Weekly Trinity journal., 1867-08-03
NUMBER 80.
The Horrors of Nuremberg Castle.


Nuremberg, Bavaria:
Come with me to this old town, enter some of
these edi6ces and look upon the administration
of government rs it was in the 10th and nth
centuries. We enter one of the towers of the
castle, descend five steps, and find ourselves in
n museum, where preserved the books of
records, giving us history of the past; 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 COM
pared Here is pest four feet high in the CEN
ter of the room, with two curious fixtures on the
top, having some resemblance to gun-lScks.
What is this? The girl who acts as our usher
raises the hammers, which come up with click.
She touches n spring and down they go, with a
snap that starties you--forced down by strong
springs, with Il whack that would have mashed
your fingers to q jelly had they been under the
hammer This is finger crusher, n delicate
little instrument used to extolt confessions from
reluctant witnesses or suspected criminals. Here
are bracelets for the wrists, not of gold or sill
yer, but of iron, and the parts which touch the
wrists are set with needles. Put them on your
arms and turn screw aud they close upon the
| flesh, the needles piercing through cords, ten
dons, flesh and bones. 1t is one degree more
excuricating than crushing the fingers.
| Here is a lead-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 arc chains and weights, locks ard keys,
/ handouts and claps for the ankles, stocks for
the feet, weights to hold your feet to the floor,
and pulleys to draw your head 1T the same tine
to the ceiling Here is Il bench OF solid oak,
with corrugated surface, upon which many
men have been laid, held down by cords, TO un-
! dergo the kneading process, and that rolling pin,
knotty and knobby, also OF oak, which lies upon
the table, has been rolled bacliva ard and forward
over the naked forms of men and women, knead-
ing live lesh to bloody dough
Time and space would fail me were to emu
incrate the instruments Of torture here, or to set
forth their uses. We car only look at the cradle
"a huge trough Of oak on rockers-thc bottom
and sides thickly set with pins, in which many
victims have been rocked TO death. Thia'i OF
lying bed of o&ken pins, rolling TO the right,
to the lelt-always against pius-tii the flesh
becomes lyid jelly. Here is string Of oalsen
beads, each bead sixteen sided, about as large IS
hickory nuts. This was for saving of legs and
arms.
Here is an instrument shaped like a pear. 1t
! is OF iron, but 70 all appearance 4 harmless
thing. But just take it for a moment into your
mouth, and let me give gentle pu. AT the string
attached to the stem OF the pear, and it will be
no longer pear but full-blown lilly-an iron
/ lily unfolding It's leaves so suddenly and violent
/ ~ that your jaws forced open till the joints
crack in the sockets, while the delicate petals
! become pincers, which grasp your tongue. No
outcry now. No utterauce Of words. No scream
ing to raise the neighborhood Means and sighs
only from the sufferer One twitch of the string
and the tongue is torn out by tle roots.
We must leave this museum without mention
ing the hundreds Of cuTiosites. We go INTO the
court yard, stopping 4 moment to pluck 4 leaf
from lime tree which was in full vigor seven
hundred gears ago, and then VIC enter another
door, descend longer fight Of steps, to dark,
dismal dungeons, whore no light ever falls except
through narrow, iron-grated windows. Here
ladders, with windlasses and pulleys, on whcn
victims were stretched till bones suapped till
joints leaped from their sockets, and cords and
/ tendou3 were torn asunder. Here racks and
wheels, pllories and stocks, whips and manacles.
This was the place OF torture. We leave these
and creep through narrow passage, through
doorway after doorway, and reach ut last far un-
! derground, far beneath all sight or sound of the
world, darker dungeon. This is the room of
the Iron -iaidea.
Here is the statue or imagc-a maiden with
hood upon her head, an iron ruliie around the
neck, enveloped in an iron cloak. Suddenly the
folds of the cloak arc thrown apart, and by the
din light Of Tie candle goa see that the lining
of the garment is set with sharp spikes. Take
one step forward and the folds enclose you.
Iron spikes pierce your body, and into your eye
balls, clear through TO the ycrteJra they pene-
trate. Not quick embrace, but slowly YOU are
enfolded, one turn Of the screw Just enough TO
penetrate Tie flesh, just enough to touch the ap-
pie of the qnivering eye; then, after an age Of
anguish another turn and a hundred spikes reach
a little nearer to the nerr2s and thcn heat,
thirst and fever rack the body, another gentle
turn and another age Of torture; and then ono
more advance of the spikes toward the yitais till
death comes on, and the maiden unfolding her
arms, drops her victim through a trap-door,
! down-down-down into unknown depths We
drop pebble and hear the faint splash Of waters
far beneath.
! Here is a skull. Anat0mists sayt is the skull
of female. You may put your fingers into the
holes where the spikes which entered the eyes
comes through No name on record. God only
has the book Of remembrance.
We think of this dungeon as connected with
! the barbarism Of the middle agcs ; but we ere
rot removed from those days of rigorous admin
stration CT law Till Napoleon with his legions
Of France came across the Rhine, overihrowing
all obstacles. this iron maiden held out her arms
! TO receive offenders against tie law On the ap
proach Of the French army in 1903, the Virgin as
it is called, with other instruments Of torture,
were thrown into cart, and dispatched in hagte
! out of the town, but fell into the hands of the
victorious army. Not till then did the world
know what sort OF punishment were metcd out
! to offenders OF the Law.
! We are to remember that Nuremberg vas
free city. About thirty ratrcan families for a
! long time monopolized outhority, and choose
Council of State consisting Of eight persons who
formed the Executive. This Executive was an
lrres sponsible oody. The World knew nothing of
their secret administration of affairs. sIcn dis
appeared and know what became of
them. Another Virgin exists in Austria at Men,
stadt. There are other horrors, enough TO cur
die the blood, not Of the Roman Iaquisition, but
Of German Government. The heart almost
ceases its beating when you look upon their dew
iiish inventions and think that though 1857
years have rolled away since Christ came to re-
deem the world, yet arc only half a century
removed from these horrors
THE editor Of the Gardiner CMe.) Journa, is