The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-08-11
For Throwing a Bomb Into
Church Procession,
Understood to Have Been Done
by Two or Three Men,
400 WERE ARRESTED.
All the CrueIties of the Inqui-
Siti0n Practiced on Them.
For These Things CanOvas Was
Held Responsible.

New York, Aug. 1.-THE cry of the
assassin, Coli, when he fired upon SEN
or Canovas, Il have done my duty and
avenged my brothers of Barcelona"
brings to mind the severity of the
prime minister in dealing with persons
suspected of anarchial affiliations.
The unspeakable torture inflicted up
on these prisoners was equaled only
by the inquisition at the close of the
18th century. For the throwing of a
bomb into a church procession at Bar
celona, June z, 1885, which, it is now
generally understood, was the work of
two or three men, 400 persons of all
shades of advanced opinion-members
of workmen's clubs, Republicans, Rad
1calS and SocialiStS-were arrested. OF
these the majority were tortured in an
almost incredible manner.
One of the jailers in the Fortress of
Mont Julch, the Moro Castle of BARGE
Iona, testified that the prisoners were
flogged, their nails torn off, their bod
les compressed until the agony of suf-
fering led them to sign whatever the
1nqu1r1ng judge wanted them to say.
Among other methods used were feed
ing the prisoners on salt fish with all
water withheld, depriving the men of
sleep and forcing them for days and
nights to walk up and down their cells;
if exhausted and almost dead with ia
tigue, of beating them until they again
began their walk. etc.
One Of the prisoners named Nogues,
managed to transmit a letter to his
friends, in which he said:
"On my arrest 1 spent eight days
without food and drink, being obliged
to walk continually to and fro. I was
made to trot as though 1 was a horse
training at the riding school, until
worn out with fatigue, 1 fell to the
ground Then the hangman burned my
lips with red hot irons, and when I de-
clared myself the author of the attempt
they replied: You do not tell the truth
we know the author is another one,
but We want to know your accom-
plices.
Another of the tortured prisoners
succeeded in passing letter to a COM
rade.
II gave the judge to understand"
he wrote, that 1 did not know the
Castiiian language, still less the Cat
alOnian dialect. I was taken back to
my dOrmitory to remain there scarce
1y a quarter of an hour; the guard
calls me and puts me in the hands of
the private guards, who make me put
down my meager baggage near the de-
scent to the staircase to the zero dun
geon).
Imagine the terrible aspect of such
a vast place at midnight, with two civil
guards following and one going in front
with candle in his hand; a staircase
that reeks of carbolic. Arrived at the
ante-zero, I am bound up like sau-
sage; one of them opens the door and
let's in another unfortunate victim,
who passed me like a ghost; the poor
wretch, whose features and appear
ance I had not time to recognize.
Il am ordered to undress, or, rather,
I am undressed; my hands tied by the
wrist and the arms taken backward by
a strong cord to the height of the BIZ
ceps. afterward bound tightly around
so that the cord penetrates the flesh.
The civil guard, with a stout whip in
his hand, says to me: You do not
want to speak Spanish? I will make
you speak
He showers 1ashes upon me. Again
was asked if l wanted an interpreter
if 1 would make my statement in
Itch 7 clio hot 7 #
talk Then the fogging begins afresh,
each lash producing a fresh smile on
the countenance of the official See
ing that 1 do not speak, they put a gag
into my mouth. 1 was then tied down
and the torture recommenced-I can
not finish, the hangmen are coming"
The authorities in Madrid, however,
took good care that no further news
was sent out from the prison. Eight
men were sentenced to be shot, four
were sentenced to four years penal ser
vitude; IA to 10 years, l month and IL
days. 10 to 9 years, 4 months; SO to 8
years, 8 months and 1 day, and the rest
were acquitted which in Spanish,
means that they were sent to the At
rican penal colony for an indefinite per-
iod. No one of the prisoners so de-
ported has since been heard from.
Details of the torture have, however,
come to light, and numerous circulars
have been issued describing the treat
ment of the prisoners. People who
have seen these men say their appear
ance was frightful. Deadly pale, with
dull sunken eyes, reduced to skeletons,
with swollen hands and torn mouths,
they dragged themselves along the
ground, being unable to stand on their
feet for the reason that their limbs
had been crushed in the ancient tor
fure cages.
For this cruelty, Canovas,s more than
anyone else, was blamed, and the
evidence tends to confirm the opinion
that Coli was chosen by the anarchists
to avenge their brethren.