Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-09-18
A TERRIBLE PRISON.
SHE LoATRsoNE TORTURE
HOUSE OF MACEDONIA.

Convicts- to n Pillar and
Tortured by Huge Red Ants-A
CharneI House.
Very reluctantly, and with many mis-
givings, tbs Mushir of Uskub in Mace
donia, Ahmed Ayoub Pasha, gave a cor
respondent of the London Daily News a
letter of introduction to the chief of the
gendarmery, who alone could give per-
mission to inspect the large prisons. The
Mushir inquired over and over again of
the dragoman whether the correspondent
had evinced friendly feelings toward the
Turks, or whether he was an enemy.
''The dragoman's ingenious replies, " says
the correspondent, ''at last inspired him
with sufficient confidence to allow him to
grant my request. I went through the
badly-paved and filthy streets of the
town, and reached the residence of the
commander Of the gendarmery of the
Province of Uskub. He was quite as
surprised as the Mushir when he heard
that I wished to visit the prisons, declar-
ing that since he had been in Office no
European had ever seen them, and that
In the rare cases when a Consul repre-
senting foreign power had wished to
see them he had always given twenty
four hours notice.
"Before entering I had to swear that
l was not Consul, and that I was what
the dragoman had described me to be-
a European hunting for antiquities. The
fact that | was not Consul, however,
impressed the Turk more than anything,
and he politely invited me to take coffee
and to smoke narghileh. While I was
enjoying his hospitality he sent number
of men to the prisons to announce my
visit and to give some special orders
the execution of which took some time,
and l was kept drinking coffee and smok-
ing for nearly an hour and half. At
last my host rose and invited me to fol-
low.
"We soon entered the largest prison
of the province, which is called 'Kursch-
umla, or the House of Lead. 1t rises
out of the River Warda, not far from the
fortress, and occupies vast area.
Soldiers, presenting arms, formed two
lines, which reached to the interior
courtyard, where number of prison
officials were awaiting us. The courtyard
is square, and surrounded on all sides by
the building, which has three stories.
A loggia, or covered balcony, runs all
round on each story. The commander
first showed me great number of red
inscriptions on the walls, which are sup
posed to have been made by Genoese or
Venetian merchants in the seventeenth
century, who, perhaps, erected the build
ing as warehouse for the Oriental goods
which they sent to Europe. Of course,
l affected great interest in these inscrip-
tlons to keep up my character as an an
tiquarian, and | noticed that the COM
mander no longer distrusted me. After
this we assembled the staircase to inspect
the first story. There was scarcely room
to pass on the steps, so covered were
they with accumulations of dirt, which
filed the air with pestilential odor.
SIN the so-called Office I was shown
the books, according to which the Kur-
schumla contains 149 prison cells and
l,S11 prisoners. Those on the first and
second floors are sentenced for slight of
fenses, and the time of detention varies
from one to ten years. do not believe
that any prisoner has ever outlived the
fifth year of imprisonment in those loath-
some dark cells. In this respect the
prison officials confirmed my suspicious
by saying that the mortality was very
great, and that very few prisoners lived
to the end of their time. In cell certain
ly not larger than two and half yards
square, and of about the same height,
between fifteen and twenty prisoners are
confined. ALI they can do by being
friendly and making room for each other
is to stand up and lie down again, and
they are allowed half an hours walk in
the courtyard once in the day.
''But how shall I describe the pitiable
aspect of these poor creaturess With
hollow cheeks, the pallor of death upon
their faces, and terrible protruding eyes,
they writhe in continual agony on the
floor, not only painting for air, but suf-
fering from want of food. They receive
absolutely nothing but bread and water,
even if their sentence be for life. If their
friends send them money, they are al
lowed to buy meat twice week. but the
prison officials brutally cheat them out of
threefourths of what is sent to them.
Thus exposed to hunger and thirst, to
the pestilence in the atmosphere; con-
fined in these black holes without the
possibility of moving about, and kicked
and outraged by the brutal prison guards,
no wonder that they succumb to their
misery! The greater number of the
prisoners are naked from head to foot,
with heavy iron rings and chains on
their wrists and ankles. As I passed
some of the cells, after looking through
the loopholes in the doors, the pri soners
within pushed through stick to which
a little leather bag was attached.
placed franc piece in each, but I had
my doubts as to whether the prisoners
would benefit by my almsgiving, and
thought it more likely that the greedy
guard would take the money from them.
"The cells on the first and second
floors are oil alike. The degree of sick
ness and misery of the inmates alone va
ries. The cells in the underground
prisons, where the worst offenders expi-
ate their crimes, are, however, far more
horrible even than those have described.
Here every ray of light is excluded. In
utter darkness the unhappy wretches lie
chained to the reeking floor of the cell.
They are totally unable to change their
positions, and are released from their
chains for two hours each day. lest death
should afford them an escape from this
Inferno. The official who conducted me