The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-12-03
The unspeakable Turk.


The following is an account taken
from the British consular reports Of the
various tortures and punishmsnts in.
flicted on the Armenians by the Sultan
Of Turkey. Some Of them are 90 horri.
BILE in their extreme barbarity that they
are unprintable:
The witch is made Of two pieces Of
wood with q cord passed through one
end and forming loop. This used to
be employed in England to hold re.
fractory horse II it was necessary to ad.
minister medicine. When an Armenian
is safely in prison and will not speak
out the twitch is applied in exactly the
same way until the cord cuts into the
flesh and the blood spurts.
Two pieces of fiat board, with couple
OF notches on each side of the board are
fastened together just like pair of nut
crackers and then used to compress
certain parts of the body.
Eggs are boiled hard, and while in.
tensely hot are inserted under the arm
pits and between the legs of the obsti.
nate Armenian. His arms and legs are
bonnd tightly and the eggs are changed
when they begin to cool.
Washers are the little tongs used to
lift pieces of charcoal from open fires in
mangols. These tongs are made red hot
and applied to the body in the same
way that Edward II. was done to death
in Berkeley Castle.
At the Turkish prisons in CONSTANT
nople the chair torture ia in daily force
as applied to recalcitrant Armenians
who will not speak out regarding the
whereabouts of their fellow country.
men who are "wanted" by the officials.
There is a cell in every prison, in
which is pit capable of holding water.
An arm chair is placed in the pit and
the back of this chair is made to lean
forward by means OF screws. An Ar.
menian is put into the chair and band
of iron, the ends of which 60 through
the holes of this chair is fastened across
his abdomen. The water is then let in
and the chair screwed forward until the
mans head and shoulders are forced
together. When the mans head is
under water he must either speak or
drown.
l have seen in Constantinople an un.
fortunate Armenian bound and thrust
into cesspool in the yard of the pris.
on. The ordinary procedure of the
Turkish officials is to leave the victim
until he sinks and is suffocated or else
makes sham confession.
Iron bands are made with screw at
the back to 60 round the forehead,
trunk and limbs; then the ends are
screwed together and the unhappy Ar.
menian forced to speak. The man is
kept for few days, until the marks
have worn of, and it is impossible to
say that he has been tortured.
Another method of torture is to sever
the skin of the scalp and insert living
vernon beneath it. Men have been
known to 60 mad under this frightful
torture.
This form of torture is one of the
most prominent in the whole list, and is
probably used oftener than any ef the
others. 1t consists of lashing the bare
soles of the feet of the prisoner, who
has previously been fastened to the
ground, so that he can not move mus.
Gle. The whip is laid on until the flesh
is cut and bleeding, and the victim
seldom goes through the ordeal without
losing consciousness.
The alleged father of the present Sui.
tan was put to death by this method
A large V-shaped wedge with sharpen
ed edge is raised ten feet from the
ground. The victim is held suspended
in the air, straddling the wedge. Huge
weights are tied to each foot and at the
word of command the rope holding him
is cut. The weights pull him down and
he is split in two halves.
1t is common occurrence when a
prisoner refuses to tell what is wanted
of him to cut off q limb, and with the
stump bleeding and sore thrust hin in
to prison to reflect, and If he decides
whether or not he prefers to change his
mind or suffer another amputation The
mutilated suffer from blood poison,
caused by lack OF attendance and care.
The favorite death for women of the
harem who have incurred the displeas
ure of their master is for the guards to
sew them up in canvas sack. While
the poor woman 10 begging for mercy
two or three fierce Turkish cats are
thrust into the sack and it is then taken
to bridge near the palace and thrown
into the Bosphorus. The cats in their
terror fight fiercely and the wretched
woman gets the worst of it until death
by drowning supervenes. Many such
gastly relics of the Sultan's despotism
have been picked up by sailors of yes.