Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-07-09
HUMAN CRUELTY.
The Horrors of Nuremberg Castle

The Horrors Of Nuremberg Castle
! A Mr.. COFFIN writes to the Boston
Journal, from Nuremberg in Bavaria,
what we reproduce below: and we repro
] duce it because it shows Of what erueities
men were capable only fifty years ago.
/ They are capable Of the same still:
] Come with me to this old town enter
] some OF these edifices and look upon the
/ administration Of government a. It was
/ in the sixteenth anu seventeenth centu-
ries. We enter one Of the towers OF the
I castle, descend five steps, and find our
/ selves in a museum, where are preserved
/ the books Of record, giving us a history
Of the past; and not only books, but I'M
plements and instruments which show
/ more clearly than written words the ad-
ministration OF those days with which
/ the government Of the United States Is
/ now compared. Here is a post four feet
/ high in the center Of the room, with two
I curious fixtures ON the top, having some
/ resemblance 70 gun-lOcks.
What is this2 The girl who acts as
our usher raises the hammers, which
I come up with q elink. She touches a
spring and they 60, with snap that
gtartles you-fOreed down by strong
/ srrinps. with a whack that would have
mashed your fingers to a jelly had they
I been under the hammer. This IS finger
/ crusher, a delicate little instrument used
+ to extOrt confessions from reluctant Wit
+ uesses or suspected criminals. 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.
/ q
and they close upon the flesh, the needles
piercing through cords, tendOns, flesh
and bones. 1t is one degree more eXeTu-
ciatinc than crushing the fingers.
Here is q 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 sre chains
and weights, locks and keys, handouts
and clasps for the ankles, stocks for the
feet, weights to hold your feet 10 the
floor. and pulleys TO draw your head at
the same time to the ceiling. Here Is a
bench Of solid oak, with corrugated
surface upon which many men have
been laid held down by cords, to under
go the kneading process, and that rolling
Diu. knotty and 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 the
instruments Of torture here, or to set
forth their uses. We can only look at
the cradle-the bottom and sides thickiy
set with pins, in which many victims
have been rocked to death. Think OF
/ living on bed Of oaken pins, rolling to
the right, TO the lefJ-always against
pins-.iIl the flesh becomes livid Jelly.
Here is a string CT O2ken beads, each
bead sixteen sided, about as large a.
I hickory nuts. This was for saving on
4 legs and arms.
Here is an instrument sbsped like a
/ pear. 1t is of iron, to all appearance
( harmless thing. But just take Il for
moment into your mouth and let me
! give 3 gentle pull at the string attached
I to the stem Of the pear, and lt Will no
J longer be a pear, but full blown lily-an
/ iron lily unfolding its leaves so suddenly
and violently that your jaws are forced
/ open till the joints crack in the sockets,
while the delicate petals become pincers,
which grasp your tongue. No Outcry
. now. No UtteranUe Of words. No
+ screaming To raise the neigdborhOod.
3 Means and signs only from the sufferer.
Z One twitch of the string and the tongue
/ is torn ont by tie roots.
{ We must leave this museum without
mentioning The hundreds of curiOsities.
/ We 60 into the court yard, stopping d
moment to pluck a leaf from a lime tree
/ which was ia full vigOr 7UJ years ago,
and then we enter another door, descend
another flight of steps, 10 dark dismal
/ dungeons, where no light ever falls eX-
cept through narrow, IrOE-grated VIM
. dows. Here are ladders, with wind
] lasses and pulleys, on which victims
I were stretched till bones snapped, till
/ Joints Ieaped from their sockets, and
/ cords sni teudOus were torn asunder.
/ Here are racks and wheels, Viilories and
/ stacks, whips and mauacies. This was
] the place Of torture. We leave these and
4 creep through u narrow passage, through
doorway after doorway, and reach at
/ last, far under ground, far beneath all
/ sight or sound Of the world, a adarkerdun-
geon. This is the room Of the iron
maiden"
I Here is the statute or lmage-a maiden
with a hood upon her Ae&d, an iron
/ ruflls around the neck euvelOped 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 garment Is set with sharp spikes
! Take one step forward and the folds
3 y =
I body. and into your eye balls, clear
. through 20 the vertebra they penetrate.
. Not a quick embrace, but slowly you are
embodied. one turn of the screw, Just
enough to penetrate the flesh, just
enough 20 touch the apple Of the quiver-
ing eve; then, after an age Of anguish,
another turn and a hundred spikes reach
q little nearer to the nerves; and then
as heat, thirst and fever rack the body,
/ another gentle turn and another age Of
torture; sud then one more advance Of
the spikes towards the vitals till death
! comes on, and the maiden unfolding her
arms, drops her victim through trap
. door, down-dOwn-dOwn into unknown
depths We drop a pebble and hear the
faint splash Of waters far beneath.
Here is a skull. Anatomists say it is
the skull Of a female. You may put
( your fingers into the holes where the
| spikes which entered the eyes come
through! No name, no record. God
only has the bnOk Of remembrance,
We think Ofthis dungeon as connected
with the barbarisM of the middle ages
but we are not removed from those days
Of rigorous administration Of law. Till
Napoleon with his legioBs Of France
came across the Rhine, oyerthrowing all
obstacles, this iron maiden held out her
arms 10 receive offenders against -he
law. On the approach Of the federal
army in 1903, the Virgin as it Is called,
with other instruments Of torture were
thrown into a cart and dispatched in
4 haste out of the town, but fell into the
bands Of the victorious army. Sot til!
then did the world know what sort OF
punishment were meted out to offenders
Of the law.
We are to remember that Nuremberg
was q free city. About thirty patrician
families for a long time mOnopOlized au-
thority, and chose council Of state con-
sistiug of eight persons who formed the
executive. This executive was an ire
sponsible body. The world knew moth
ing of the secret administration Of affairs.
Men disappeared, and no one knew what
became OF them. Another virgin exists
i'm Austris, at NeUstadt. There are
other horrors, enough to curdle the
blood, not Of the Roman iuquisitiOn, but
of German governments. The heart al
most ceases its beating when you look
upon their deviliSh inventions, and
think, that though 1861 years have rolled
away since Christ came to redeem the
world, vet we are only half century
removed from these horrors.
MISSISSIPPI ITEMS.
From the Herald and AfississippidH
we learn that George Chandler aud VIII
liam Fears, who were tried aud con-