prison history is one long record ofsavage punishments culminating in the death penalty,aggravated by abominable tortures. The peopleare of two classes, the oppressed and the oppressors,and the last named have invented manydevices for legal persecution. In early China andJapan, relentless and ferocious methods were inforce. One of the emperors of China invented anew kind of punishment, described by Du Halde in1738, at the instigation of a favourite wife. It wasa column of brass, twenty cubits high and eight indiameter, h