New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-08-03

& ltnrougn fast, as though there was an orenir ii
beneath. All hands were now at work for ft,s.
ther discovery the officers with their swords
and she soldiers With their bayonets, seeking d
clear out the seam aud pry up the SLAB other
with the butts Of their muskets striking th,
slab with all their might to break it, while th,
priests demonstrated against our desecratina
their holy and beautiful house While thus en-.
gagged, soldier, who was striking With the bust
Of his musket, struck spring, and tiie marble
slab few up Then the faces Of the inquisitors
grew pale as Belshazzsr, when the hand
writing appeared on the wall they trsmbfed
all over. Beneath the marble slab, now partly
up, there was staircase. I stepped TO ths
altar, and took from the cand1estck one Of the
candles, four feet in length, which was burning,
That might explore the room below AS was
DOING this, was arrested by one Of the inauis-
itors, who laid his hand gently on my arm, and
with very demuFe and sanctimonious look.
SAID, My son, you must not take those lights
with your bloody hands, they are holy We'll, ,
said, 8 will take holy thing to shed light on
Iniquity; l will bear the responsibilityt' t
took the candle, and proceeded down the stair
case AS we reached the foot of, the stairs we
entere large square room, which was called
the Hall Of Judgment. In the centre Of il was
huge block, and chain fastened to it. On
4 snis they had been accustomed to place the ac-
cosed, chained to his seat On one side Of the
room was an elevated seat, called the Throne Of
Judgment This the Inquisitor- General oceu
pied, and on either side were seats less elevated
Ior the priestly fathers, while engaged in the
solemn business Of the Holy Inouisftion. 831 p
rom this room we proceeded to the right,
| ana obtained access to small cells, extending
| the entire length Of the edifce and here
such sights were presented as we hope never
to see again
These cells were places Of solitary contine-
vent Uaap he Il. "a
torial hate were confined year after year, till
death released them from their suffer- ;1es, and
there their bodies we're suffered to remain until
they were entirely decayed. and the rooms had
become fit for others to occupy To prevent
this being offensive to those who occupied the
inquisition, there were fues or tubes extending
to the open air, sufficiently eapacious to carry
oH the odor. In these cells We found the re-
mains of those who had paid the debt of nature;
some of them had been dead apparently but
short time, while of others nothing remained
but the bones, still chained TO the floor Of their
dungeon. s5s4E gsaf asras 4 sf3 III
;. 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 into the world, and all
in chainsl Here cold men and aged women,
who had been shut up for many years. Here
too, we're the middle aged and the young man,
Hh1 iaaiucH VI lDufteeHE HE4ytafH glu-f 1H&
soldiers Immediately went to work to release
these captives from their chains, and took from
their knapsacks their covercoats and other
clio hing, which they gave them to cover their
nakedness, They were exceedingly anxious to
bring them out to the light of day but being
aware Of the danger, had food given them,
and then brought them gradually to the light,
as they were able to bear it. s9E glgesiT4 4sst
f' We then preceded to explore another room
rva for.
torture, of every kind which the ingenuity of men
or devils could invent" Col. L. describes four
of these :horrid instruments: saThe first was
machine by which the victim was secured, and
then, beginning with the fingers, every joint in Z
the hands, arms, and body was broken, or
drawn, one after another, until the sufferer
died. The second was box, in which the head
and neck of the accused was SO closely screwed
that he could not move in any way. Over the
the box was a vessel, from which one drop Of
water second fell upon the head of the victim,
every successive drop falling precisely upon the
same place, which suspended the circulation in
few moments, and put the sufferer to the most
excTuciating agony. The third was an Internal
machine, laid horizontally, to which the victim
was bound this instrument was then placed
between two beams, in which we're scores of
knives, so fixed that, by turning the machine
with q crank, the flesh of the sufferer was torn
from his limbs in small pieces. The fourth SUR
passed the others in fenslish ingenuity, Its
exterior was beautiful woman, or large doll,
richly 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 diabolieal engine to open, its arms elasped
him, and a thousand knives cut him into as
many pieces, in their deadly embrace"
Col, L. said that the sight of these engines of
Internal cruelty kindled the rage of the soldiers
to fury. They declared that every inquisitor
and soldier of the inquisition should be put to
the torture. Their rage was ungovernable
Col. L. did not oppose them; they might have.
turned their erms against him, if he had at
tempted to arrest their work. They began
with the holy fathers. The first they put to
death in the machine for breaking joints, The
torture of the inquisitor put to death by the
dropping of water on his head was most excru-
ciating. The poor man cried out in agony to be
taken from the fatal machine. The Inquisitar-
General was brought before the internal engine
called 1.-The Virgin" He begged TO be excused.
"No,' said they, tsyou have caused others to
kiss her, and now you must do it, They inter-
locked their bayonets SO as to form large forks,
and with these pushed him over the deadly cir
Gle. The beautiful image instantly prepared
for the embrace, clasped him in its arms, and
he was cut into innumerable pieces Col L.
said that he witnessed the torture of four of
| them; his heart sickened at the awful scene,
and he left the soldiers to wreak their vengeance
| on the last guilty inmate Of that prison house
| of hell. " tEa8 = n
In the meantime twas reported through Ma
drid that the prisons of the 1nquisition were
broken open, and multitudes hastened to the
| fatal spot. And oh! what meeting was there
1t was like resurrection! About a hundred
of those who had been buried for many years
were now restored to life There were fathers
who found their long long daughters j. wise,
were restored to their husbands, sisters to their
brothers, and parents to their children; and
there were some that could recognize no friend
among the multitude. The scene was such as
no tongue can describe. za zg1lTE9 a4 -
When the multitude had retired, Col. T.
caused the library, paintings, furniture, etc.
to be removed and having sent 10 the city fo1
a wagon load of powder, he deposited large
quantity in the vaults beneath the building
and placed slow match in connection with It
All withdrew to distance, and in few mo-
ments the assembled multitude beheld mos
joyful sight. The walls and turrets Of tn,
massive structure rose majestieally toward tn
heavens, impelled by the tremendous explosion
and then fell back to earth heap of ruins!
1 One popularity of the Turkish soldier is tha
| they will smoke. 1t is very common thing t
see sentinel with cigar in his month and |