The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1900-12-15
PENALTIES OF THELAW
SOME OF THE INGENIOUS ToRTUREs
INFLICTED IN OLpEN TIMES,

1
kehnsmsnts Of Cruelty That Should
Cause the Civilized world 10 Blush viii
shams-The Ma3saiata=b breaking 81
the Wheels Blowing from the Cannon
The abolition Of the iockstep at Sin,
sing does not seem to have interested
tne community in the slightest degree
IL Is hard to imagine Sing Sing thu
same old Sing Sing without it. Fo
many years it was the distinguishing
feature of New York's method Of treat
Ing cenvicts. In the famous Phiiadel
phia prison, which III the early days .,
the century attracted the attention Of
the world, complete isolation and ST
lence We're the rule. Tht
convict was placed in .
cell freely ventilated from above
well warmed and lighted, but he saw
none of the other inmates by day Oh
night, nor could he discover the plan
and arrangement Of the building. His
meals he ate alone ii his cell. Even
at divine service he was hid behind
curtains.
Lafayette often visited this prison
and it was his belief that the principe
was not humane, protracted solitary
confinement, Id his opinion, causing IN
sanity. Experience proved that he
was wrong, SD long as the prisoner was
kept at healthfui labor. In Sing Sing
the conyicts worked together, and In
going to and fro marched after sing
ular fashion with bodies close together
and legs moving as one; and each one
at mealtime Would take up his plate
iii the kitchen without stopping or
dropping out OF line, eating its con-
tents In his private quarters" Neither
silence nor solitude is now enforced In
American prisons.
America has produced few greater
men than Edward Livingston, and it is
past understanding that he should
have proposed as a substitute for cap
ital punishment solitary confinement
for life in cell painted black, with an
epitaph on the door for the beholder
to shudder at his food the coarsest
bread and water, his cell living
grave. While his code never was d..
rectly accepted by Louisiana 1t i'll
fiuenced legislation in several eotin-
tries, and parts of it were adopted en-
tirely in Guatemala.
There Is nothing cruel in the lock-
| step, but it debases d man, and In this
humane age not even criminals shall
further be debased. Stocks and the
whipping-pOst disappeared about 1881,
while abroad 1884 saw hanging In
chains, or gibbeting. forbidden by stat
ute. Death by torture was common at
the beginning of the nineteenth cen
fury, while step back to 1850 carries
us to reinements of cruelty that should
cause the civilized world to blush with
shame for countless years. We have
just had some illustrations Of Chinese
torture, but they seem merciful in COM
parison with the methods adopted in
past years by civilized white races.
Some examples of killing by inches
were the Iron coffin of Lyssa," the
"baiser de la VERGE" the "charibre d
crucer" and the "bermicles." In the
iron coffin the prisoner was laid sd
that he saw the iron lid descending by
an almost imperceptible movement I'M
til 1t crushed him, the torture lasting
several days and nights. In the
"baiser de Ia Verge" the victim was
lowered to the bottom Of a shaft pin
Toned and blind-folded. The bandages
being removed from his eyes, he was
ordered to walk down a long corridor
and kiss the brazen statue of the vir-
gin, which stood in a niche at the end.
The instant his lips met those of the
statue a trap door opened under his
feet and he fell ON a wheel of spikes
set in motion by an unseen agency.
Boiling to death was legal mode
of capital punishment in England in
the reign of Henry VIII. The "cham-
bre a crucer" was French variant Of
the English custom of pressing to death,
the "chambre" being shallow, heavy
chest filled with sharp stones, in which
the victim was packed and buried
alive. The "bermicles" were a favorite
of the Inquisition. The prisoner was
fastened by the neck to a mattress,
while his legs were crushed between
two great logs of wood, on the upper
most of which sat the executioner.
The rack was used in England until
164O; where it went by the name Of the
Duke of Exeter's Daughter" The
British were fond of hanging, draw
ing and quartering."
The ''mazzolata" was an italian bar
barity. The victim was borne to a
scaffold and forced to his knees. AS
he attempted to rise the executioner
struck him in the left temple with a
mace causing him to drop like an OK
and roll over on his back. The execu- |
toner then drew his knife and with |
4 single stroke opened his throat, and
on his abdomen, stamped |
with his feet. At every
stroke jet of blood sprang from the
l have seen hogs killed in the
country In a similar fashion. The his
DRY of Venice is full of killing by inch
IS in the most diabolical styles.
Breaking on the wheel was the eli
max of torture in France. The VIC
i'm being tied to the wheel, the exc
'utioner with a heavy mace broke his
rms and legs in two places each, then
ldded two or three strokes on the
hest, after which the prisoner was
llowed to die in peace. Sometimes he
fingered three or four days before the
'ital spark fed. When Charles XII of
sweden had Patkul, ambassador of
'eter the Great, broken on the wheel
e dismissed the officer of the guard
rom the army for allowing Patkuls
cad to be struck off before life was
xtinct.
The British invention of blowing
rom cannon is one of the most hor-
ible forms of punishment ever de-