Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-04
Treading in the Footsteps of Over
Three Centuries.
VISIT TO TIE old TORTURE CHAMBER
Relics of the Rack Used on Pris-
oners.
TELLING AN OFT-TOLD TALE
Stan Correspondence Of The Evening Star.


the middle. the fact remains that so far as
sustained interest for the tourist is con-
cerned, st. Augustine surpasses all the rest
Of the state. There IL wonderful progress
evident at Tampa, but nothing Of the pic
turesque or novel outside OF the big hotel.
There is tropical luxurdance at Palm Beach
and another big hotel Along the Jupiter
river is a succession of pretty spots, with
nothing outside Of them save swamp and
jungle. and through the center are clean
and pretty towns at intervals, surrounded
by few thousand cultivated acres. like
GASES in a desert Of sandy pine woods and
scrub thickets.
But st. Augustine is full of the quaint
and the curious. the ornate and the mag
nificent. The tropical part of It may, in
deed, be artificial, SO far as its being trans
planted from lower latitudes is concerned.
but 1t is none the less beautiful and inspir-
ing. The stores are full of novel things and
side by side with them are shops that equal
those Of New York or Chicago In the char
acter or their contents The most eXacting
woman OF fashion can get a hat or a dress
mere TO suit her fancy, and In jewels con-
noisseur would find satisfaction. Indeed,
one can find everything, from a live
Chameleon to dead chrome. and run the
gamut between them with little search or
trouble II 1t is hotels you are interested
In, St. Augustine contains the finest I'm the
world. The new and the old blend here In
mixture seem the most natural thing in the
world.
In Fort Marion.
Standing on the coquna battlements of
the old Spanish fort that first felt the tread
OF sentinel three and a half centuries ago,
you see gay steam launches in the green
water beneath you, and do not think they
should properly be galleons.
Sergeant Brown, who stands at YOUR ell
hnuy nd
on the history Of the ancient fortress 10
apparently the proper person in the proper
place. He's great parsonage, is Sergeant
Brown. Most people have probably won
oered at one time or another how an actor
can play the same part six or eight times a
week Tor a whole season without going
stark, staring crazy from the monotony Of
the thing. Sergeant Brown has rehearsed
his description OF Fort Marion not every day
but from twenty to five times twenty times
day for twenty days. With his bunch of
juggling keys, he carries visitors through
showing them the dungeons, the chapel the
court room. where Osceola and his Semi
mole braves were confined: the well dug by
the Spaniards three hundred and ffty wear
ago, peerenyal in its supply, which cannot
be pumped dry" he solemnly assures
you, and all the rest of it, glowing with af-
fectlonate eloquence over his fig trees that
grow out OF the solid coquina thirty feet
above the moat, and never missing a word
or skipping characteristic elision. And.
phhosophy, and continual reference TO
my book" which is sagely reinforced nv
display of the precious volume as YOU are
leasIhs the premises 1t is worth the fifty
cents he asks for it, though, for the entov-
ment you take in following his guidance
| through the fort
Ihls was the penance chamber" he ssrs
t Mnel ne unlocks the wooden door leading to
Tue dungeon set OF apartments, very like
those now in daily use doubtless a. The
MORO castle in Havana. You see on tho
wall the marks of six crosses Observe
wnere the chains We're fastened to The walls
On these crosses offenders were chained nm
Win toes barely touching the floor. The
chalns went under the arms and across the
NESTS OF the victims. and they We're thus
punished for from one to thirty-six bonrs
derful as this ~ WIFI
An uninviting opening into Tartarean
darkness occupies a corner OF the room
On a ledge at one side is a tin oil ,orrh
ana several thousand burnt-out matcbe.
oo orowh strikes another, and adds its
corpse 10 the pile after lighting the torch
Inc visitors follow him timdly through
ire opening. The Pickering light on tba
WICK makes grotesque figures on the wallis
| ceiling. INV eu
Relic of the Rack,
| THE chamber of torture" saws Rrou-,
| with pardonable triumph in his tone. ..rba
| umbers you perceive in the sides once SUM-
| ported the instrument called the rack The
victim was laid on 1T and his arms and legs
| attached to chains at the ends. BY a move
| ment of screws his limbs could be merely
dislocated or he could be torn to pieces.
This was the instrument of the inquisition
and was used here. as you see."
Another hole in the corner of the torture
| chamber looked more uncanny still. 1t was
about three feet square Sergt. Brown was
| animated when he put the torch down to if
This leads to the most wonderful dun
geon in the world he said There We're
two iron doors here when this entrance was
| first discovered. One opened out and the
| other opened in. Won't you stoop down
and come through" Some of the timid
balk at this step in the journey, but to
those who go into the subterranean hole of
| horrors Sergt Brown recounts how the
| Spaniards treated the men who were placed
! here. 1t was the penultimate of punish
| ment, including besides total darkness and
little air, such pleasant forms of justice as
| being fastened up in an iron cage and left
| to die. and other exquisite bits of Spanish
ingenuity in their favorite pastime. Boiling
oil couldn't have acded a thrilling finale to
| the recital Then the sergeant shows YOU
| the places where Geronimo and his $40
Apaches were confined after Uncle Sans
soldiers got them, and expatiates- on the
| picture writing they left on the walls.
I'm my book he remarks at this juno
ture, Il have translated some Indian lam
| guage and given history of the inqusi-
tion.'
1t is simply delicious how he interlards
| his story with references to his book, yet
| he never asks one to purchase il. Only
| when you ask the price does he tell you.
| and inquire in turn il you'd like to have
one. Long. may the sergeant swagger.
| He's in the ordnance, and believes artillery
| practice is the finest thing in the world TO
\ see after Fort Marion. When he points
| out the old Spanish guns now dismounted
| and lying in the parade ground, where
| they are religiously painted every spring,
| and thus deprived of all their real attract
| iveness of rust and times holes and an
| tiquity in general, the sergeant expatiates
| on modern guns.
| Think of the gun of today that carries
| 1.5OO pounds of ircn. There's not a boat in
| the world with a deck thick or tough
| enough to keep a shell like that from going
| through IL it falls on it from high enough
Ip."
| The Spanish fort, like everything else in
| St. Augustine that is built TO last is
| formed Of coquina, peculiar formation OF
! minute shells and sand, the animal life IN
| the shells cementing the mass together.
| The Ponce de Leon, with its massive walls,
is built of it; SO are the Alcazar, the Cor
| dova, the Casino and the churches. The
| Quarries whence this concrete Is taken are
| on Anastasia Island, which is now con-
| nected with St. Augustine by a bridge, ana