Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-08-18
. lNOrtester @ailp Spp.



NAPLES, July PA few DAYS since sent
youa report OF visit TO the prisons OF the
prefecture. Last Wednesday l went to see
those OF the Vcara, and, though some mealy-
mouthed people are fond of saying LET by
cones be bygones," | must deal another death
blow to system which, for the sake of hui
manty and religion, it is hoped has passed
away, by giving you few details. l went
with four English friends, with special order
from the minister of the interior. Gates flew
open SO readily that the walls of the Vicaria
were astonished, grim jailers smiled, and an
gfd inspector piled us with his snuff. The
hrst apartments, assigned to those of coadizione
c'ctle, are not so bad-they have been recently
whltewashed; but as we got more into the
depths OF the prison house we began to dis
cover Its amlable pecularities. Many Of the
chambers were almost dark and very damp,
50 damp that chill struck to the bones 9TH
ers were perfectly dark, and old Cerberus, who
was rather anxious for the honor of the house,
endeavored to give us the idea that this cham
Der was merely a lumber room: another was
no longer used, and then a third-it was
mere nothing-it was useless to open it, The
commissioner for closing the criminals said,
Don't dispute it, they were all prisons, but
speak of them as Repositories Down,
down many staircase, past many gloomy
cell, through the iron,plated doors OF which
not sigh could pass, we arrived at length at
the lowest part OF the building. "Useless to
open these doors, said Cerberus. "But open
that said the commissioner, and it grated
upon its iron hinges. A small chamber not
three feet wide was visible, and then another
thick door with bolts, which opened into dark
vaulted passages, which stretched away to
Castel OvO, said Cerberus, that is full two
miles off "but they are no longer used" he
added, "see the rubbish" / saw, however,
in the freshness of the paint, in the perfection
of the iron plates, of the bolts, and i'll the new
lead with which the sockets had been soldered,
indications of a readiness for use. The will
and the intention eyid entity had existed very
recently.
From the foul charne-houses themselves,
where, even after all the cleanliness which
has been introduced within the last three
weeks, orders had been given to burn incense
as We passed, let me now turn to the inmates.
There were five hundred in all. Some were
in cells by themselves, as Manetts, the cele.
brated spy, whose oily, hypocriticaI manner
explained to me the reason of his easy access
to Ferdinand Ii. His son was in another close
by, and another son not far off. Their mat
tresses were on the damp stone ground, and
one Of them complained of the awful stnk-it
must come out, no other word will give tin
his cell. These men erted, however, little
compassion, for they had been the cause of
much greater suffering to hundreds. We
saw, too, Macario, the friend and spy of Cam
pagna, as yiainous looking fellow as nature
ever turned out, and the eXecutioner at Pa
lermo, and others OF tile crew, who have been
the instruments of despotism. One felt no
sympathy for them, but only asked for justice.
In other rooms we saw twenty or more wretch
edlooking men, sweltering, haltdressed, in
the heat of an oven. "Excelleuza" shouts
ffci in ric tIo nd
no trial when shall l be liberated?" Given
ty months" cries another, and fourteen
months" another, owe thought thsconstitu-
ton would lberate u.s." And SO we went
through variety of cells where Supptce were
thrust into the commissioners hands and en-
forced by many tear and prayer. In one
Chamber we came on an old man, half idiot in
manner, who had been condemned to six
years seclusion for blasphemy, and il he did
not become ten times the blaSphemer before
his time was up he would be no man.
In the short time that a new state of things
has been introduced as much has been done
as was possihle-walls have been whitewashed,
offensive smells, or the worst, removed, and
many victim has been released but justice
is yet to be administered there, cleanliness yet
to be introduced, and those "depositores, as
Cerburus called them, must be closed. My
friend with the snuff box and the commissioner
represented TWO inherent states OF tnlnBS-tne
past and the present; and while the former
looked with species of tenderness on his pet
relics of antiquity, the latter was full of hopes
of better things X
| have two observations to make-these
dens are in the very centre OF the capital of the
Two Siciies, not a stones throw from the
royal palace, in country where priests con-
gregate in herds; secondly, they have been
seen and the facts can be attesled by four other
English gentlemen who accompanied me. Let
no Englishman, therefore, for very shame,
hencetorward dare to defend, as they have de
Tended, state of things which has been curse
to humanity and reflection on the civilization
and Christian spirit of the age. 1t is against
system of which these prisons form a part
that | have been writing for years, and the
weak and superficial, and the criminal!y inter-
ested have increasingly condemned as exagger-
atoms my statements, because, torsooth, they
did not care to have their repose disturbed.