Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-21
GREWsOME ART OF AGES GONE.

Walter Besant Writes of Lord Shrewsbury.
Collection of Medieval Torture Ma.
chinery-The Embracs OF the Iron
Maiden Ghosts Story Tanning
Shrews.
WRITTEN FOR THE prsPArcH.I
Lord Shrewsbury's collection of media
val torture machinery which was fortunate
ly rescued from the flames which destroyed
M. Louis Tussaud's waxworks, is now at the
| Maddox Street Gallery. 1 saw it In its old
quarters, but it is now much better housed,
better exhibited, and better catalogued.
There they all are-our old familiar friends
the rack, the thumbscrew, the chair of little
ease, the cask lined with nails, the axe, the
| sword the chains, even the Iron Maiden
| herself, most deadly of maidens, in whose
embraces so many gallant lads have per-
| ished.
| What pleased me most was to observe the
beautiful, loving, artistic care bestowed
upon the making of all these diabolical in
| struments. There must have been O distinct
branch Of artistic ironworkers, especially
devoted to the making of agonizers; there
must have been company or guild of tor
ture-armorers. as there was one of loriners,
bowyers, cutters and blac ksmiths. Yes; one
can SEQ a shop of torture-armorers; there
they are at work, the master workman, the
craftsmen and the apprentices, industri-
ousiy fashfoning, hammering and decorat-
ing the awful things 1 see the master
workman instructing the apprentice as to
the adjustments of the screws, studs, sharp
points and hinges, SO rs to cause the great
est amount of agony at the least expense of
metal, and always with an eye to the
beauty of the work; he gives the ap-
prentice instruction in anatomy; the
nervous system receives very particular at
tention; the higher effects of art are care
fully borne in mind. Thus a mere mask
may be adorned as fancy may suggest, but a
massive chain must be left without decora-
tlon or adornment to mar the terror in
spired by sheer weight; the red-hot glove
should be richly chased; the eIeoutioner's
sword must be finely and lovingly engraved
with appropriate pictures, scroll work, fla
gree work and curved lines. Those shown
In the collection are miracles of art.
The Testimony of a Ghost.
Some of the tortures were not, be-
lieve, quite so bad as they look. There is,
on this point, the recent evidence of q spirit
lately called up--tt was at midnight, and in
the Maddox Street Galleries-by one of the
newest methods. Itwas a spirit of one who
had suffered; he proved to have been one of
those who had been embra ced by the Iron
Maiden of Nuremburg.
'They condemned me to DEATH" he said,
because l was Jew. Some of my friends
were grilled, roasted and fried, and done to
death very slowly. This was dlsagreeable.
Others were tortured with refnements as
the Chief Inquisitor called it; that is to say
in fancy fashions by some of the things
which are now hanging on these walls. Art,
imagination and fancy applied to torture
means lingering which one would rather
avoid. So that when L learned that it was |
decided that was to step inside
the Iron Maiden inwardly rejoiced; out
wardly l showed every sign of horror; 1 |
shrieked-I knelt-I prayed-I shrieked |
again. But saw my brother Ezekiel slowly |
turning round and round on the spit while |
cousin Nathaniel bubbling and boiling in |
oil; and another cousin screaming while they |
put on the red-hot gloves; and l laughed |
gentlemen-I laughed to myself They got |
me in; they stood me upright in the Iron |
Maiden: and then-Ha! Hal they were clumsy |
torturers; they did not know their own busi- |
ness; they should have closed the door |
slowly-slowly, so that every spike should |
produce its own agony. They slammed the |
door! The hundred and fifty spikes all went |
right through me. And in an instant was |
me an hour or two later, one after the other, |
when the roasting and boiling were over |
They had had a much more disagreeable |
time"
The Tanning of the shrew.
The exhibition has, however, its humor-
GUS side. The company of torture-armourers
were not always making thumb-screws and
racks. Sometimes they made masks or
branks, into which they poured out all the
poetry in their souls; and collars or pillories
for the smaller malefactors. These were
drunkards, slanderers, blasphemers and
;colds. The sufferfngs of our ancestors from
the scold or the shrew were, 1 believe,
almost incredible. Old literature is full of
the shrew. When her husband beat her,
which. of course he had a perfect right to
do; when he asserted his right to drink up
all his wages; ween he, being man, and
therefore King, refused to do any more
work; she had no weapon but her tongue.
She used it with vigor and heartiness
which we moderns can hardly understand.
A terrible weapon it was.
To silence that tongue they ducked her.
zee in this collection. they put the ruff or
collar upon her which here you see: they
Daraded her about the town with such q
mask as you see here-an iron mask with
horns and a DEVILS face. and a DEVILS tongue
sticking out of the wide open mouth. The |
boys ran along and shouted; the men came
,ut and laughed; the women looked forth
their turn would come tomorrow. But |
hat weapon was never laid aside for all
hese duckings and these masks; the sound
" these reproaches was never stilled. You |
an hear it to-day in certain quarters when |
ne husband comes home drunk and with |
mpty pockets; next day, two lovely black |
yes Inform tne WOrlQ at large VINO Is master |
n that establishment, but the shrewisn
ongue is not silenced by those black eyes.
Some Highly Ornamental PilIories.
Some of these pillories or collars are I
cry curious to look at. One made of solid
ak, is shaped Ikea violin, with hole for :
he head and two for the hands: one is
haped like a large collar adorned with
wenty bells; another like the collar without I
he bells; one bears the name of the maker,
Sirah Nagelnei, 1887: one is double, for two
-omen at once, who, their heads and hands :
nus placed in the wood, were marched
through the town. One can imagine the
age and madness which possessed these q
Ugh spirited danes on being led, thus de- !
grated, through the streets. Yet the pun :
hment never cured them; the Tanning of i
le Shrew could never be accomplished by | !
le exhibition of the wooden collar. il
One other interesting punishment must b
office. For certain otfenses, the fair sinner T
Scotch churches used to stand mp before @
le congregation in penance. In Nurem- t
erg, for similar things, she was snorn of v
Or hair and had to stand in public with q v
ind of rough crown made of straw with two s
ing straw pigtails shameful, of course. but
,mic. The straw crown and pigtails are in the
IL Nt.4- F-r