Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-04-26
That King George Iron-Encased
Skeleton.
Bowling Green. Va. April "a,

Bowling Green. Va. April "a, 1896.
To the Editor OF the Dispatch:
Sore months ago your King George
finding, by one Of the road overseers, Of
a skeleton encased In an iron cage.
The skeleton and cage are now ION
the road" being exhibited in a tent by
the finder and are attracting crowds
Yesterday l viewed them, and. curiously
enough, last night l happened to pick
up from a table in a hotel-room an old
Harper's Monthly Magazine, of date No
vember 1880, containing an article on
Jamaica; New and Old" by Howard
Pyle in which this mysterious instru-
ment OF torture and its application Is &C
curately described.
Mr.. Pyle says: I'm the museum or
the town Q<ingston) there hangs in one
corner an iron frame. now rusting into
decay. The frame is exactly the shape
OF a human figure, and the iron bars open
upon hinges and close with paddock.
In the band that arches over the head is
a ring, and in either heel is long,
sharp-pointed spike. IL Is the terrible
cage OF which now and then we catch
a mention in the records OF the Spanish
slave-courts"
"I was told that the frame had been
dug up out OF the sand, and that when
IL was discovered a female skeleton was
still within its grasp"
The above is a perfect description OF the
King George cage" There is no mention
in all of Hennings statutes or the IN
Fiction Of this mode of punishment in the
Colony OF Virginia.
The above quoted article establishes the
Spanish origin of this cage mode OF tor
ture, and it is thought that 1t must have
been q frequent mode OF punishment du-
ring the inquisition. The construction
OF this iron incasement was a perfect
specImen OF skilful workmanship, and
could not have been wrought by an ordi-
nary blacksmith. Indeed, Its fabrication
bordered on the artistic, and the cage was
so constructed that it could be made to
fit any sized person, as the iron bands
showed holes in them at regular intervals,
with set screws to fit in them- Thus the
cage could be contracted or expanded 10
suit any sized person. In the case Of
a small Victim the ends OF the iron bands
could be made to lap each other six or
eight inches, and then the screws or
bolts could be inserted in the holes, and
their heads fattened with a hammer so
as to hold the bands firmly together. Alto
gether, this is the most interesting archie
illogical or Colonial find OF late years In
this State, bearing. as 1t does, on the
earliest Colonial punishments, and show
ing at the same time a Spanish origin.
The destruction during the late war OF
the records OF King George county Will,
perhaps, forever prevent the discovery
of the name OF the person thus gibbeted.
and the crime for which he suffered. al
though the skull OF the skeleton indicates
by its coarse fibre and an exceedingly
low crown or forehead that the victim
was a very low type OF man, probably an
Africa1.
As King George county was formed
from Richmond county In 1I2O, and Rich
mond county from Rappahannock county
IN 1862. perhaps q key TO this mysterious
find may be discovered In the clerks
offices OF these two latter counties, espe-
cially as they have unbroken records from
their formation as counties. CREED.