Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-03-08
IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
Barbaric Car Who Loved to Burn,
Boil and Torture His Subjects.


Boil and Torture His Subjects.
Some OF the reasons why Ivan, czar
of Russia, was called ''the Terrible"
have been retold by X. Waliszewski in
his book. Persons who displeased him
he would saw asunder by the constant
rubbing of rope around their waists
or sprinkle alternately with ice cold
and boiling water. He marked his
sense OF bad jest by deluging the
perpetrator with boiling soup and then
running him through with a knife
He rebuked an unmannerly envoy by
summonlng carpenter AID ordering
him to nail the mans hat on his head.
There were also wholesale orgies, as
at the punishment of Novgorod, when
he had hundred persons roasted over
slow fire by a new and ingenious
process and then run down on sledges
into the river to be drowned At
Moscow the car had disappoint-
ment. There was to be a great exc
cution OF 300 victims VINO had already
been tortured to the last extremity,
and loyal subjects had been summoned
to the function. 'To lvan-s astonish-
ment the great square was empty.
The instruments of torture that stood
ready-the stoves and red hot pinchers
and iron claws and needles, the cords,
the great coppers full Of boiling water
had failed to attract this time.
but there had been too much Of
this sort Of thing lately, and the exc
cutioners were growing too long
armed. Every man sought to hide
deeper than his neighbor. The car
had to send reassuring messages all
over the town. Come along! Don't
be afraid! Nobody will be hurtv At
last out of cellars and garrets the nee
essary spectators were tempted forth,
and forthwith Ivan, ineXhaustible and
quite unabashed, began lengthy
speech. Could he do less than punish
the traitors? But he had promised to
be merciful, and he would keep his
word! Out of the 300 who h~l been
sentenced 100 should have their livesw
Torture and execution were, however,
in the case of Ivan very much more
than the mere instruments Of barbaric
justice. They were his recreation and
delight. AS a boy his amusement was
to throw dogs down from the top Of
one of the castle terraces and watch
their dying agOnies. AS a man he
used to go the round Of the torture
chambers after dinner. One of his
first crimes was the execution of his
earliest friend, Feodor Vorontsov.
One of his last was the murder of his
own son.
According to WalisZewski, it was
the recognized thing in Russia for the
upper dog to make things as uncOm-
Portable for the under dog as knouts
and slow fires could make them. So
''the Terrible" only talked of his sub
jects in the language they could most
readily understand. Ivan was by no
means unpopular with the people. In
many ways he was an enlightened
and progressive monarch. He took
the first steps toward the founding Of
Russia's great eastern empire. He
made more or less successful attempts
toward political and legal reform, and
he had a certain gift Of leadership and
instinct Of craftsmanship which he
used to the best advantage. Personal
ly he was q coward, as was shown at
the siege Of Kasan, when he kept dill
gently at his devotions in spite Of the
repeated entreaties of his men to come
out and help them.