The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-14

800 to do one killing.
Prisoners in Chains,
Two contemporary drawings show what
they discovered in this prison One, of an
categorical character, represents the cti-
zen-soldiers assisting up the black stair
ways long-bearded old men, sickly youths
and broken-down men of middle age,
with their chains still on them. Others,
crawling on hands and knees, discover,
in black corners, chained 10 rings let in
the walls. the bodies of prisoners dead in
their shackles. A skeleton crumbles in
an old iron cage 1t had been the fashion
to deny these horrors They are not so
easily denied in the year 1901
1t Is now known who took possession
of the cage and what became of it. The
diaries and notes of eye-witnesses re-
Gently brought to light are being pub
lished One drawing OF the time. now In
the Hennin collection, shows the under
ground cachet. in which the four forgers,
Bechade La Roche. La Correge and
Pujade, were found and released by the
populace. 1t is possible that they were
only vulgar criminals-but in that case
what were they doing In the aristocra-
tic prison of the Bastile? They escaped
and nothing more is known of them than
the accusation In the registry OF the
Basti1e They had been languishing In that
black hole thirteen months. La Roche
was found chained to curious machine
that looked something like one end of
gun carriage
II held him always in the same reclin-
ing position, his ankles, wrists, waist
and neck chained fast. Pujade was chain
ed by the waist to heavy ring set in
the wall. about ten feet away from the
other. Bechade seems to have roamed
freely about the room, while La Correge
was chained by his two wrists to the foot
of a pillar that served him Tor seat and
bed.
When the citizens entered this dismal
abode the flaming lights OF their torches
sent troops of rats scampering, while the
drawing shows two good-sized snakes
trying to hasten to holes In still a deeper
dungeon stairway through whose top
ladder protruded
Only dead bodies were found down
there.
Nineteen Years In n Cell.
The prisoner Tavernier, whom the
white washing historians have tried to
make out crazy man ('and 1t Is
known" they say, that the art of car
ing for the demented was in its infancy
under the old regime, when it was thought
sufficient to merely lock them up'O, has
left an account Of his captivity which
WOULD nave H1dut HlIdbEtAy ihtih WI
for a crazy man He told his liberators
that, during the thirty years of his cap
tivity, he had passed nineteen consecu-
tive ones without Crossing the threshold
or his cell
Exercise in the yard, for those who
enjoyed this favor was limited to an
hour day. reduced to few minutes
when there we're many prisoners to be
exercised in turn.
The Able Duvernet on receiving
visit from the Minister Amelot, had COM
planned of the causelessness of his i'm
prisonment. you ought not to com
plain" was the answer because you
have the privilege of the prison library"
Then he asked, why are you here?"
Because you yourself gave some one
blank lettre de cachet. with your name
and the kings attached TO it, That per-
son filled in my name and the trick was
done. You ought to know it," The minis
ter expressed mild surprlse-and he left
the Able Duvernet to rot ten years more,
until rescued on July Il, 1888.
The Refinement of Torture.
Another newly discovered account, IL
Illustrated by a very well-drawn sketch,
tells how the deliverer5 found the Comte
des Loges, "a prisoner OF the Bastile
during thrty-two years" Saber and torch
in hand, they explored every recess of
the dark fortress. Most of the living
victims they thus rescued, imagining
themselves to be irrevocably condemned,
mistook their rescuers for executioneers
come to put an end to their lives Some
were so weak that they tainted on see
ing armed men. Others, unused to so
much light, hid their eyes from the
torches. From the depths of the fort
ress they brought up horrible trophies
machines whose use no one could guess.
There was one heavy iron machine like
great suit Of armor that seemed to
have been invented TO hold every joint
and muscle of the victim In an eternal
rgidity. What torture could be more
rehndly terrible, when darkness. silence
and long years were added to it?" asks
the Paris patroit of 1889 in his diary. He
saw the thing.
The Comte des Loges. an old man and
a noble, had been favored with a high
celed room, in which they had allowed
him to install four-posted bed with a
canopy to protect him from the draughts
while sleeping. He had table, a Jug. a
plate and a stool His room was always
in A dull twilight that came through a
single grated window. Yet he was the
best-lodged prisoner found at the taking
Of the Bastile.
The apologists OF the Baslle thought
that they had reduced the number OF
prisoners actually found imprisoned IN
its dungeons TO a dozen, and the new
Larousse Encyclopedias specialist, in the
title Taking Of the Bhstile." gives the
names only OF seVcn-tbc four forgers
before mentioned, two crazy men under
restraint" Traverner and De Whyte
and "a young gentleman the Comte de
solages, who. after committing monstrous
crimes. had been locked up in the Bastie
on a pension paid by his family" The
explanation is that the students OF docu-
ments give only the names found In the
peculiarly kept Bastile register. The forty
and more prisoners released by the Paris
mob made Off as fast as their legs would
carry them, without giving their names
or addresses On that day, the 14th OF
July the archives OF the Bastile were
thrown into the moat Anyone who pleas
ed might hunt through them to make a
collection OF curious documents Quantl-
ties were taken for old paper and parch-
ment. When. a few days later on, the
savants had gathered together what they
had saved at the depot of Saint Louis
Ia Culture, II was an incomplete set OF
archives.
Lettres de Cachet
The young Comte de solages had been
thrown into the Bastic ON a lettre de
cachet procured from tho king by his
family. who continued to pay his board.
It was this practice Of the lettres de