The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-07

tbicklv studded with blunt spikes. A stout
strap confined the body, and others
fastened the arms along the sides of
the machine; weights were suspended from
the legs and laid in the lap, and a roller with
three sharp edges was rubbed up and down
the arms. Sundry other things are ingeni-
ously contrived to confne the head and
shoulders and to weigh down the muscles.
Further on, in another room, is cradle
thickly studded ON the inside with blunt
spikes In this the victim was fastened
naked and rocked it was especially for women,
and my guide remembered the last person 80
punished Then we come to the rack
board on which the body was strapped and
cords connecting with windlass at one end,
by which the limbs were stretched; and the
'ladder, the rounds made of sharp-edged
rollers, with ropes through puleys in the roof
Of the upper end, so that the body could be
pulled up and down over the rollers, weights
being added to increase tho pressure. Then
our guide led us off through a passage
at right angles to these dungeons;
then turning sharply to the left and
again to the right, introduced us
to the execution room. 1t is small
room, hewed in the solid rock, with no outlet
but the zigzag passage by which we reached
il, and which was closed by six heavy doors.
We should he in total darkness but for our
guides candle, and those she has left at each
turning as we came in. Hope could not fol-
low victim here The executioners chair
and sword standing in corner of this room
were last used in 1929. Near the opposite
corner stands the 'Eisener Jungfrau,' the
iron maiden. Outwardly it is the figure of
woman darllly clothed in the old costume,
with many ruifs or collars. The figure is hol-
low and lined with sheet-iron. Two doors
opening in front the whole length of the
woman reveal all the mystery, but our guide
IL -in &c - thpf nf
her recollection:- -''They stood the man up in
there with his hands tied behind him; you
see here, in these doors, the spikes Chick,
sharp mons four inches long); there are
twenty-three Of them-one for each eye, and
they all come above here COUGHING her belt),
''and see here where the back of the head
came all the iron is broken off, and there Is
hair there now" She closed the doors
slowly that we might see the points where
the spikes would stick, and stepping back,
lifted q long jack-screw, one end of
which was secured to the wall and the other
made to fit the curve of the figure. ''See
here, how they made the doors shut. This
little handle pushes out the screw further and
further, and the doors must come together"
Then she swung the doors open again, and,
stopping, drew an iron bolt, and the floor
opened under the 'Jungfrau" ''Look here
Ohrusting her candle down the abyss), 'you
below and now it is all mud but there was
canal there, and under here was machine
with knives that cut the man into little bits
and they dropped into the canal-that was
all" Quietly the woman closes the trap,
placing her candle on the floor adjusts the
doors Of the 'Jungfrau," and darts off to the
dark corner where the executioners tools
stand, returning With something in her hand,
and, picking upon the candle, says:-"See
here, this skull was picked up in the mud
down there in the can&l-you see where the
two spikes went into the eyes" 1t is
a brown-stained human skull, the bone about
each eye-hole roughly broken In this room
there is a well-worn box made of wood, with
four holes on the same line about half a foot
above the bottom. The culprt lay in the box,
his feet and hands thrust through the holes
The distance between the two holes furthest
apart is three feet The woman called this
box something Spanish, and said she sup
posed that the things so called came from
q. G., were first used by) the Inquisition. My
guide regretted that her collection was not
SO complete as she could wish-many things
had been carried away for safety when the
French took the city, and some had not been
restored-and she referred me to an ancient
book lying on the rack, whichappeared to be an
illustrated catalogue of torture tools. The cuts
represented the mode of securing the victims
and operating the implements, while the text
contained serviceable explanations and advice
One Of the illustrations represented the figure
of an OK being roasted whole; pretty device
The form of the OK was to be made of iron,
not too thick and the head of a man pro-
truding through hole in the animals back,
the expression of the countenance indicating
clearly enough where the body was, explained
the whole thing. All these Instruments are
IN tirst-rate order, and the larger ones are in
in, ,t,l,i Ilo,,
were last used. In these days, when the cate
chisms and primers of history are being torn
to pieces, andwe are taught even that Colum-
bus did not invent the egg trick, it is, per-
haps, as well not to see such things, for
having seen them, no amount of historical
reconstruction can make us believe they were
not used.