Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-02-03
THE STEEL MAIDEN.
Instruments of Torture to be Seen I'm an Old
Ge1,91l0I TiI[UDP

Instruments of Torture to be Seen iSl an Old
German Village.
In town in Nuremberg is room where
there are preserved number of very
curious instruments of torture used in NJ
remberg hundreds of years ago, before
the days of jails and penitentiaries.
There are thumb-screws of the most
approved patterns, and helmets for gossip
ing men and women. A singularly cheer
full piece of furniture is large, heavy
wheel, on one side of which stands out a
large. sharp piece of iron. In the glorious
DAYS of old an offender who had to be
punished with the wheel was stripped
naked and firmly bound to plank, face
wheel was heated hot, and the wheel was
rolled up and down and across the victims
back till Justice was satisfied or the vic
tim was dead. Inasmuch as the spike was
long enough TO go half way through the
mans body, and was always heated red
hot, the victim generally died, and justice
was entirely satisfied. 1t was not as ex-
peditous as the guillotine, but il was JUS
as certain. The only man who ever sur
vived it was adjuged magician because
he survived it, and was promptly beheaded
because he survived it. That settled him.
He didn't bother Nuremberg any longer.
There are also displayed switches made
of fine threads of steel, which were laid on
the back with great effect. A little OF
these things goes a great way, but on be-
ing told that IN the adjoining tower IS the
steel maiden you get over your qualInish-
ness. Your party is taken in charge by q
guide, who shows you large assortment
of horrors before you come to thl chief one,
as sort of preparation. Thersare stocks
Of all kinds, gags for tatlers, handcuffs,
aukLets, aud cradle, the bed of which is filed
with spikes, in which old offenders were
trut hfully rocked to sleep-a sleep from
which there was no awakening. There are
long tables with screws at top and bottom,
to which men were strapped by the hands
and feet. the screws being turned until the
unfortunate man was torn apart. In those
cheerful days, when a merchant, baker, or
butcher was found selling his goods by
false weight or measure, he was placed in
a cage and carried all through the city,
with his name and trade conspicuously IN
front. After making the garnd tour, he
was taken, cage and all, to the river, and
ducked again and again, till it was thought
that his lesson was sufficient to prevent
repetition. Perhaps some such form
might be advantageous in these days.
Wife heaters in those times were severe
ly punished. They were furnished with
close fitting helmets from which heavy
weights were suspended. They were given
a conspicuous place in the public square,
appropriately labeled, and placed in stocks
with heavy weights attached to their arms
and feet; and there they sit the livelong
day, subjected to the jeers and rld1cule OF
the town. Scolding wives were put IN
cages, with gags in their mouths, and ex-
posed on the public square. You are
shown all kinds of beheading blocks and
gallows, upon which noted villains haye
gone to their reward, while the walls are
covered from top to bottom with the pic
lures of the practical operations of the
various instruments that filed the room.
All this preparatory to the steel maiden"
which is kept in room above, precisely
as she was in the days OF her usefulness.
You are shown what appears at first sight
to be rude statue of woman clum5ily
hewn out of wood. The guide noiselessly
opened it, one door swinging to the right
and the other to the left. The statue was
hollow and just the size of the average man.
Inside were straps by which the offender
was bound so that he could not move a
single muscle. Both the doors we're lined
with long, sharp steel spikes, strong and
thick. When the victim was firmly secured,
the door on the left was slowlyly but firm
ly shut, and the long spikes went INFO his
body, two being SO arranged as to pierce
his eyes. Then the door on the right was
closed in a similar manner, aud he would
receive another complement of spikes, the
closing of the door being done very slowly,
that the torture of the man in the embrace
of the maiden might be prolonged as long
as possible. The very last spike pierced