San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-12-02
A PRISON TOMB.
1t is Kept Up in What is Supposed to Be a
Civilized Country.

1t is Kept Up in What is Supposed to Be
Civilized Country.
One need not waste any more
ink and rhetoric on the cruelty of
the Sultan Of Turkey. In the way
of diabolical torture Abdul Hamid
Khan has nothing in his entire
territory that compares with a
prison maintained by q so.called
civilized country Of Europe.
Entombed in a grim castle, on
the outskirts Of Lisbon, hoping for
death to release them, are the most
miserable men on earth. They
are the inmates OF prison of per.
petual silence; their prison garb
is a shroud; their collins face them
in their cells; they know that
everything is being done to de-
privo them of reason, and they
wait, from day to day, wondering
If their release will come by death
or insanity.
The unfortunates have been sem
fenced to penal servitude in the
Portuguese criminal colonies Of
Africa. But before they are al
lowed to 60 they are forced to serve
eight years in the Lisbon fortress.
1t Is doubtful il one OF these pris-
oners has ever lived through the
allotted eight years. Two, or at
most three, is the limit. At the
end of that time they 60 mad and
disappear.
The deportation at the end of
eight years is therefore joke-a
grim little pleasantly on the part
of the judge. The construction of
the fortress, which is built in the
form of wheel; the unbroken
silence Of the prison life; the
stealthy tread of the attendants,
who creep about in felt slippers,
all work together to deprive the
unfortunate of his reason.
The ingenuity of man in the tor.
ture of his fellow creature has
reached its limit in the construc.
tion of this building. The CORR
doris, piled tier on tier, five stories
high, extend out from the centre
like the spokes of wheel. Within
the cells, like sentry boxes, stands
coffin for each prisoner. There
is always an average of five hun
dred prisoners in the fortress.
Once day, at certain hour, the
cell doors are unlocked and the
half thousand hopeless wretches,
in different degrees of madness,
march out. They are clad in
shrouds, once white, but now be-
grimed with prison dirt. Their
faces are concealed by masks, for
it is part of the hideous punish
ment that they may not look upon
the faces of their fellow-prisoners.
Once they are outside their cells
an attendant closes the doors with
a resounding click. The daily
clicking of the locks is the only
sound that intrudes upon their
lives of unbroken silence. ..-
They may not exchange one
glance of sympathy at their daily
meeting. All that the convict sees
is throng OF shrouded creatures,
like himself.
The sultan Of Turkey, the shah
of Persia, the ameer of Afghanis.
tan and all the other Oriental po-
tenates who beguile their leisure
hours in devising fortunes for po-
litical offenders can not boast of
reducing their enemies to such
pitiable human wrecks as King
Carlos Of Portugal does. How
most of them look the world will
never know, but the few who have,
by special favor, been allowed to
take of their masks before travel
ers were CHASTITY wrecks o; men,
pallid and shrunken, hollow.eyed
and twisted of mouth.
About q year ago King Carlos
visited the principal countries Of
Europe with view to bringing q
few modern ideas into his little
dilapidated 1858 by 100 mile king.
dom. This prison of silence has
been holding its average of 300
unfortunates ever since. So much
of the imperial and royal kissing
that punctuated Don Carlos Wis
its to his brother sovereigns failed
in its ennobling effects.
1t is probable that Portugal is
ranked with the civilized countries
of the world, despite the fact that
she still retains a medieval prison,
has crown worth $S,000,000, and
no highways.
Queen Amelie prides herself on
being high priestess of new wo.
manhood. She studied medicine
to make professions the thing
among the ladies OF the court cir