The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-09-16

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nerveinthe body were barred and torn
simultaneously the pain could mot be
greater. Moments become hours, aud
hours becomsages of suffering Imagine
these tortures prolonged through fifteen
years of time, every year drngging out
Ikea century, and yon can picture to
yonrself fswhat hislife uas. Opiatesa : or
course, opiates were sdminisItered, but
what Of the moments when the influence
had Waned. and when, rushing; upon him
like wolves of torture made srasenGns BY
hunger. the pains broke through the veil Of
{ insansib iaity and tugged at his frame with
teeth of cruelty? The very immunity
which opium gave added another horror
when il mas withdrawn He was kept
under its influence as much as possible.
IN nine years he had lost every power of
Muscular effort, and sat in his chair q
living corpse only to be. moved to- his
the spark Of life still glowing. The time
shortly cameNhen he no longer lay in
his bed; ;abut; hing in bis invalid chair,
became the e1tA Aroned embodiment of 8
|. .soul too miserable for: life, too. sacred, To-
sbe freed BY hes hands. IF there were
4 5inthe Sphinx Of Egypt and immortal soul
and q human intelligence, can You fancy
sits torture;f Day safer ra-daY looking
] upon e same hot waste centuries; /; day.
afterl IN with a fixed gazing npon.a mol
ten horror Of the sun and not blind year
haffer pitiless year smothered In an awful
silence which makes every pain 80 ex-.
!squisite that it almost becomes andible.
} and a living prosecutor. So he sat year
safterayear, with his mucles fixed in iron,
Ibis eyes looking upon a.world rs. dreary
IDS misery scould paintit; his voice sink
ing in his throat, only to beeIpelled BY
hunted nature in wild and piteous cries
when the pain racked into hopeless
scowardice the strong heart that had
Il led his men up to- the dreadful cav,
I erns of cannons' mouths without.a finch.
But there came q time when the restless
I, days and nights of active torture became
no him as delightful reminisence. The
time came slowly and like eternity. If
you were to con6ne man and let one
drop of water fall on his head every FIVE
minutes, it would kill him. But before,
death would come years Of suspense that
would move hkethec change offxed stars.
!ghere would come that awful suspense of
Time when the pitiless drop would fall like
Ehe crash of q universe upon the doomed
head. The time came when the very life
atood still and the soul was imprisoned
in a mausoleum. Fixed and rigid, the
poor boy wasa sphinx, endowed with life
end deprived of movement. Every joint
in his body became ossi6ed by the chalky
deposits, and not even movement that
provoked deathless agony became posi-
ble.. Even the joint of his neck became
rigid, the fingers stiff, and the limbs pet
rsfied. He was stone frame, with q
covering of flesh and the soul of Q living
sraan. The muscles of the eye e7en failed,
aad the lids falling upon the weary balls,
shut in. forever the darkness that was
about him like the gloom of the grave.
Then came, with the same step of. meas
ured eternity, Of ossi6cation Of the joint
sof the jaws, and he was fed between the
rigid teeth. How slowly death moved
csnnot be- described, but when the inaam.
nation had seized his heart in that last
prolonged spasm, nature no longer could
give warning of its agency. What tor
lures took place under the drawn curtain
of that human mystery can no more be
told than the secrets of those horrors in the
lowest dungeons of the Inquisition.
Death came, but it was like the fadingof
tbs mist-line into the clouds, and as we
stood about that chair no one dared to
utter his. thought-no one could tell
whether the soul still lurked in the pris.
OF, or whether death was life, or life was
death.
ssWhen he was buried his fixed limbs
were broken with hammers, in order that
he might be placed in coffin"