TRIAL BY ORDEAL
It is a long time since anyone in England had to undergo "trial by
ordeal," but amongst the Early English it was no uncommon thing for a
man to try and prove his innocence when charged with crime by plunging
his hand into boiling water or by holding a red-hot piece of iron. This
was done in the church and before the priest. After a certain number of
days the wound was examined. If it had healed, the accused was innocent;
if it had not healed, he was guilty.
Trial by ordeal in Siamese law-courts lasted down to quite recent times,
and even now ordeals are practised privately for various purposes.
In one of the fire ordeals the accuser and the accused had to walk with
bare feet over a layer of live coals ten inches thick. The fire was made
in a ditch, ten feet long by twenty inches wide and twenty inches deep.
As the competitors walked over the red-hot coals, an official pressed
heavily on their shoulders to make them go slowly. At the end of the
trial the feet of the men were examined, and he who had no blisters,
either then or during the next fifteen days, won the case. If both were
unhurt, they had to undergo another ordeal by water; if both were burnt,
they were both fined. Only about forty years ago a trial of this kind
occurred at a law-court in one of the smaller towns of the interior.
In the ordeal by diving, use was made of a pond or of the river itself.
Two stakes were fixed about ten feet away from each other. The parties
first said their prayers, and then entered the water with safety-ropes
fastened round their waists. They walked into the water until it reached
to their necks. Each laid hold of his stake, and then a long pole was
placed so that it was supported by the shoulders of both competitors. A
signal was given on a gong, and an official leant heavily on the pole
and pushed the heads of the parties under the water. He who remained
under the water the longer of the two was the winner. If both remained
under water longer than a fixed time, they were hauled up by the
safety-ropes and the case was dismissed. If the people who had
quarrelled were rich, they could employ people to dive for them, instead
of getting wet and breathless themselves; and there is a story told of a
man who once engaged a pearl-diver to represent him, and so won easily.
A trial of this kind occurred at the northern town of Chiengmai as late
as January, 1882.
[Illustration: A RELIGIOUS WATER PROCESSION.]
Phya Tak, the man whom we spoke about in the first chapter of this book,
once defeated the army of a rebel who was also a priest. When the rebel
was captured, a large number of yellow-robed brethren were taken with
him. The King called them all together, and as he could not tell the
innocent from the guilty, he said to them: "Those of you who confess
your guilt must leave the priesthood, but I will give you other clothes,
and set you free without punishment. Those who say they are innocent
must prove their innocence by the diving-test. If you fail in this
test, you will be executed."
Many priests confessed at once that they had been helping the rebel
host. They were released as the King had promised. But many others swore
that they were innocent. The King sat on a chair on the river-bank and
watched the priests go down into the water one by one. Some of them
stayed under the water the proper length of time, and so proved
themselves not guilty; but others who failed were stripped of their
robes and executed on the spot. Their bodies were burnt; their ashes
were mixed with lime, and used to whitewash a part of a temple
structure.
Sometimes melted lead was used in trial by ordeal. The contending
parties thrust their hands into molten lead, and he who was not burnt
won the case. Molten tin or boiling oil were used occasionally instead
of the molten lead.
A regular method of settling disputes about money that had been lent was
the trial by swimming. The parties had to swim either across a stream or
against the current for a certain distance. The loser had to pay double
the sum in dispute. Half the amount paid was given to the winner, while
the other half was handed over to the Government as a fine.
Trial by means of candles was more comfortable than trial by fire and
water. Two candles of exactly the same kind of wax, of the same weight,
and with wicks containing the same number of threads, were lit and
placed on suitable stands. The man whose candle burnt away first was the
loser. It is related of a certain nobleman that he was once asked to
seize the throne and get rid of a usurper who was reigning at the time.
He took two candles, one for himself and one for the usurper, and
watched them burn. His own candle won. Taking this to mean that he would
be successful, he raised an army, attacked the sovereign, defeated him,
and reigned in his stead.
Then there were trials connected with eating and drinking. One of these
consisted in drinking water in which a sacred image had been bathed. If
any misfortune happened to the person within a fortnight after the day
he took the water he was declared guilty. In other cases rice was eaten;
this was given by the priest, and was mixed with drugs and other nasty
things. If the accused person was made sick by the dose, that proved him
to be guilty. This form of trial was practised until quite recently for
the detection of various small offences. A similar form of ordeal
existed in England as late as the middle of the thirteenth century. A
morsel of bread and cheese had to be eaten. It did no harm if the person
were innocent, but gave him convulsions if he were guilty.
Tree-climbing was also indulged in for the discovery of culprits. For
this purpose a particular kind of tree was stripped of its bark, leaving
a very slippery stem underneath. A man could prove his innocence of the
charge brought against him by successfully "climbing the greasy pole."
Before any of the diving-trials that we have mentioned take place, the
recorder reads out a long address to the "gods of all mountains,
streams, lakes, and creeks," for which he is paid about five shillings.
There is a similar address and a similar fee before any one of any of
the trials by fire. In this latter address the deities are asked to take
vengeance on the guilty. Amongst other pleasant things that the recorder
reads are the following words:
"May the deities cause all the sinful, ferocious beasts who molest man
on this earth to arise and appear before the eyes of him who has said
what is false, making him shake and shiver with fright; may his skin
blister and his hair bristle on his head; may the terror of the
approaching danger appear on his countenance, and his limbs tremble as
he sees the glare of the brisk flames!
"O God of Fire, so gloriously shining and mighty! scorch and blister him
as he enters the flames!
"O God of Fire, radiant and mighty in these accumulated embers, scald,
blister, burn him, so that his guilt may appear evident before every
eye!"
THE END
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