East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1859-11-17
A Grim Ineuisitor. and the way he dill
his Work.

ing graphic sketch Of one Of the grim
inqnisitors who ravagcd the Northern.
lands in the 10th century:]
Among all the inqiisitors, the name
Of Peter Titlemann was now pre-eminent
He executed his infamous functions
throughout Elan lers, Douay, and Tour.
nay, the most thriving and populous
portions of the Northernlands, with a
; Swiftness precision, and even with a jocu
larity which hardly seemed human
There was kind of grim humor about
the man. The woman who, according to
Bear's fool was won't to thrust her live
eels into the hot paste, rapping them
o the coxcombs with stick and crying
reproachfully, "Wantons lie down" had
the spirit of a true inquisitor. Even SO
dealt Iftlcmann with bis heretics with
ing on the racks or flames. Cotenpo'
rary chronicles give a picture of him as
of some grotesque yet terrible goblin,
careering through the country by night
or day, alone, on horseback, snriting the
trembling peasants on the heads with a
great club, spreading dismay far and
wide, dragging respected persons from
their fircsides or their beds, and thrust
ing them into dungeons, arreSting,
stranglng, burning, with hardly the
shadow of warrant, information or pro-
cess
The secular sheriff, familiarly called
Red Rod, from the cold of his wand of
Office, meeting this inquisitor Titemann
one day upon the highroad, thus wonder
inoly addressed him. elbow can you
venture to go ont alone, or at most with
an attendant or two, arresting people on
every side, while ] dare not attempt to
execute my Office except at the head of
a strong force, armed in proof; and then
only at the peril of my life!"
"Ah Red Rod" answered Peter
Iiocosely, "you deal with bad people. ]
have nothing TO fear, for l seize only
the innocent and virtuous, who make
no resistance, and let themselves be ia
ken like lambs"
"Mighty WELL" said the other; "but
if you arrest all the good people and ]
all the bad, 'tis difficult to say who in
the world is to escape chastisemcnt?"-
The reply Of the inquisitor has not been
recorded, but there is 10 doubt that he
proceeded like strong man to run his
days course.
He was the most active Of all the
agents in the religious persecution at the
epoch Of which we are now treating, but
he had been inquisitor for many years.
The martyrology of the provinces rccks
with his murders. He burnt men for
idle words or suspected thoughts; he
arely waited, according to his frank
confession, for deeds. Hearing once
that schoolmastcr, named Geleyn de
Muller, Audenarde, ",cas addicted TO read-
ing The Btbh," he Summoned the culprt
before him and accused linn of heresy.-
] The schoolmaster claimed, if he were
guilty of any crime, to be tried before
the Judges of his town. "You are my
prisoner" said T'itlemann, "and are to
answer me and none other" The ia
quisitor proceeded accordingly to cate
chiSe him, and soon satisfied himself of the
schoolmaster's heresy. lie commanded
him to make immediate recantation.-
The schoolmaste refused, "Do you not
love yonr wife and children" asked tho
demoniac Titlemann, "God knows" an
swered the hereto, ''that if the whole
world were of gold and my own, I would
give it all only to have them with me,
even had l to live on bread aud water
and in bondage" "You have, them"
answered the inquisitor, "only to re-
nounce the error Of your opinions. =
"Neither for wife, children, nor all the
world, can | renounce my God and re-
ligious truth" answered the prisoner
Thereupon Titemann sentenced him to
the stake. He was strangled and theu
thrown into the flames.
At about the same time, Thomas Cal
berg, tapestry weaver, of Tournay, with
in the jurisdiction Of this same inquisitor,
was convicted of having copied some
hymns from n book printed in Geneva.
He was burned alive. Another man,
whose name has perished, was hacked to
death with seven blows of rusty sword,
in presence of his wife, who was so hor-
ror-stricken that she died on the spot be-
fore her husband. His crime. to bcsure,
was anabaptism, the most deadly offence
in the calendar. In the same year, one
Walter Kapell was burned at the stake
for hcretical opinions. He was man Of
some property, and beloved by the poor
people Of Dixmyde, in Flanders, where
he risided, for his many charities. A
poor IDIOT, who had been often fed by his
bounty, called out to the inquisitors sub
alterns, as they bound his patron to the
stake, ''ye are bloody murlerers; that
man has done no wrong; but has given
me bread to eat" With these words he
cast himself headlong into the flames to
perish with his protector, but was with
difficulty rescued by the officers. a day
or two afterwards, he made his way to
the stake, where the half burnt skeleton
of Walter Kapell remained, took the
body upon his shoulders, and carried it
through the streets to the house of the
chief burgomaster, where several other
magistrates happened then to be in ses-
sion. Forcing his way into their pres
ence, he laid his burthen at their feet
crying, "There muricrersl We have eaten
his flesh, now eat his bonesy" 1t has not
been recorded whether Titlemann sent
him to keep company with his friend in
the next world. The fate Of 80 obscure a
| = = e