The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-04-06


teenth century vanished. and l was in spirit
back in the middle ages, so fifty called
dark" when Mercy slept and Progress
lay in chains.
This collection of ancient instruments Of
torture Were held in in the royal castle of
Nuremberg, the town where the celebrated
Albert Durer, the inventor Of wood cary
ing, was born.
They were purchased by the Earl of
Shrewsbury fer more than Sl000,oG0. He
sent them TO the Worlds fair, but as they
arrived too late to be given good accom-
modations they were not exhibited there
In few days they leave New York to be
held as a private museum by the earl I'M
til his death, when he will probably donate
them to the English government
The fact which first impressed me was
knowing that these rusty, time stained de-
vices are not limitations, bu: the actual i'm
pleInents which over and over again have
done their hideously cruel work
In Days When Scoids Suffered.
Here were pillories and ducking stools for
scol6s. shame masks of iron that We're worn
for stated periods by drunkards and ne'er-
do-weils, stocks to hold the feet of gnsssiiis
when they were displayed for derision in
instruments used as lesser punishments
There were branding irons innumerable,
chains of terrible weight, blocks of stone to
be attached 10 the feet of criminals when
the victims We're suspended by the thumbs
and executioner's swords from almost every
town IN Germany.
These swords were peculiarly interesting
Many Of them had the executioner's name
engraved on the blade. / found myself
wondering what sort of brute face Franz
Schmidt. the exeoutioper of Nuremberg
could have had as | gingerly laid my finger
upon the carved hilt he so often clutched
Halthaser CHASER of Thuringen must have
been proud, of his position as headsman.
The sword that belonged TO rim was highly
carved. An aamonition in big German let
ters ran ali aleng the blade, which trans
lated, read, BE careful, Go no i'll, and you
won't come to judgment"
> Curious Chain.
Among the curiosities | SAW the wooden
ehain that Baron Won de Trenk made dur
Ing one of his terms in prison. This man,
remarkable in himself. whose only offense
was supposed treason, has been immortal
lied by the elder Dumas as Monte Cristo."
The wooden chain which be made during
his lonely hours is a pitiful thing to contenl-
plate. telling murely as it does of the death
In life which Incarceration meant in olden
days. 1t is wonderful too, this work Of
patience, for ii was carved out of plank
with no other tools than the knife he was
allowed to divide his bread with, vet it has
no joints of any kind, is neither nailed,
screwed Tor glued, bur is entirely self CON
tanning and cut, perfect chain, out of the
solid wood.
Here, too. were some of the awful chains
that bore him down, above them an ancient
print showing him in his closet dungeon,
the entire body manacled. his grave already
prepared and marked by q fat headstoue
In the flooring of the cell Ii may be inter
estlng 10 state that this mans escapes
were so marvelonsly planned and carried
oUt he was at length manacled so that he
could make no movement other than the
lifting of his arms, and Tor Is years he had
To respond TO bis name every 10 minutes in
order 10 assure his jailers, day and night,
that he was there. As / thought of this
and looked at ms chains. seemed to hear
that oft repeated call 'Trenk,; and the
answer, Here which the wretched man
uttered mechanically even during sleep
As turned away there was one consoiing
thought Poor Trenk did not die in prison
At last-when youth was gone-in the
reign Of Few monarch. he was given his
remaining years, and the grave in the
prison floor was cheated.
The Face Beautiful.
found myself in the central aisle of the
little hall, locking AT The most terrible in
Etrument in all this weird and instructive
rollection-tEe iron maiden, whose terror
inspiring embrace WAS one OF the horrors Of
EuremaerE in the fifteenth century
This relic OF ancient. cruelty stood IN r