Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-06-27
The Horrors Of luxembourg
8 ~ - Castle.

Mr. Coffin writes to the Boston J0uf7'o%
from n luxembourg, Bavaria: Y
"COme with me to this old town, enter
some of these edifices and look upon the
administration of government as 1t was IN
the 10Th and 18th centuries. We enter one
! of the towers of the castle, descend hVe
steps and find ourselves in amuseum, where
are preserved the books of records, giving
us history of the past; and not only DOCKS,
but implements and instruments Whlch
show more clearly than written words Inc
administration of those days, with Whlch
the government of the United States Is now
compared. Here is post four feet hlgn In
the center of the room, with two cuflous
fixtures on the top, having some resem-
blance to gun-loeks. sess,sas... -zss-1-
"What is this? The girl who acts as an
usher raises the hammers which come up
with a click She, touches a spring ana
down they go, with a snap that starties
vou-forced down by strong springs, Win
whack that would have mashed your I'M
gers to Jelly had they been under the
hammer. This is finger crusher, dell
cate little instrument used to extort comics
sions from reluctant witnesses or suspected
criminals Here are bracelets for the wrists,
not of gold or silver, but of iron, and the
,parts which touch thefwrists are studded
with needles. q Put them'on your arm and
turn screw andthey close upon the flesh,
the needles piercing through cords, tendons,
flesh and bones, 1t is one degree more ex-
circulating 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
pulleys to draw your head at the same time
to the ceiling. Here is bench of solid
oak, with a corrugated surface, upon which
many men have been laid, held down by
cords, to undergo the kneading process, and
that rolling pin, 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 in
struments of torture here, or to set forth
their uses. Wecan only look at the cradle
Ia huge trough of oak on rockers-the
bottom and sides thickly 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-al-
ways against pins--till the flesh becomes
livid. jelly. Here is 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. 1t is of iron, but to all appearance
harmless thing. But just take it for a
moment into your mouth, and let me give
a gentle pull at the string attached to the
stem of the pear, and it will be no longer
a pear but full blown hlly-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
delicate 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 twitch of the string and
the tongue is torn out by the roots.
e"We must leave this museum without
mentioning the hundreds of curiosities
We go into the court yard, stopping a mo-
ment to pluck leaf from lime tree which
was in full vigor 700 years ago. and then
we enter another door, descend longer
flight of steps, to dark, dismal dun, ICONS,
where no light ever falls except through
narrow; iron grated windows Here are
ladders with windlasses and pulleys, on
which victims were stretched till bones
snapped, till joints leaped from their sock
cts, and cords and tendOns'w were torn asun-
der Here are racks and wheels, pillories
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 at last,
far under ground, far beneath all sight or
sound of the world, a darker dungeon,
This is the room Of the Iron MaSden. 1873
=" Here is the statue or image--a maiden
with hood upon her head, an iron ruff1e
around her 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
eye-bslls, clear through the yertebra they
penetrate. Nota quick embrace, but slow
lyyou are embodied, one turn of The screw,
Just enough to penetrate the flesh, just
enough to touch the apple of the quivering
eye; then, after an age of anguish, another
turn and hundred spikes reach little
nearer to the nerves; and then as heat, a
thirst and fever rack the body, another
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, downtown
down into unknown depths! We drop
pebble and hear the faint splash of waters
far beneath F.,
s" Here is skull. Anatomists say it is
the skull of female You may put your
fingers into the holes where the, spikes
which entered the eyes come through! No
name, on record God only has the book
of remembrance. 4s @a,. eas a.
" We think of this dungeon as connected
with the barbarism of the middle ages, but
we are not removed from those days of
rigorous administration of law. Till Ma
poleon with his legions of France came
across the Rhine, overthrowing all obsta-
Giles, this iron maiden held out her arms to
receive offenders against the law. On the
approach of the French army in 1908, the
Virgin, as it is called, with other instru-
ments OF torture, were thrown into a cart,
and dispatched in haste out of the town,
but fell into. the hands of the victorious
army Not till then did the world know
what sort of puplshments were melted out
to offenders of the law. ~ i]# t
80 We are to remember that luxembourg
was free city. About thirty patrician
families for long time monopolized au-
thority, and chose council of state con-
slsting of eight persons who formed the
executive. This executive was an irrespon-
slble body. The world knew nothing of
their secret administration of affairs Men
disappeared, and no one knew what became