The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-02-14

II.
-AFFBcriNG STATEMENT OF TORTURED
GTRI-rHE ToRstENToRs BROUGHT To JUs-
TIcE-
Recent disclosures concerning the
management of the North German
Criminal Prison at Butzow show that
the unfortunate prisoners have been
treated with almost appalling barbarity
by the warden, Louis Bassewitz, and
his mistress, Louisa Rasch, the matron
of the female department. Not only
have men been flOgged there and sub
jectedn to all sorts of other tortures
worthy of the fiendish ingenuity of an
Apache chief, but delicate women have
been whipped upon the most futile pre-
texts. Such was the terror which the
threats of BassewitZ and Nine. Rasch
struck into the hearts of the poor vic
Tins that few or none Of them ventured
to prefer complaints against their in
human tOrmentors, and but for the
courage of a spirited french girl, who
was sent to ButZow at the instance of
her Jealous mistress on the charge of
having stolen valuable shawl, to this
day the horrors of the North German
bastile might have remained unknown.
The revelations Alice Bernard, the
French girl, made after her release from
confinement led to an official investiga-
tion. She showed the investigating
official the indelible marks of numerous
flOggings which she had received from
BassewitZ, who had sometimes admin
istered to her forty blows on the bare
back with q rattan half an inch thick.
Painful as these flOggings must have
been, Alice Bernard SAID that the suffer-
ing caused thereby was slight in COM
parisOn with the exquisite torture of the
rod with which Madame Rasch had fire.
quently belabored her bare limbs upon
the most insignificant violations of the
rigid prison discipline. The rod itself
was nearly four pounds in weight, and
consisted of innumerable small birch
twigs, held together by an iron band.
Nine. Rasch. ~ pOwHrfIJl' woman, had
oflen given her female victims fifty
strokes with this terrible rod, and when
the indescribable pain, rs the latter
descended on her bare hips, irresistibly
wrested agonizing screams from her,
the severity of the punishment was in
creased by the harridan, who seemed to
be infuriated by the cries of the helpless
sufferers.
"Had ! not,n exclaimed Alice, "been
upheld by the sense of my innocence and
the stern desire TO avenge my wrongs by
bringing to justice that man and
matron, / would have dashed my brains
out after being four or five hours within
the walls Of the prison. Twas sent here
for one year on a charge of larceny,
which has since been proved to be en-
tirely without foundation. After my
arrival here, / was Immediately turned
over TO Nine. Rasch, who pushed me
into small, dark room, in the middle
of which stood curiously-shaped
wooden armchair. She rudely pressed
me into it, and, with leather straps,
fastened my arms and legs to it. i was
so frightened that my heart beat audi
bly,. She then pulled my hair down,
and did il so carelessly that she hurt
me. / uttered a faint cry, whereupon
she struck me in the face. | may have
struggled bit TO free my hands; this
seemed TO enrage the matron greatly.
She almost hIssed out, wait, you
hussy, you shall catch it for this She
then quietly cut of my hair, until my
head was almost bald. / could not help
crying. She then ordered me to strip OIL
my clothes, and when | had done so, she
suddenly pushed me toward a door COW
cred with n linen curtain. 1t was the
water, hurting myself severely against
the wooded steps. The matron then
pulled me out Of the bath and rubbed
me Off with a coarse hempen towel.
Without saving a word, she pushed me
to the wall, and fastened my hands and
my feet in two iron rings in the wall
and floor. / was petrified with terror,
not knowing what new horror was in
store for me. j was shivering with
cold, my skin having been but partially
dried. Mrs. Rasch went into an adJoin-
ing room and returned with that rod.
Before / had recovered from the fear
with which that terrible instrument
filled me, the matron began beating me
with it on the back and the hips. .,
never experienced such dreadful pain in
my life, and | broke into loud cries of
despair But she did not desist. My
agony seemed to lend additional strength
TO her arms, and tainted away, unable
to bear the torture. How long she beat
me after | fell into q swoon | cannot
tell. When / awoke / was dripping
wet. The matron had thrown q pail of
cold water over me. / was almost de-
lirious when she began to rub my
smarting skin anew with the coarse
towel, and cried again, but the fierce
threat of further birching silenced my
voice. The matron said that, having
shown so obstreperous spirit, she
would lock me up for twenty-four hours
i'm dark CELL After had put on the
prison garb, she hustled me into an alb
solutely dark hole, where l sank down
i'm utter exhaustion on wet and moldy
straw. Next morning Nine. Rasch
brought me tin cup of water and slice
of stale brown bread. Twas so sick that
I was unable to eat. j could hardly
stir. In the evening | was taken TO my
REGULAR cell. and fell into fever. | tried
to tell the doctor how / had been
treated. He ordered me to shut my
mouth, and said that in case l should
manifest still further a refractory spirit
l would be disciplined again.
"Altogether / was seven months in
the prison, and during that time re-
ceived the rod eighteen times. / was q
Drev to such despair that / often begged
the matron on my bended knees not to
torture me any more, as / was not strong
enough to bear so much punishment.
Rut she birched me only the more fire.
ouentlv. One day, in my misery, be-
5ran TO cry and sob, when Bassewitz
whipped me cruelty with a rattan. |
told the doctor this, and he remon-
strated with the warden, whereupon
Bassewitz repeated the inflietion.
Many other women were treated with
equal barbarity. Every morning L
heard with q shudder, the screams of
the girls as they were birched."
The poor girl who had suffered all
these atrocities was native of Toulouse,
and had been a governess before she was
sent TO prison. Her revelations have
caused the government to order the
arrest Of the guilty parties, and there is
reason to believe that they will speedily
get their deserts.