Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-06-15

Broom the coInhIII Masallas ]

From the Cofnhili Magazine
The medieval penal code eschewed
monotony Just as carefully as weakness
It's capital and other corporal punlsh-
ments might be rather more frequent
than modern prejudices approve OF. but
excellent care was taken to diyest them
of tedious uniformity. Mr.. Justice
Tresilyan, the very worthy predecessor
Of Jeffeeys, was quite an artist 10 TINS
species of deadly variety, as the followers
OF John Bull and WatTyier experienced,
some Of whom he hanged four times over
before he allowed them to die But
clever AZ our English adopts were-and
some Of them we're exceedingly so-we
must admit that they competed but
noorlv with their continental rivals, with
whom. in the good old time. death was,
beyond all question, the verisable king
az terrors." Thanks 10 our novelists,
the reading public is pretty well ac-
ouainted with the commoner appliances
OF torture; and We are, therefore, not
under the necessity Of enlarging
upon such fascinating items as the
rack, the wheel, the thumbscrew and
the boot. But these we're only the every
day forms OF punishment There were
always individuals, princes and politi-
clans, especially ofthe Byzantine empire,
who rose superior to such vulgar usages,
and with whom killing by inches was
not d zasra figure Of speech, but a dread
reality. Indeed, some Of their detestable
inventions of cruelty have obtained as
wide celebrity as the bull Of Phaloris.
There was the chambre crucer-a
heavy chest short shallow and lined with
stones--iu which the sufferer was packed,
and the lid. heavily weighted, shut down
on him. There were the bernicles,"
consisting Of q mattress, on which the
victim was fastened by the neck with
bullocks sinews to keep him from NOV
ing, while his legs were passed through a
kind of stocks, and crushed between two
great logs Of wood, on the uppermost of |
which man was seated; the process
being repeated on the third day, which,
as the old chronicler tells us, 'is the cru
elest thing that ever was heard OF
There were the iron cages Of Louis XII,
in which some of his victims spent years, !
and which we're so maliciously contrived
that every position-standing, sitting or
lying-was equally uncomfortable. The
master contrivance of all these delicate
inventions for producing excruciating |
agony we're the " baiser de la VERGE" of
Baden Baden, aud the iron coffin" of |
LISA. In the former the prisoner, blind.
fold and fastened in chair, was lowered |
by MINDLESS through well-like shaft,
reaching from the top OF the castle deep |
down into the heart Of the rock on which |
it stands, so deep--for the shaft still
exists-that the visitor passing beneath |
can barely discern the glimmering day |
light at the top. Here he was immured
in q dungeon hewn out of the living |
stone, and fitted with door of the same |
material foot thick, so artfully con
structed that it was not to Le distin-
guished from the adjoining wall. In this
miserable cell, surrounded by darkness
that might be felt-silent, helpless,
hopelers, Ike toad in the centre
of its block The remained until
the hour Of trial. re was then
brought before his judges, who awaited
him, masked and solemn, in large ex-
cavation, called the Hall of Judgment. |
From there be was conducted to the tor-
ture chamber den amply supplied with
all the necessary implements-and sub
ject to amenities according to the discre-
tion of his judges. This over, the cap
tive was sped through the last act of the
He was unbuckled from his
iron bed and directed to kiss bronze
statue of the Virgin, that stood at the
end Of the passage leading from the
chamber, as the seal of whatever declara-
ton had been wrung from his agony.
YEARLY he dragged himself along, with
tottering limbs and failing strength,
until, as be raised his lips to the mild
face Of the Madonna, a trap door gave
way beneath his tread, and precipitated
him fathoms down upon series Of deli
cately poised wheels
"All horrent with projecting spears /"
which his fall set in rapid motion. Nor
do we exaggerate in the least; for the
fragments of the murderous machinery,
stuck thickly over with bits of bone and
pieces of dress, still remain at the bottom
of the fearful oublistte. More awful still
was the punishment of the iron coffin,
wherein the prisoner saw his dungeon
round him day by day, and
hour by hour, the side creeping mp and
the roof creeping dewn-slowly, steadily,
silently, passionless as fate, and as re-
the dread machinery, main
tanning the calm monotony of its march
through the lingering days and nights Of
horror, until the fnal collapse crushed
him.