The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1896-01-31
THE GARROTE.

and unnamed rotting away In the
Spanish dungeons to-day, under con-
ditions more horrible than that pic
tured by Dickens in his ''Tale of Two
Cities" in the character Of the old
doctor confined In the bastile for
twenty-five years. Men who took part
In the previous Cuban rebellion, near
~ a generation ago, may still be living
in the dungeons. Thirty years hence
some Of the men who are now fighting
so valiantly in Cuba may be rotting
away in the same pest-holes. 1t is this
prospect which makes them desperate
and bloodthirsty, and eager to accept
q thousand risks to shake of the tor
ture that awaits them.
Each week patches Of Cuban sus-
poets are forwarded to Spain. To be
suspect is equivalent to being guilty,
and those who go will, in all proba-
bility, never return. If wealthy
planter is suspected Of furnishing A.
nancial aid to the insurgents he is
pounced upon and shipped of. Infin-
itely better would have been his fate
had he Joined the insurgent army and
been killed on the field Of battle.
The. ordinary suspect is not exc
cuted. but IL he be proved guilty Of
treason the garrote will speedily end
his troubles. The garr0te is the official
form of punishment in Spain.
Nearly all of the death sentences are
executed in the Pradara de la Ysidro,
in Madrid. All executions are public,
and are usually held early In the morn
Ing. The criminal is always mounted
upon the back Of q tiny Spanish DON
key, and goes to the place of execu-
ton in q procession which consists of
citizens, priests and soldiers.
Prior to leaving the prison in which
the condemned has been confined mass
Is celebrated. and the death sentence
Is read to the guilty wretch. When
the prisoner reaches the place Of ex-
ecutiOn he mounts q scaffOld, q black
handkerchief is tied over his face, and
he is manacled to q chair. Then
around his neck is placed the band Of
the garrote. Two turns Of powerful
thumb-screw brushes the neck Of the
victim and almost sewers the head
from the body.
Death is claimed to be absolutely in
Simultaneous. After the execution, the
body of the victim Is allowed to re-
main for several hours in plain view
Of the crowds, which have seen the
accomplishment of the deed Of justice.
All executions ore looked upon by the
lower Spaniard as being excellent en-
tertainment.
While torture has been nominally
abolished, the prisons themselves,
combined with the system, are such
that the agony Of the culprit Is con-
tinuous and long enduring.
AS far as possible the Spanish gov
eminent sends, all of her greater GRIM
inals to her convict colony in Africa,
or in the Canary or Balearic islands.
In the few towns which remain to
Spain from her once conquest Of
Northern Africa she houses her des-
perate convicts. They are hardly a
fitting relic of the once magnificent
colonial empire of the Kingdom. The
largest penal colony of the kingdom Is
on the two. islands Of the Baleares, sit
uated in the Mediterranean, near the
coast of Valencia, in Spain. There the
convicts are housed like dogs In ken
nels. Day and night they are forced
to wear chains foot long, which are
suspended from a girdie.
Spain's Penal Colonies.
They work in the cultivation Of
wheat, barley, yams, dates and figs.
and In coffee plantations, the result Of
their labor being shipped to Europe,
when in African colonies, and till the
soil. for it's products equally In the
Canary and Balearic islands. The
largest penal colony In the Canary
islands IL on the island Of Fuertevcn-
tura. which IL sixty.thrce square