The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-11-21
9-'sE-
TAxoUS PRISON or sIIENB1

-
FAMOUS PRrsoN or sIrENB1i
Located In Portugal ana = Hor-
rible,
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 ter
ritory that compares with = prison
maintained by so-cafled civilized
country of Europe.
Entombed in q grim castle, on
the outskirts Of Lisbon. hoping for
death to release them, are the most
miserable mon on earth. They are
the inmates Of . prison of perpetual
silence; their prison garb 10 .
shroud; their collins face them in
their cells; they know that every
thing is being done to deprive them
of reason, and they wait from day
to day, wondering if their release
will come by death or insanity.
The unfortunates have been SEN
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 if one of these pris-
oners has ever lived through the al
lotted eight years. Two, or at most
three, is the limit. At the end of
that time they 60 mad and disap-
pear.
The deportation at the end of
eight years is therefore q joke-a
grim little pleasantly on the part
Of the Judge. The construction of
the fortress, which is built in the
form of a wheel; the unbroken
silence Of the prison life; the steal
thy 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 it's limit in the construction
of this building. The corridors,
piled tier on tier, five stories high.
extend out from the center like the
spokes of wheel. Within the
cells, like sentry-boxes, stands a
coffin for each prisoner. There is
always an average of 500 prisoners
in the fortress. Once q day, at
certain houA the cell doors are un-
locked and the half thousand hope
less wretches, in different degrees of
madness, march out. They are
clad in shrouds, once vhile, but
now begrimed 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. This 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, horribly grotesque,
noiselessly making their way over
the prison stones. The click of
door after door is the only sound.
The tread of their naked feet along
the corridors gives back no sound
as they make their way to the tex
ercise trisngles, which are unique
feature of this prison yard, as
convict here never draws a breath
of pure air. Clad in shrouds and
masks, the lonely men are marched
odt under the escort of guards to
the "triangles," six or seven at
time, and left to pace up and down
them for one hour. This march
must continue uninterrupted till
the hour is up, no halts being per-
mitted. Should two of these mis-
cradle ones draw near each other
they would be warned apart by the
sharp crack of bullet, perilously
near their ears.
The Sultan of Turkey, the Shah
of Persia, the Ameer of Afghanis-
tan and all the other Oriental pc.
tentiates who beguile their leisure
hours in devising tortures for polit-
ical offenders cannot boast of re-
ducing their enemies to snch pitia-
BILE 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
off their masks before travellers
were CHASTITY wre<k s of men, pallid
and shrunken, Aollow,eyed and
twisted of mouth.
About year ago King Carlos
visited the principal countries Of
Europe with view Of bringing .
few modern ideas into his little di-
lapidated 1853 by 100 mile kingd ON.
This prison of silence has beer hold
ing its average of 500 unfortunates
ever since. So much Of the imperial
and royal kissing that punctuated