Bedford inquirer and chronicle. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1854-1857, 1857-01-09
THE OVAL CHAMBER


An American clergyman, who wrote un-. .
der the signature of sskirwau,'' in volume
of travels in Europe. gives the following ac-
count Of fearful chamber in the castle of
the Duke of Baden Baden, in Germany
ssWe made morning call at the new castle
of the Duke, which surrounds the bill, and
were shown through all its apartmeats.--
As i for our accommodation, ne had Just re-
tired from. bis breakfast room, ihat We
might see the table at which reigning
Prince slipped coffee. We have seen the
breakfast room and table of many il Aneri-
ca more riei.l furnished. Tue upper apart
ments wore qrite an air OF poverty, after
having seen those of Versailles, the Qnirin-
al, aad Turin. But the underground apart
uients possess fearful interest. With
lighted torches we wen down into the eel
lar Of the palace; thence By spiral inclin-
ed plane, we went down, down, until, by a
door formed OF one huge fa.., and fitted to
its place with remarkable exactness, We en-
tered suiall oval room, perhaps ten feet in
diameter, and hewD out of the solid rock
The door was shut behind US, and VIC were
buried alive under the mountain A ray Of
light came from above, and we could look
up as through narrow chimney. A stone
was removed beneath our feet, and we
could look down. perhaps, two or three iauu-
dred feet, and could see a little glinnDer of
Ugh: upon dashing current Of water,
whose murmuring came unto Us from be-
meath, aud all around the room were seats
cut out Of the rock. And what was the
object aud history Of this awful room.
Tie little room above described vas the
room of judgment, aud the judges were let
down BY aachinery through the opening
above. If not guilty, the accused we're
hated or feared, which made condemnation
even more certain than guilt.
When condemned theywere commanded
to Kiss an image Of the Virgin in the apart
inent: in the movement they touched springs
which caused her 70 embrace them, and in
! the embrace to pierce them through with
daggers. Then 2 trap was sprung beneath
4 e,=a trsi.ev : libbs KEPT
in constant revolution by a stream of water;
by those knives they were cut in pieces,
aud the mullilated fragments fell into tao
stream balow.
And there We were-reeeiving this awful
narrative in the very apartment; where these
atrocities were committed in the name of
justice and religion, with the trnncl above
US through which the boly inauisi,ion de-
seendcd, and with the tunnel beneath us
through which the bodies o. their victims
were let down for muiilation, so as to bo be-
yen1 the reach Of recognixance For a mos
naent our blood ran cold, aud we were fllcd
with horror. Oh, it those stone seats. aud
those walls of solid rock could speak.-if
tue injunction of perpetual secrecy wercre-
moved by Him who uPheaved The mountain
what an awful narrative they would give Of
the scenes of treaeaery, hatred and blood
there perpetraied iu the n4ele Of God aud
religion. What wailiugs we're there uttered
under the tortures epjOiucd by priests.
The stone door swung open, aad we gro
ped Gu: way through 4 Labyrinth of cAaul- /
tore and passages, dark as midnight into |
the open air. We were soon after Oh The
railway for Frankfort on the Maine. deeply |
affected by the beauty aud wickodhss Of I
Baden Baden, and thankful that lis days of
feudal and papal tyrarny we're at suead.'