Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-11-23

,pecAilA Nolle1l ll1uQeuCe OF Lue AAls 1'lAtAte- I
Horrors Of the Papal PriSOnS--A PO-
litieal Prisoner Gives an Account OF
His Confinement.
FLORENCE, October 10.
The political prisoners at Rome /
have all been set free, and from theiI I
own words We can form an idea OF ,
the semi-eXi>tence that they have led.
The noble patriot with whom 1 had
the honor to converse Yesterday for
two hours was engaged in the troubles |
of 1913, wrote a historical. romance,
that was printed i'm the "RiIOrma,'
aud afterward as a book, much To the
disgust Of the Papal Court He Wa
IN Garibaldi's army and was taken
prisoner as a spy At Rome in October,
1867, since which time he has been in
the ''PrisOn of San Michele"
The delicacy Of his complexion told /
the story that he had been deprived .
of Gods pure sunlight and fresh air |
for many months, and the bOny .
enaciatsd hands told the story of poor
food. His voice was hollow and weak,
and these are some Of the incidents Of
his prison life given to you in his own
words:
For the first four months Of i'm
prisonment 1 was kept in solitary
confinement, but after that was 10
pas several hours a day with Sig. T..
who had been there already sixteen
years a political prisoner. Sometimes
we talked with the guards, but they
would never speak of politics, or tell
us any news. We had some books
given US by the priests, and few OI
Walter ScOtt's novels, with which We
tried to study English. Two or three
I times we managed 70 bribe the keep
I er to let US have a newspaper, but II
ALWAYS cost Us a dollar or two. We
/ asked our guard about the infalllbili
/ tv dogma for we learneda little about
I the outside world from the prisoner
| that arrived from time to time), and
/ the guard told US that the Pope wiz
| soon to be proclaimed son of the NiT-
I gin Mary, and equal with Christ; and
I we expected next TO hear that Chris
had been appointed as the POpe's
/ Vicar in heaven. Nevertheless, among
the common people Pope Plus / As l.
I supposed to have an evil touch, Tor
once he took a little child and kissed
and blessed him, and soon after the
boy was thrown from a carriage and
severely injured; but the guard never
would talk with Us.
"Our f,-Od consisted of a large piece
of brown bread, or a small piece oi
white bread three times a day, and
once a day a soup of rice or vegeta
bles. We had meat twice q year, al
Christmas and at Easter. We had
only water to drink, so that L have
become so unaecustOmed TO wine Ol
!, coffee that / have to be very careful
about drinking them, and have al
most lost my taste for them. We haC
To pay five cents a week for a bed, O
two cents for straw. Otherwise, We
should have had only the floor 10 liz
/, upon. Sometimes we gave some o
! our fellow prisoners money to pay 10
~traw. / suffered seven months witt
fever, and thought my Imprisonment
would end, because / was COmmitte'
for life, but l recovered, after briOin,
the guard to procure me some quiuiue
Even when first entered the prisOl
, did not expect to remain more tnal
five, or eight years, and l observe
that in the eve OF the Roman law
homicide was less a crime than pOllt
cal revolution, for all the murderer
who are convicted at Rome and sen
for life remain six or eight years an
are then released, but the politics
I / prisoners remain for life, like my b'
n loved T, who has just come OF
4 after nineteen years Of confinement.
j. But we always hoped that a revolt
!, ton or an Italian invasion would St
!, Us free. Once l wrote a letter tOsOm
D - l. z
: sole of a shoe, hoping for some Oppol
tunity to send it, but the happy tim
r. never came.
= zone day we learned of war betwee
France and Prussia, and said TO Ou
n selves that if France won We wei
> sure of another lease Of our rooms
: but if she lost there would be som
; haDe Of escape. Finally was avail
: ened early one morning by the repo
/, Of canon. I asked the guard what wa
> going on, he said briefly that the mil
; Iary were practicing. Pretty 500
- I heard a whirr, a boom and screams
. A cannon ball had gone into one
:, the cells, but its occupant was NJ
= there, but said to the guard 81
!, there no black flag up to show tn;
: this building is Z OF tn be fired upon.
\ 'Oh, no." he said, ut makes no di
: ference how much they fire here. -
!. Immediately afterward / heard anOtl
> er whirT and a crash, another aud al
= other until had counted five. Th
! guards were all frightened and SON
a of them ran. Then we guessed I'll
:, truth and my heart leaped with joy 1
!. the sound Of each hall. although
would have been hard to be shot by OJ
4, own boys. Very sOuu the firing stOl
!. ped and / heard cavalry dashing thr
r the streets. Then the guards all tle'
I. but we could only see out of the barre
n windows into the court below. w
remained quiet for several hours. W
: could see nothing and could only he,
troops passing occasionally Late
/ the evening some POntifical sOldieI
: came into the court quite drunk, an
we learned from them what had hal
, / pened. We thought best 10 wait ~
- iii morning, when we felt sure til;
= our troops would come and open Ill
!, cells, and on the following morning
= saw the well known uniforms of OF
> bows. For several days l was so Wea
!. that I could not walk more than
: hundred steps before ] began to re-
"a ike a uEuukEu LllhAllf anu AoA q WV
; my voice was so faint and change
: that POne of my friends knew II Il
nv former deep, strong bass.
- "This is what 1 owe that Roma
= Catholic Church which las brOug
!, it, religion TO the very highest pitc
= of fimmOrulity. l heard in Rome th'
:. when the Pope went to bless the barr
n cades, he went thrO' the usual lOru'
!. l., and then walking SOlemnly up
= Them, looked steadily at them for
I, minute, said, Boom boom = snd ru
= bed his hands for joy at no one kno
! what. We Romans say that it Is
1, great pity that the Pope did not vo
r. at the plebiscite, since his vote wou
N have been the only inialliOle One-'
- But it makes no differenee-Rome
> ours, and our glorious hopes hay
!, been fulfilled.n