Another instance of a failed attempt started when the man to be executed fell down just before the shot went off. This is how the scene was described:

“One wretched fellow slipped from the rope by which he was tied to the guns just before the explosion, and his arm was nearly set on fire. While hanging in his agony under the gun, a sergeant applied a pistol to his head; and three times the cap snapped, the man each time wincing from the expected shot. At last a rifle was fired into the back of his head, and the blood poured out of the nose and mouth like water from a briskly handled pump. This was the most horrible sight of all. I have seen death in all its forms, but never anything to equal this man’s end”.

Others recalled how vultures and other birds of prey would circle above the site where the execution was to take place and literally snatch pieces of flesh as they flew through the air.

☛ Next Up: China: Capital Punishment And The Execution Van