The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-08 00:00:00

THE SECRET PRISON HOUSE.

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Some workmen lately in taking down an old monastic
building in Hereford, came to a prison, in which there
is reason to believe some unfortunate victim was im-
mured alive. A correspondent of the Hereford Times
givei the following interesting account of the dis-
covery :

"ha taking down the south-east corner the work-
men came to a paving-stone, which, on being re-
moved, disclosed to view an aperture about eighteen
by twelve inches in dimensions ; on further examina-
tion, by removing the walls, it appeared that it was a sort
of niche, five feet six inches high, capable of containing
a human form, broad at the head and tapering
down to the feet, where it was ten inches broad ; it had
been plaistered in the interior on the front, back, and
east side, on the opposite it was closed up with rough
wall stone ; at the bottom was another paving-stone,
and upon it the heap of collapsed bones, a glass bottle,
and an earthen pan, portions of the leather and high
heel of shoes, and a piece of wood which, it has been
asserted, bears the marks of having been gnawed, as
if in the last frenzied effort to sustain a famishing and
desperate nature. The fragments of the bottle and
pan, for we regret to say they were broken, and the
other portions carried away, the leather and the
sole, and the piece of wood referred to, are before you.
Was it in refinement of cruelty that these vessels were
deposited at the feet, where the wretched sufferer, from
the straightness of the narrow cell, could not reach the
viands they contained? What crime could deserve such
awful retribution, or rather what human being might
dare to visit on his fellow sinner such agonising tor-
ment, such accumulation of the pangs of many deaths?
What else could have been the tragedy which these
walls have witnessed—what other the agonies which
they assisted in administering? The very heart sickens
at the contemplation, and the religion of peace and
mercy repudiates the deed as that of demons
rather than the ministers of reconciliation, of salvation
to the sinner's soul. But to proceed. The poor wretch
does not seem to have been alone in this appalling
exigency; another similar niche at the south-west
corner of the wall was subsequently revealed, built
up in the same manner, but standing sideways to the
other; at the bottom of this, too, were the mournful
indications of the purpose to which it had been ap-
plied—a heap of bones. If a mystery hangs over the his-
tory of this spot as to its material fabric, much more
must this dark deed elude the scrutiny of man. That
such things have been, and under the most sacred pre-
text, is, alas, incontrovertible. I had purposed to have
searched out some of the decretals which touch on
this most melancholy subject; but time has not sufficed
me for the purpose, and perhaps it is well. I shall
content myself with reading to you some extracts from
writers well known to you, and shall then leave the
narrative and its accompaniments to your contemplation,
until such time as fortune or subsequent discovery may
throw new light upon the spot :
.6 In Ileadley's Letters from Italy, it is recorded that
in the church of San Lorenzo, in the town of San
Giovanna, is the withered form of a man cased in a side
wall. A sort of trap-door is swung open, when you are
shown a human skeleton, perfect in all its parts; it
stands erect and motionless among naked, jagged
stones. This church had been built centuries ago, and
remained untouched till within a few years, when,
in making some repairs, the workmen bad occasion to
pierce the wall, and struck upon this skeleton. They
carefully uncovered it, without disturbing its position
or loosening a single hone. A narrow door has been
made to swing over it, to protect it from injury and
shield it from the eye of those who worship in the church .
The frame indicates a powerful man, and though it is
but a skeleton, tha whole attitude and aspect give one
the impression of a death of agony. The arms are
folded across the breast in forced resignation, the head
is slightly bowed, and the shoulders elevated, as if in
the effort to breathe, while the very face—bereft of
muscles as it is—seems full of suffering. This unhappy
man seems to have died of suffocation, as he was built up
alive in the wall ' • it is evident it must have been
a case of murder, for there are no grave clothes, no
coffin, and no mason work round the body. The poor
civility of a savage was not shown here, in knocking
off the points of the stones, to give even the appearance
of regularity to the enclosure. He was packed into
a rough wall, and built over, beginning at the feet.
It is difficult to tell anything of the manner of death,
whether painful or not, by any skeleton, for the lace has
always the appearance of suffering, but there are cer-
tain indications about this which show that the death
was a painful one, and caused by suffocation.
The arms are not crossed gently or quietly in the
decent composure of death, but far over, as by a painful
effort or by force. The shoulders are elevated, as if the
last strong effort of the man was for breath. The bones
(if the toes are curled over the edge of the stone on
which he stands, as if contracted in agony when life
parted. He appears to have been fully six feet high,
with broad chest and shoulders, and strong limbed..
" Again—ln the notes of Sir Walter Seottlyx?
ui-
site poem of Marmion,' we read (note xv )
It
is well known that the religious persons who
penalty as the
vows were subjected to the broke their
Roman vestals in a similar case.'
wasal:sal:l'd-a:I innicthhee, su
cient to inclose their bodies,
mas-
sive wall of the convent,
in it,
ts,len slender pittance of food
and the awful words
and water was depositedt
for immuring the criminal.
this punishment was
Vade in pace were the signal
It is not likely that, in latter times,but among the ruins of the Abbey of
often resorted to ;
Coldingbam were, some years ago, discovered the re-
mains of a female skeleton, which, from the shape of
the niche and position of the figure, seemed to be that
of an immured nun.