Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1870-07-05
Terrors of the BaStile.

if you have heard about the Bastile, |
you will be glad that nowhere on the
broad earth can the building be found
to-day. Eighty-one years ago, it was
destroyed by the people of Paris and
its horrors laid open to the sunlight.
1t had then been standing nearly four
hundred years, though it had been en-
larged by frequent additions in the
mean time. The Ba5tile was cita-
del or fortress erected to defend the
principal gate Of Paris, and the pal
ace of Charles the Fifth. 1t alter
wards became a prison where Grim
inals of rank were confined, as well
as innocent persons who were merely
suspected of being enemies of the
State. Strange to say, the very arch
itect who planned the building, and
who eXerted all his powers to make
it the strongest fortress of his country,
was the first State prisoner received
into its horrible vaults. For years he
lay in a damp dungeon, where the
sunlight never entered; but he escap-
ed at last during public insurrection,
when the Bastile was forced open by
the people. There were eight towers
to the building. They were 100 feet
high, and had very heavy double
iron doors. The walls were twelve
feet thick at the top, and nearly forty
feet thick at the base. All the tow
ers contained cells, and the windows
Of these were merely Slits near the top,
opening through the solid masonry,
and guarded by three heavy iron
gratings. There were five different
kinds Of cells, but the dungeons in the
vaults under the towers were the most
dreadful of all. They were dark,
and swarmed with toads, spiders, and
great hungry rats.
The floor, mass of slime and mud,
sent up the most distressing odors; a
rough iron bed, fastened to the wall
and covered with a few planks, was
the only furniture; and the entrance
was by two iron doors, each with
three heavy locks and three outside
bolts. The other cells were not much
better; some were eight sided or octa-
gon in shape; some were small, and
so arched that the prisoner could
stand only in the middle some had
floors that were rounded in all direc-
tionS toward the centre; and all were
wretched and gloomy, suffocating in
summer and cold in winter.
4 The Governor of the Bastile had
full control over its management
Under him we're a major, an assistant
major, lieutenant, and two hundred
soldiers, whose muskets were always
kept loaded. The iailors and turn
keys, the toughest and most barbar-
Gus set of men that could be found,
were tools in the hands of their su-
1 periors. They cleaned the rooms,
brought the prisoners their food, at
tended them in sickness, were spies
Of the Governor, and carried out his
wishes. Each wore a huge bunch of
keys in his girdle. Each cell had five
keys.
A prisoner would generally arrive
at the Bastile in a coach, surrounded
by Dragons. Then they would lead
him into a room to be searched, and
take from him every loose article he
carried,-rings, papers, knives, or
whatever they might be-before con-
Quoting him to his cell. Three or
four heavy doors are opened, he push
ed in, the doors shut behind him, and
the prisoner is buried in his dungeon,
perhaps forever. Ifhe should be tor
tured or put to death there, no human
being outside the prison would ever
know his fate.
AT first the prisoners were suffered
to have neither books nor writing
materials, but afterwards these were
allowed them. There were two meals
a day of the most wretched kind, yet
even for these the prisoners were
charged high prices. Woe to the poor
wretch who made any complaint He
would have to suffer heavy punishment
for the offence, and perhaps even to
be cut off from his few minutes daily
walk in the courts and passages of
!, the Bastile. These walks were al
ways closely watched, and the guard
had orders to fire at once on any one
who were seen making the faintest
effort to escape.
, One day mysterious prisoner ap-
, peared whose name was kept a pro-
found secret. To this day it has never
been known who he was or why he
/ was put there. No man, except the
Governor, so far as is known, ever
saw his face or heard his voice. He
always wore mask of black velvet,
fastened at the back of the head with
steel springs. No one waited upon
him but the Governor, who attended