The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-06-18
DEAD TO THE WORLD.
Horrible Story of Prison CrueIties in
Chilli.

Chilli.
Under the massive arches of the enOr.
mOusly thick walls, where perpetual twi-
light reigns even in the outside rooms, are
inner cells, two feet wide by six feet long,
destitute of single article of furniture.
Until recently those confined in them were
walled in. the bricks being cemented in
place over the living tomb. Now there is a
thick iron door which is securely nailed up,
then fastened all around with huge clamps,
exactly as vaults are closed in the Santiago
cemetery; and over all the great red seal of
the government is placed-not to be re-
moved until the man is dead or his sentence
has expired. The tiny grated window
is covered with several thicknesses of close.
woven wire netting, making dense darkness
inside, 50 that the prisoner cannot tell night
from day. There is no ventilation. except
through this netting. and no opening what
ever to the tomb.
Low down in the iron door, close to the
ground. is tiny sliding panel. foot long
by two or three inches wide. arranged like
double drawer, so that food and water
may be slipped in Oh shallow pans and the
refuse returned. Twice in every twenty
four hours this panel is operated, and if the
food remains untouched certain number
of days it is known the man is dead, and
only then can his door be opened unless his
time has expired. If the food is not eaten
for only two or three days, no attention is
paid to it. for the prisoner may be sham
ming; but beyond given length of time he
cannot live without eating.
Not the fainteSt sound nor glimmer of
light penetrates these awful walls. In the
same clothes he goes in, unwashed, un-
combed. without even blanket or handful
of straw to lie on. he languishes in sickness,
lives or dies. with no means of making his
condition known to those outside. He may
count the tagging hours, sleep, rave, curse.
pray. long for death. dash his brains out,
go mad if he Iikes-nObody knows it. He
is dead to the world. and buried, though
living. Six months is the usual sentence,
and until lately two years has been the
limit. They told US that but one man has
ever been known to live a year. and the
majority do not Outlast the second month.
Those that survive the six months are al
most invariably drivelng idiots or danger
Gus maniacs. The door is always opened
at night. when the sentence has expired.
because in his enfeebled condition after long
darkness. the glare of day would be torture,
if not death. They expect to find the
wretch stOne-b blind, emaciated to the last
degree. unable to stand. hair and beard
grown long and white as snow. nails like
talOnS and garments rotten with mold.
One man of education and refinement
Fept himself in tolerable condition through
his half year of solitary confinement by
means of handful of melon seeds. AS he
was going in, somebody gave him part of
muskmelon. Strange to say. it was not
taken from him, and he carefully boarded
the seeds. which he put to variety of in
genious uses. With them and reckoning
from the number of times the food pan slid
in and out. he cOntrived to keep track of
the number of days of his Incarceration; he
invented games of SOLITAIRE" which he
played thousands of times in the darkness;
and to vary the dreadful monotony he
would throw away the precious handful and
grope on his hands and knees until they
were all re-collected. He says that to those
little seeds alone he is indebted tor his al
most miraculous escape from insanity,
idiocy or death. Fannie B. Ward. in Phil
adelphia Record.