Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa Territory [Iowa]) 1840-1846, 1845-12-06
.
From Headley's ''Letiers from Rally"
A Man built in q wall

thedral, sent for Il e woman who keeps the
! key OF the door that shuts oyer.the with
cred form OF a man cased in side wall oil
the church Of San Lorenzo. AS The sort
oftrap door swung open, | recoiied ii hor-
ror, for there.stoed upright human skel-
eton, perfect in all its parts, staring upon
me with his dead eye-sockets. No coffin
enclosed tho mason work surrounded
it, but among the naked, Jagged stones, il
stood erect ard motiohless.
This church has been built centuries
ago, and remained untouched till wilhina
few years, when in making some repairs
the workmen had occasion to pierce the
wall, and struck upon this skeleton.-
they carefully uncovered it, without dis
turbing its position or loosenipg a single
stone. Why and wherefore | cannot tell
but the priests have suffered il to stand In
the. place and attitude it was discovered,
an object of supers,itious dread, vet Of
universal interest. A narrow door has
been made to swing over il, 10 protect it
from injury, and shield i, from Tie eyes ,ot
those who worship, in the church. The
frame indicates a powerful man, and
though it is but skeleton, the whole a, :
titude and aspect give one the mpressin
OF death Of agony. The arms are folde,!
across the breast in forced resignation the
head is slightly bowed, and lie shoulders
elevated as iii The effoft to breathe. While
the very face-bereft OF masele as tits
seems foil Of suffering. aslsss h saiiili5..
An English physician was with me, and
injured TO skeletons as he was, his ,oun-
tenance changed as he gazed upon II, and
then his voice was low and solemn, as
if he himself had seen the living burial. 49,
Said he ''fhat nan diedby subocaiion, and
he was built alive in that WALL"
In the first place, it is evident it was a
case Of murder, for there are no grave
cloths, no coffin, and no mason work
around The body. ] he poor civility of a
savage was not shown here, in knocking
off the points of the stones, 10 give even
the appearance Of regularity TO the enclo-
sure. He was packed into the rough
wall, and built over, beginning at the
feet. a 81 ass C ..Ft .tar,
It is extremely difficult TO tell any thing
of the manner Of death, whether painful OF
pleasant, by any skeleton, for the face al
ways has the appearance of suffering; but
there are certain. indications about this.
which show that the death was a painful
one, and caused doubtless, by suffocation.
In the first place, the arms are not crossed
gently and quietly, in the decent eompoa
sure of death, but lar o,ier, as with pain.
ful effort or by force. Inthe second place,
the shoulders are elevated, as if the last
strong effort of the man was for breath,
In the third place, the bones Of the toes
are curled over the edge Of the stone on
which he stands, asif contracted in agony
when life parted.
"And," continued the doctot, with true
professional detail, she died hard for he
was a powerful man. He was full six
feet high, with broad chest and shoulders,
and strong limbed." / knew all this be- /
ore; for | felt it. There was no rnistak.
ng the manner of that mans death. / /
,ould tell every step Of the process
Doubtless there was originally some hang
ng or church furniture to this part Of the
hurch to conceal the displacement of the
vail. In dark night the unfortunate
nan was enrapped, bound and brought in
o this temple, where he first could be tor
ured to death, nj then the crime con-
called. Men Of rank were engaged in it,.
Or none other could have got control of
hurch, and none but distinguished VIC
i'm would have caused this great precau.
ion in the murderers. BY the dim light
f lamps, whose rays scarcely reached the
,fly ceiling, the stones were removed be-
,re the eyes of. the doomed man, and
after measurement taken, to !
ee if the aperture was sufficiently large.
| bound and helpless victim, be lay on the y
old pavement, with the high alter, and y
ross before him, but no priest to shrive
i'm. Sitting in pride the emotions that
hecked his very signs, he strung every (
erve for the slow death he must meet. !
AT length the opening was declared |
rye enough, and he was lifted into it.. =
he workman began at the feet, and with !
is mortar and trowel, built up with the !
lme carelessness he would exhibit in fill |
g up any broken wall. The successful
lcmy stood leaning upon. his sword---a
nile OF scorn ard revenge upon his iea-. !
res, and watched the, face of the man be i
tied, but 70 longer feared. All, it was i
wild effort that undertook to return Y
ance for glance, and scorn for scorn, Il
hen one was the conquered and the 9TH u
!. the victorious foe! 1t was slow work d
ting the pieces nicely, 50 as TO close up il
Il aperture with precision. The tink- |,
ny Of the trowel on The edges of the
ones, as Il. broke off here and thereta par-l
Gle To- make them match, was like the
ow ola hammer on the excited nerves Of \
e half buried wretch. v
At length the solid wallirose over his q
rest, repressing its efforts to lift with the :!
cath, Al en- stihed groar for the fret '
ne escaped the sufferers lips, and 4 shud- !, !,
II ran through his frame which threaten y
to shake The solid mass which enclosed u
to pieces. Yetup wentthe massn work u
4 it reached the inonth, and the rough Q
agment was damned into the teeth and "
stoned there with the .mortar----and still
Sc, till nothing but the pale white fore.
.ad was visible, in the opening. p With G
re and precision the last stone was At u
in the narrow opening---the trowel Il
As smoothly passed over, ia .tiled n
Dan, as ii from the rock, broke the still u
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