Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1869-07-08
Ghastly Revelations.
More Relics Of the Spanish Inquisilon Unearthed
--latest Particulars Of the Discovery.

The London Star has the following
from Madrid:
A somewhat CHASTITY Incident has
caused considerable excitement here
within the last few weeks. Within a
tew hundred yards of the new Plaza
de Los Mayo, inaugurated on the I'd
Of this month, there is locality called
the Cruz del Quemadero. 1t is field
some three hundred metres square, at
the top of the Gale Aricha de San
Bernardo, near the hospital built by
the ex-Qucen. Through 1t new road
was lately opened, and as the ground
was elevated, cutting of considerable
depth had to be dug. The workmen
laid bare several peculiar looking hor-
izontal strata, Of irregular formation.
One was one hundred and fifty feet in
length, another fifty, another ten
The thickness varied from eight to
eighty centimetres. In color the soil
was black, tho lower strata being much
blacker than the superior ones.
On aexmination Jumps Of charred
wood were found, interspersed with
ashes, evidently the remains Of some
huge fire. Curiosity was soon excited,
and further investigation demonstrated
that in portions of these ugly-looking
strata, the finger came upon small
pieces of adipose matter, which yield
ed, like butter, to the touch. Iron
rings were grubbed up; human bones,
a Uranium, long tutt OF hair, having
belonged to some female. All these
were more or less charred. Some of
the iron was partially fused, and the
texture of bone intermingled with sand
was plainly discernable. A gag, too,
turned up. The question, what were
these lugubrious records, was answered
at once. This field of the Cruz del
Quemadero was the place where the
Inquisitlon disposed of some of its vic
TINS. Here were the CHASTITY proofs
OF the horrors Of which this place had
been the scene, suddenly brought to
light after the lapse of two centuries.
On the 18th of May, 1859, eightythree
heretics, including twenty Hebrews,
Of whom five were women, were inn
molated on this very spot. The pile
of wood was eighty feet in length by
seven feet in height. A great con-
course witnessed the auto da fe, and the
horrible ceremonial completed, the
people buried the remains Of their vic
Tins under cart t-loads of earth. These
irregular geological strata are naught
else but the silent testimony to the
atrocities perpetrated on this spot in
the namc of religion and Catholic
Unity" Out of one your special cor
respondent hooked with his finger one
entire bone of a human vertebral col
umn, a portion of the tlbia, fragment
OF shoulder blade with hole through
it, and bit Of rib, all bearing the
marks of fire. Upward of two cart
loads of remains of this sort have been
carried away and decently buried
But these horrible strata. There they
remain to tell their own tale and IN
struct the present generation. On the
18th public meeting was convened
to be held at the Quemadera, by the
Republican youth of Madrid, to pro-
test against priestly intolerance and to
advocate freedom of conscience. That
this discovery should have been mace
at moment when the Spanish clergy
are striving their utmost to affirm the
'unity Of the Roman Catholic Church, !"
and are preaching in the churches Of
the metropolis against heresy, is q
striking coincidence,
The Quemadero is 50 frequentcd by
people in search of relics, and the ex-
plorations OF these strata have been so
extensive that the authorities have
barred the frontage off, and prohibited
access. 1t is their intention to cut a
square block, and there erect a monu-
ment. 1t is estimated by Lloriente,
the great historian of the Inqulsition,
that this atrocious tribunal has de-
prived Spain OF twelve million souls,
including the Jews and Moors expelled
from the country. Thirty-one thous
and and ninety-two perished by fire;
II, $50 were first butchered and then
burned; 221 1856 died of torture. To
tai, 270,736.
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