For a few seconds he would stand or rather hang, perfectly still and quiet.  Then as he made another attempt to secure a change of position shafts of pain would shoot through him, causing him to shriek again for a few seconds in the most agonising manner, which made me start and shiver.  While his shrieks were terrifying it was the long-drawn out wail and moan in which they ended which were more unnerving.  They sounded like the agonised howls of an animal caught in a trap and suffering untold torment.

But each successive outburst grew weaker.  The body dropped more and more forward until it could fall no farther owing to the retaining rope.  His head dropped lower and lower upon his chest, which had the effect of interfering with respiration.  The man would throw his head wildly about in frantic efforts to breathe, but to little purpose.  His face commenced to assume a ghastly bluish colour; his distended eyes almost started from his head; while his mouth, now wide open, allowed his tongue to loll and roll in a manner vividly reminiscent of a maniac restrained in a strait jacket.  The struggles and cries grew fainter until at last his head gave a final jerk to hang limply to one side.  He shrieked no more.  Insensibility had come to his relief.

During this period the guard never ventured to come to look at him.  His piercing shrieks, howls, and long-drawn out moans told them that he was feeling the pinch of his confinement to the post.  But when these cries of agony ceased two of the guards came up.  Seen to be unconscious, he was immediately released to fall like a log to the ground.  Buckets of water were hurriedly fetched and the contents were dashed over the prone figure until consciousness returned.  When he had somewhat recovered, although still inert and groaning piteously, he was propped up against the post and re-tied into position.

Every time the man relapsed into insensibility he was released to undergo drastic reviving by the aid of buckets of water, and directly he came to he was again strapped up.  The sentence was “four hours,” and it was fulfilled strictly to the letter, but only the actual periods of being tied to the post were taken into consideration.  It did not matter whether the man fainted three or thirty times during his sentence.  It was only the instalments of time against the post which in the aggregate were taken to represent the full term of the punishment.

As may be supposed, owing to the recurring periods of insensibility, the duration of the sentence became prolonged.  In about two hours after being strung up for the first time the initial spasm of unconsciousness would occur, although the intervention of insensibility obviously varied according to the strength and physical endurance of the prisoner.  But after the first revival, and owing to the man being deprived of the opportunity to regain his normal condition, the lapses into unconsciousness occurred at steadily decreasing intervals of time until at last the man was absolutely unable to battle against his torment and Nature for more than a very short period.