Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-10-27

INCIDENT.
heading and by strangling the victim to
| death with strong cords. But 1t Is also
vet within the memory of living man that
! Turkish malefactors were thrown down
| into a great gulf, which was filed with
sharp steel spears, upon which the VIC
tim was impaled.
/ If the poor wretch was fortunate
enough to fall upon one of the spears
/ and piece a vital point, the agony was
quickly over. But to those who were
only wounded death came horribly,
through sheer starvation.
AS If this stlye of butchery was not
/ enough, the Turks were very fond of
driving thorns in the flesh of the victims.
! These thorns were not the little tiny
! spears like those found on an average
| American rose-bush Instead, they were
! two and three inches in length. The
! Turkish executioner who could, without
killing thrust the largest number OF
thorns into the body OF a criminal was es-
teemed highest among his companions.
| Some Of the Turkish executioners could
so fill prisoner with thorns that not
| one quarter OF an inch OF skin could be
seen.
When this awful torture was over the
victim was dragged to funeral pyre
| and was burned at the stake, with all
| the horrid torrents OF a slow fire, so
| that the criminals agony could be pro-
| longed.
a TYPICAL TURKISH PRISON.
Few Christians have been allowed to
| visit a Turkish prison. The one on the
| Island of Cyprus, now under English
control. was visited some years ago by
| Archibald Forbes. Here Is what he wrote
| OF It:
"The average Turkish prison has nearly
! coo inhabitants. Among them are male
factors of every dye-murderers, robbers,
political prisoners, and forgotten suspects.
i have seen not d few horrible sights. /
have ridden across battlefield on which
lay fve-and-thirty thousand dead and dy-
ing soldiers; have seen Il whole field full
OF ADMINISTRATOR miserables: | have
frequented the pest-houses of Metz after
the seige, where lay neglected the
wretched victims Of black smallpox and
spotted typhus: / have seen the bodies
of men who had been roasted alive: l
have been in a cholera hospital; but never
have 1 witnessed a more noisome specta-
Gle than that which the Turkish prison
dungeons afford.
MATERIAL FOR DANTE.
"Yet the Turks seem to accept 1t as a
matter of course. / entered the Konak
and a Turkish officer. with a polite bow,
asked me If / desired TO see the prison.
much in the tone that the warden at
Holyrood asks the tourist If he has Il
mind TO see Queen Mary's room. l as
sented and he handed me over to a little
bow-legged fellow, who sat outside
wicket gate in palisading that ran
across the courtyard Of the Konak.
Dante might have visited this pande-
monium to gain ideas for his description
of the Inferno, but the Turks are not
blessed with sentiment, and there Is no
inscriptlon on the gate. Passing through
the wicket one entered narrow court
yard. surrounded on three sides by gloomy
walls broken BY heavily barred windows,
with here and there strong wooden
door ! was at once surrounded by
horde Of prisoners of villainous aspect.
all. or nearly all, manacled in the most
curlously diverse fashions.
Some wore n heavy chain one end OF
which was fastened 10 a clunsily mas
sive shackle round the ankle. the other
tied up around the waist. Others merely
wore this grim anklet with no chain at
Tackled. Yet others had huge link fasten-
ed 10 the anklet, which was worn
against the outside OF the leg and fasten-
ed into position Ly leather garter These
were the liberty" men TO whom so much
favor is accorded by reason OF long i'm
prisonment coupled with good conduct.
who are not huddled into the dungeon,
but are allowed to leaf out here in the
courtyard.
"a long, gloomy passage opened out Of
one end OF the courtyard; and this en-
tered encompassed by the concourse OF
villains and with no other escort than the
little bow-legged warden OF the gate.
Into this passage looked several barred
windows. AMI behind the bars there
clowered and strained the close set faces
OF the more dangerous prisoners.
"What rufIianly faces most Of them
werel faces the expression OF which
wolfish, ferocious, hungry for blood, sar
donlc. utterly devil.sh-made the flesh
creep. with every moment there was the
clank OF chains. for every man wore fet-
ters The expression. 'hugging his
chains / have hitherto regarded as
mere aliegorlcai figure Of speech. but
now was to see the literal reality. The
crowd around the window gave back.
and there approached a tall. stalwart.
figure somewhat bowed down by some
heavy burden that he carried In his