Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1845-11-13

which it passes more freely than Others
replied to him, DO as you please, Colo
nell and ordered water 10 be brought ac-
cordngly. The slabs of marble were
large and beautifully polished. When
The water had been poured over the floor,
much 10 the dissatisfaction Of the inquisl.
tors, a careful examination was made Of
every seam in the floor, 20 see if The water
passed through. Presently Col. De Lille
exclaimed that he had found il. by The
side OF one of these marble slabs the wa
ter passed through fast, as though there
was an opening beneath. All hands were
now at work for further discovery; the
officers with their swords, and the sol
diers with their bayonets. seeking TO clear
GU, the seam and pry up the slab, others
with the butts Of their muskets striking
the slab with all their might to break il,
while the priests demonstrated against our
desecratlng their holy and beautiful
house. While thus engaged soldier
who was striking with The butt of his
musket, struck a spring, and the marble
slab flew up. Then the faces of the in
qustors grew pale as Belshazzar,
when the handwriting appeared on the
wall; they trembled all over. Beneath
the marble slab, now partly up, there
was staircase. stepped to the altar,
and took from the candleslck one of the
candles four feet il length, which was
burning, tina, nigh. explore the room
below. As was doing ,his.I was arrested
by one of the lnqisltors. who laid his
hand gently on my arm, and with very
demure and holy look said, My son you
must not take these lights with your
bloody hands; they are holy.'-'Well,' |
said. 81 will take holy thing to shed ligh,
on iniqui,y; | will bear the responsible.
yr took the candle. and proceeded
down the staircase, As we reached the
foot of the stairs we entered large square
room. which was called the Hall of
Judgement. In the centre of il, was
large block. and chain fastened 10 it,
On This they had been accustomed to
place the accused. chained TO his seat
On one side of the room was one elevated
seat called The Throne of Judgement
This the lnquisitor General occupied,
and on either side were seats less elevated,
for the holy fathers when engaged in HE
solemn business of Holy Inqnisition.
From this room we proceeded to The
right, and obtained access To small cells,
extending the entire length Of the edl6ce;
aud here such sights were presented as
we hoped never to see again.
The cells were places Of solitary con.
finement. where the wretched objects
of inquistorial hate were confined wear
after year. till death released them from
their sutferiugs, and there their bodies
were suffered to remain until they were
entirely deeayed. and the rooms had be-
come I'll for others to occupy. To pre-
vent this from becoming offensive TO those
who occupied the lnqulsltlon, there we've
tues or tubes extending to the open air,
sufficiently capacoas 10 carry off the
odor In these cells we found the re-
maius Of some who had paid the debt of
nature; some of them had been dead APP
parenlly but short time. while of Others
nothing remained but their bones, still
chained to the floor of their dungeon.
In other cells we found living sufferers
of both sexes and Of every age, from three
.score years and ten down to fourteen or
fifteen years all naked AS when born in
to the world! and all in chains! Here
we're cid men aud aged women. who had
been shut up for many years. Here, TOO.
were the middle aged. aud the Young
man and the maiden of fourteen years old.
The soldiers Immediately went To work
TO release these caplives from their chains,
and took from their knapsacks their over
coats and other clolhing which they gave
10 cover their nakedness. They were
exceedingly anxious TO bring them gu. to
the light. OF day; but Col. l. aware of
the danger, bad food gwen them. and
then broogh! them gradually TO the light
as they were able to bear it,
| We then proceeded, said Col H., to ex-
| plore another room on the left. Here we
| found the instruments of torture. of every
kind which the ingenuity Of men or devils
could invent. Col. H., here described
| four Of these horrid instruments. The
frs. was a machine by which the victim
was confined. and then, beginning with
the fingers. every joint in the hands, arms,
and body, were broken or drawn one az
ter another, until the victim died. The
second was a box, in which the head and
neck Of the victim were so closely con
fined by screw that he could not move
in any way. Over the box was vessel
from which one drop Of water second
fell upon tire head of the wctim-everv
successive drop falling upon precisely the
same place on the head, suspend ed the
circulation in a few moments, and put,
the sufferer IN the most excrucaiing ago.
ny. The third was an internal machine,
laid horizontally, to which the victim was
bound; the machine then being placed be-
tween two beams, in which were scores
Of knives so fixed that, by turning the
machine with crank. the flesh of the
sufferer was torn from his limbs all in
small pieces. Tie fourth surpassed the
others in fiendish ingenuity. Its exterior
was beautiful woman. or large doll, rich
" dressed, with arms extended, ready to
embrace its victim. Around her feet
semi.circle was drawn The victim who
passed over this fatal mark, touched
spring, which caused the diabolicaI en-