Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864, 1860-12-08
The Horrors of the Papal Prison.

]
the experience of several political prison.
ers. written in the Pontifcal dungeons oi
Paliano. These tombs for the living are
now. thanks 10 recent events, empty. One
prisoner writes;
In the fort of PaIiano there are about two
hundred political prisoners, dressed ike
the criminals condemned TO the galley5,
and. like them, shaved. They are divided
into five sections. Those condemned for
life are shut up in cells, about nine spans
wide and abou: sixteen long, including the
little table Of brickwork. Other cells about
three spans wider, contain three prisoners;
and others. not much larger, have seven
teen al huddled together. In the first OF
these there is q small grating over and
opposite the door, through which the food Is
introduced. The other cells have one win.
dow, and sometimes two, with an opening
of about four spans in breadth and one IL
height, and through this the prisoners are
fred upon if it be necessary 10 keep them
quiet The food and hospital arrangements
were vilIianous. The patients are neglect
ed and il-treated. The medical attendants
will hardly ever send a patient 10 the hos
H4Adl, "AItl AlAfF w eFl-tA nun NItN y
always keep him Oh strict diet.
Perhaps they have a secret understand
ing with those who contract for the food.
One day, when some complaints were made
on account Of the bad soup in the hospital,
the person who made tie complaint was
taken by two keepers, and by diEt of blows
and kicks, was fo-clbly thrust along into
the darkest dungeons, and there detained
many days by order Of the governor
When some prisoner at the point Of death
refuses - receive cOnfessOr, lie is re.
moved Into a solitary cell, and there, after
having heaped on him 4 thousand outrages,
orders are given 10 one OF the lowest turn
KEYS 20 kill him ly suifJcati1u. The fact
is known from the confession OF the turn
key himself, who, on ore occasion, refused
10 be party TO this barbariiy. The corpse
Is Inferred Ill the interior Of the fort, and
the governor Is present al the funeral
Sometimes he gives I kick 10 10 the head
OF tie corpse, and commits similar out
RACES.
The following is the testimony Of another
victim o. Plpai misrule:
whilst was al inmate Of this den Of
horrors, a wife with her little boy obtained
permission 10 see her husband IL was ten
years since the P1pal government had torn
her husband from her embrace; the boy
had never known his father. for lie was
born after the arrest. Neither tho prayers
Of the afflicted wife, nor the tears Of the
tender child. nor the sObbiugs and despair
Of the unhappy father, couli induce the
governor 10 allow them but one embrace
10 let them miugle their tears together
Ii would be impossible 10 describe the
rigors and the tortures, always new and IN
creaslng, which have been invented to aug
meut the sutferings of the prisoners after
the last fatal attempt al flight. In order TO
prevent the political prisoners from holding
tie slightest communication with the outer
world, recourse was even had 10 the very
strange and absurd expedien. forbidiing
the physician although an individual com
plet-y subseryieut 10 the -Overnmeutl
from personally visiting the sick in prison. |
He was 10 treat them on the report Of
creature who but short time before had
been IL the galleys, and was transferred
thence 10 perform the Office OF an hospital
attendant.
This liberated galIey-slave felt the pulse,
made his diagnosis, drew his conclusions,
and the physician meanwhile waited in the
room of the governor for the report OF the
attendant, and, according TO the charact ter
OF that report. prescribed remedies for the
patients whom he had never seen. Rep
resentatIons Representations were neces-
sary before the Papal government could be
induced to abandon this singular mode OF
proceeding; and II was only after some time
that the physician obtained permission 10
approach the bed OF his patients; but even
then only III the comp any OF the turnkeys,
who were placed as spies over his move
ments, his words, aud the very expression
of pity which his countenance might betray.
One of the patients, certain u, OF
bologna, begged to see the governor, to
implore in the name OF his companions. the
permission to have the period lor exercise
extended for halt an hour The only reply
he received was an order that he should
be put IN chains weighing eighty pounds,
and thrown into the tower. The tower
situated in the centre of the citadel, is the
most horritie Of prisons damp, isolated,
with an opening at the roof, leaving the
prisoner exposed TO all the inclenencv of
the weather.
BE II summer or winter, the inmate of
the tower has no bed save the bare ground
no covering save his own apparel-uo
food save bread and water When left
the fort to be conveyed as an exile across
the frontier, poor prisoner had just died
in consequence Of illness caused by the
repetition of this punishment. from which
more than one prisoner had died whom the
government, perhaps, wished to ge; out Of
the way \ certain p, OF AscOl. on
returning from the chapel TO his own cell.
happened, when he reached the courtyard
OF the fortress, TO salute condemned pris-
oner belonging TO another section who was
looking through the grating For that
offence the head jailor, after beating him,
had the usual CHAINS put on, and then sent
him to the tower. 1t was in March. on an
Easter Sunday. After three days of suffer-
ing he was found stretched out, almost
frozen, on the ground. Then lie was re-
moved TO the hospital, and, thanks TO
strong constitution, after some time he re
covered. Many amongst the political pris-
oners, in consequence of the treatment they
hal received, from the moral AMI physical
tortures endured, have become insane.
They howl in their prisons, sometimes
minging with the other victims. at other
times alone, but without any difference of
n,a sc, L !