The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-01-20
reply,

The 1a1Ier advanced 10 the middle or the
room, and kneeling down, took large
key from his pocket, and applying 1t to q
hole in the floor gave it turn and then
with great effort raised ponderous trap
a0S'E right 90 nay feet rush of hot air
and sitting stencil as from the mouth of
the pit, smote me in the face and I In
voluntarily recoiled backward; but the
bayonets of the guard were behind and
there was no escape. The ladder was then
thrust down, and, long as it was, it no
more than penetrated the great depth.
The wretches whose voices could hear
confusedly murmuring below were ordered
to stand from under, and / was compelled
TO descend into what seemed more like the
Internal regions than any place on earth.
It was hard to find the steps of the ladder
for the candle of the jailer gave almost
no light. and l had on handouts; but l
went down, feeling for each step, to q
depth of some thirteen feet. stepped of
the ladder, treading on human beings I
could not discern, and wedged in as best
might. Then the ladder was slowly drawn
up, and in moment more the trap fell
with dullsa heavy sound that seemed
crushing down on my heart, and every
ray of light vanished. was shut into q
living tomb-buried alive!
/ could feel men around me and hear
their breathing in the darkness, so that /
knew the den was crowded full. Though
1t was night and cool outside, the heat here
was more than that of q tropic noon, and
the Precipitation soon oozed from every
pore. The feted air and the stencil made
me for time deadly sick, and, worst of all,
there was an almost unbearable sense of
suffocation. I wondered If it could be
possible that they would leave human be-
ings in such place till death came in this
horrible form-death, which could not be
long delayed. / thought of the Black
Hole of Calcutta, where so many English
men were suffocated in one terrible night
by savage East indiana; had heard Of
negroes being burned alive or whipped to
death in our own south; but these horrors
were always, supposed, meant as VEN
geance for some fiendish outrage. Yet Of
all the forms of death, that by slow suffo-
cation had always appeared most dreadful,
and this now seemed imminent.
AS had been brought to this place in
the dark, knew nothing of its character,
and after the first moment of stupefaction,
resolved to explore its size and nature.
No one of my companions had yet spoken
to me or to them. Whether they were
DltCk OF WulIc, bOIulerS VI ClIlZ0uS, Cldlucu
like myself, or with the free use of their
hands, could not tell, and I scarcely
liked to ask, lest the answer should add
new misery. jambed my way through
the living throng to the wall and felt
along 1t to learn IL there was door or win
dow. There was no door, the only en-
trance to the fearful place being by the
trap door down which came. Neither
were there any windows, but found two
holes in the wall, opposite each other,
each little more than foot square, and
filed with three rows of iron bars. The
walls, as could be told at the holes, were
very thick, being made Of an inner case Of
oak logs and brick wall outside. Even
in day time, these holes gave little light,
for one was close under the outside stair
way already described, and the other be-
low the level of the ground. Yet little
air could come through the thick set bars,
and served to revive me-making 1t pos
sible to endure life here for a short time,
ITO be COntInued.l