14. THE TRIPLE TIGER

Fr. Perboyre had over 40 different trials here, clothed in the red robe of a prisoner end branded with hot irons on hi hips. The last trials were before the cruelest Viceroy in China. He was nicknamed "the Triple Tiger" because of his fierceness and was known to have risen from his chair in a fit of anger and tear out prisoners' eyes with his bare hands. He especially hated Christians. At various times he had Fr. Perboyre hung by his hair, hung on an iron frame from morning to night, had his forehead tattooed with iron points with the words "Propagator of an odious religion". He used a machine with winches to lift Fr. Perboyre to the ceiling by his hair and then released the ropes so that his body crashed to the ground. This was done repeatedly so that his limbs were dislocated and his body bruised all over. There were other tortures too numerous and cruel to mention but Fr. Perboyre never once cried out. Usually, he had to carried back and forth to these trials because he could no longer walk a step. Finally, he was given a month's rest s that his worst wounds could heal and to prevent him from dying in prison.