The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-24
BELGRADE HORRORS.
TORTURE AND DEATH ARE THE
COMMoN-PLACEs OF EVERY DAY

Money and Promoting Phtlanthro-
pic Enterprises.
Belgrade Letter in New Orleans Plea
yune.
To-day clean, white muslin curtains
of very cheap grade-for the regicide
government is very shy of cash
screen the windows through the shat
tered blinds of which Alexanders and
Draga's bodies were flung to the raVlng
mob. even as one throws a mess OF
bones to hungry tigers.
The bloody bedclothes, pierced by
bullets and slashed by sabers, were
sold for couple of francs to an ola
clothes man, who is making a fortune
nv their exhibition in windoWless
room. dimly lit by kerosene lamps.
IAfter while he will make more by
cutting them up into strips to be sold
as souvenirs TO lovers of the grew
sone) Its fortunate, he said to
your. correspondent, that their maJes-
ties were pleased to sleep under red
silken covers-the souvenirs worn in
the buttonhoe will very closely re-
semble the ribbon of the Legion OF
Honor"
The parquet floors of the royal bed
and dressing were careIuIly
scraped and waxed and polished; put
the provisional governments order
sOut damned spot, out" bore no
Fruit. Peter by the-grace-o e-shot-
gun-and-saber found ocular proof In
plenty that his commands were follow
ed to the letter.
So were those of his predecessors,
Alexander and Milan-for evidence
look at some of the public buildings
You need not enter, the proofs are
written all over the edlhces!
on Terezzia street, for instance, we
have the postoffice, the grandest build
ing Belgrade boasts Of, finer and loft
ier than the new royal palace even.
Big. golden letters over the portals
saw that it is a free gift of the pa
triot Koloratz, to the Servian people.
Koloratz died of poison in grave
like dungeon below the fortress
On Market place stands the UnlVer-
sity, rivaling the other in splendor or
material and magnificent proportions
also "a free gift" The donor is Ranko
Taisic. once known all over the world
as leader of the Servian radicals-the
peoples party.
To obtain his signature to the deed
Ranko had to be raised out of sewer,
where he stood knee-deep, by ropes;
the sewer flowing under the citadel had
been his prison for two weeks. The for
mer brilliant politician is now bllnd
and crazed, and his free gift to the
SeFVian people is made to turn out in
tellectuaI slaves and rogues and scoun-
drels, such as applaud and (when the
time comes) assassinate, AleXanders,
Dragas and Peters.
And here we have the Lunjevitza
Palace, but recently finished for his
wifes brothers and sisters by the muir
dered King. Who built that? The gar
rison of Belgrade, provisional COVER
nors, office-seekers, army purVeyors,
contractors of all sorts, anybody and
everybody holding a salaried position
under the government, doing business
with ii or wishing to-all were forced
to contribute. Widows and orphans
too, with that difference, however, thai
they were not even asked; his majesty
simply helped himself to the pupilary
funds under the states care. Not q
whole window exists in the palace to-
day, the Porte cocher statuary is in
smithereens. and the sentinel boxes
that, only two weeks ago, were set up
by the doors, are smashed into kind
ling wood.
So much for Belgrade's most con-
spicuous public buildings, contemplate
ed from outside.
Though their history be written in
citizens blood and STEPPED in Kings
shame, the "reminiscences they call w
lose much of their significance when
compared with the memoirs of the Ko-
mack Gold royal palace, citadel and
police headquarters.
Up TO the time of the Turkish evac-
uation the "Konack" was the residence
of the Sublime Porte's viceroy, and as
such fitted with formidable dungeons
and very complete torture chambers
which Milosh, swineherd and first
Prince of Servia, and his successors
Milan and Alexander, subsequently
made liberal use of for political and
private ends. Indeed, it is said that
the existence of these old-time aids
to barbaric injustice made the ancient
pile particularly attractive to the last
Inflated rulers, man and wife. Bel
grade tells of the mysterious disap-
pearance of numerous persons, bidder
to the Konack- and never seen again
by their family and friends and there
are well-defned rumors that several
of these prisoners Of state were muir
dered outright in the subterranear
vaults, while others were spirited away
at night and buried alive in the silent
easements of the fortress.
AS to the torture chambers, Draga S
brother, Nicodem, once described their
horrors to a crowd of drunken army
officers. The would-be princeling, who
was killed a few hours after the Queen
spoke as if he had seen them in full
blast.
The executioner" he said, stripped
the prisoner and then forced him down
upon a wooden horse, two feet high.
Next he bound the culprits feet to two
rings fastA1ed to the floor side by side
then he threw him backwards and
made his hands fast to rings in the
wall some three feet apart. Thus his
head was about on a level with his
feet, while the horse resting under
his back, bent his body into the shape
of a crescent In order to stretch the
limbs more effectually, the execution
er finally took a turn or two on a
winch, which forced the prisoners feet
some six inches nearer the rings.
The prisoner having been given a
taste of what he might expect. was
then admonished to confess, and upon
his refusal water was poured down
his throat by way of a funnel He had
TO swallow quarts upon quarts of liq-
uid, no matter how hard he struggled
and writhed.
If this royal horse did not produce
the desired effect, another, three feet
and a half in hight, was placed be-
meath the prisoners loins instead of
the lower one, thereby giving a much
greater sweep to his body and as the
change was made without lengthening
the cords the limbs were stretched
still more, and the cords cut into the
flesh about the wrists and ankles, I'M
til the blood flowed freely.
THE torture was at once renewed