The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1867-07-19
The Horrors Of Nuremberg Castle.
Mr.. Coffin writes to the Boston Journal

The Horrors Of Nuremberg Castle.
Mr.. Coffin writes to the Boston Journal ,
from Nuremburg, Bavaria
Come with me to this old town, enter
some of these ediices, to see the admins
tration of government as it was in the 10th
and 18th centuries. We enter one of the
towers of the castle, descendthe steps, and
find ourselves in museum, where are pre-
served the books and records, giving US a
history of the paAt; and, not only>books,
but implements and-instruments which
show more clearly than written words the
administration OF those days with which
the government of the United States is
now compared. Here is post four feet
high, in the center Of the room, with
two curious fixtures on the top, having
some resemblance to gun locks.
What is this? The girl who acts as our
usher raises the hammers, which come up
With click, She touches spring and
they go, with snap that startles you
forced down by strong springs a
whack that would have smashed your fin
gers to ia jelly had they been under the
hammer. This is a finger crusher, a deli-
cate little Instrument used. to extort con-
LESSONS from reluctant witnesses or sus-
pected terminals. Here are bracelets for
the wrists, not Of gold or silver, but of iron,
and the parts which touch the wrists are
set with needles. Put them on your arms
and turn screw and they close upon the
flesh, the needles piercing through cords,
tendons, flesh and bones. 1t is one degree
more excruciating than crushing the
fingers
Here is head dress-a crown which has
been worn by many men and women. 1t
has sharp knives, which cut through the
scalp to the skull, Here are chains and
weights, locks and keys, handouts, and
clasps for the ankles, stocks for the feet,
weights to hold your feet to the floor, and
pulies to draw your head at the same time
to the ceiling, Here is a bench of solid
many men have been laid, held down by
and that rolling pin, knotty knobby, also
of oak, which lies upon the table, has
been rolled backward and forward over the
naked forms of men and women, kneading
live flesh to bloody dough. Time and
space would fail me were | to enumerate all
| the Instruments of torture here, or to set
forth their uses. We can only look at the
cradle-the bottom and sides thckly set
with pins, in which many victims have been
rocked to death Think of lying on a
! bed of oaken pins, rolling to the right, to
| the left-always against pins-till the flesh
becomes livid jelly. Here is a string of
oaken beads, each bead sixteen sided,
about as large as hickory nuts. This was
| for saving off legs and arms.
| Here is an instrument, shaped like a
pear. II is of iron, but to all appearance
a harmless thing But just take it for 2
| moment in your mouth, and let me give q
gentle pull to the string attached to the
stem OF the pear aud it will no longer be
a pear, but full blown lilly; an iron lilly,
unfolding its leaves so suddenly and VIC
lently that your jaws are forced.open till the
joints crack in the sockets, while the deli
cate petals become pincers which grasp
your tongue No cutlery now. No utter
ance of words. No screaming to raise the
neighborhood. Means and signs only from
the sufferer. One witch of the string, and
the tongue is torn out By the roots. ~
We must leave this museum without
mentioning the hundreds of curiosities. =
We go into the court yard, stopping 4 mo-
ment to pluck a leaf from lime tree,
which was in full vigor 700 years ago, and
then we enter another door, descend a
longer fight Of steps, to dark, dismal dun
geons, where no light ever falls except
through narrow irongrated windows Here
are ladders, with windasses and pullies, on
which victims were stretched till bones
snapped, TIL joints leaped from their sock
cts, and cords and tendons were torn asun-
der Here are racks and wheels, pilories
and stocks, whips and manacles, This was
the place of torture We leave this and
creep through a narrow passage, through
doorway after doorway, and reach at last
far under ground, far beneath all sight and
sound Of the world, darker dungeon -
This is the room of the 'Iron Maiden"
Here is the statue or image-a maiden
with a hood upon her head. an iron rufiie
around the neck, enveloped in an iron
cloak. Suddenly the folds Of the cloak are
thrown apart, and by the dim light Of the
candle you see that the lining Of the gar
ment is set with sharp spikes Take one
step forward and the folds enclose you
Iron spikes pierce your body, and into
your eyeballs, clear through to the verte-
bra, they penetrate the flesh; just enough
to touch the apple Of the quiyering eye !;
then, after au age Of, anguish, another
turn, and a hundred spikes reach a little
nearer 10 the nerves; and then as heat,
thirst and fever rack the body, another
age OF torture, and then one more advance
Of the spikes toward the vitals, till death
comes on, and the maiden unfolding her
arms, drops her victim through trap
door, down-down-down into the unknown
depths! We drop pebble and hear the
faint splash of waters far beneath.
Here is skull. Anatomists say it is the
skull of a female. You may put your
finger into the holes where the spikes which
entered the eyes came through No name
on record. God only has the book of re-
membrance.
We think of this dungeon as connected
with the barbarism of the middle ages ;
but we are not far removed from those days
of rigorous administration of law. Till Ma
poleon with his legions of France came
across the Rhine, overthroving all obsta-
cles, this iron maiden held out her arm to
receive offenders against law. On the ap-
proach of the federal army, in 1903, the
Virgin, as it is called, with other instru-
ments of torture, were thrown into cart
and dispatched in haste out of town, but
fell into the hands of the victorious army.
Not till then did the world know what sort
of punishments were meted out to offenders
of the law.