The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-10-17
Dungeon Life.

There is or was lately (1S71) Polish
lady, the Countess of K, living in
Paris. She wears a very singular
brooch. 1t is encircled by twenty
precious stones, On a ground of dark
blue enamel, covered in the center by
glass. And what does this brooch con-
tain? A portrait or lock of hair?
No. only four common pins bent to-
gether in the form of q start And she
wears this in memory of her husband,
Polish nobleman, who was put into
prison because he was thought to be
a secret enemy to the Government. It
was a dark, deep dungeon, far down
under the ground. He had no one to
speak to, for no one was allowed to see
him but the keeper of the prison, and
he, of course, was not permitted to con-
verse with his prisoner. Days, weeks,
months passed on, and he was still left
in his dungeon. He was most miserable,
and feared that he should lose his senses.
for his reason seemed to be giving way.
Oh! if he had only some hope-some
one thing to relieve his misery. Feeling
all over his coat ono day he found four
pins, and he actually wept for joy; yet
what could four pins be to him? He
took them from his coat and threw them
down on the floor of his dungeon, and
then he went down on his hands and
knees and felt all over the floor till he
found them again. When he had sue
ceeded in this he scattered them again
ON the floor. and could you have gone
into his dungeon you would have found
him cropping on his hands and knees
for his four pins. When, after six
years Imprisonment, he was set free,
they still found him cropping in the dark
for his four pins. 1t was all his work.
Nor would he leave his prison without
taking his pins with him. They were
his best friends, because they had given
him something to do in his solitude and
confinement, and his Countess had made
them into a brooch which she valued
more than gold. They had preserved
her husbands reason.
The following is one of the most af-
fecting records in existence. It is from
Count GonfalOnieri's account of his inn
prisonment IN the fortress of Spielberg,
above the town of Brunn, in Moravia,
for political offense in the reign of the
Emperor Francis of Austria, who died
in 1885. He was an Italian, and had
conspired TO dispossess the Austrlans at
Milan: Il am an old man now, but by
fifteen years my soul is younger than
nv BODY Fifteen years existed dor
l did not live, it was not life) in the
self-same dungeon, ten feet square.
During six years 1 had companion;
during nine / was alone! 1 never
rightly distinguished the face of him
who shared my captivity in the eternal
twilight of our cell. The first year we
talked necessarily together. We re-
lated our past lives, our joys forever
gone. over and over agsin. The next
year we communicated to each other
our thoughts and ideas on all subjects.
The third year we had no ideas to COM
municate-we were beginning to lose
the power of reflection. The fourth. at
the interval of mouth or so, we would
open cur lips to ask each other il it
were indeed possibie that the world
went on as gay and busting As when
we formed . portion of mankind. Tho
fifth, we were silent. The sixth. he
was taken away-1 never knew where
Ito execution-to liberty-but / was
glad he was gone; even solitude were
better than that dim, vacant face.
After that ! was alone. Only one event