The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-01-06
GAR IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
Instances Of His Cruelty Which Are
Without Parallel in Worlds
History.

Some OF the reasons why Ivan czar of
Russia, was called ''the Terrible" have
been retold by K. Waliszewski in his re-
cent book, says the Chicago Daily News
Persons who displeased him he would
saw asunder by the constant rubbing of a
rope round the waist, or sprinkle alter
nateiy with ice-cold and boiling water
He marked his sense of a bad lest nv
deluglng the perpetrator with boiling
soup and then running him through with
a kni1e. he rebuked an unmannerly en-
Voy Dy summoning carpenter and or
oerlng MIN to nail the mans hat on his
neao. Ihere were also wholesale orgies.
as at the punishment of Novgorod, when
ne nao hundred persons roasted over
SLOW tlre by new and ingenious proc
ess ana then run down on sledges into
the river to be drowned AT Moscow the
car mad disappointment. There was
10 De great execution of 600 Victims
VINO had already been tortured to the
last extremity and loyal subjects hat,
Deen summoned to the function s"To
vans establishment the great square
was empty. The instruments of torture
that stood ready-the stoves and red
not plncers and iron claws and needles
the cords. the great coppers full of boil
Ing Water-had failed to attract this
time
But there had been too much of this
sort OF thing lately, and the execution
ers were growing too long armed. Every
man sought to hide deeper than his
nelghbor. The car had to send reassur-
Ing messages all over the town: Come
along! Don't be afraid! Nobody will
be hurt! At last, out of cellars and gar
rets the necessary spectators were
tempted forth, and forthwith Ivan, in
exhaustible and quite unabashed. began
lengthy speech. Could he do less than
punish the traitors? But he had prom
ised to be merciful, and he would keep
his WORD! Out of the 300 who had been
sentenced $50. should have their livesi"
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 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 din
ner. One of his first crimes was the ex-
ecution of his earliest friend, Feodore
| yorontsoy; one of his last was the mur-
der of his own son.
! According to WaliszeVskil It was the
recognized thing in Russia for the upper
dog to make things as uncomfortable
for the under dog as knouts and slow
fires could make them. So 'the Terri
BILE" only talked to his subjects in the
language they could most readily under
stand. Ivan was by no means unpopu-
lar with the people. ? . many ways he
4 was an enlightened aid 2f1 e
monarch: He tae Sk the hrs teps toward
me tSSGhding of Russia's great eastern
I empire; he made more or less successful
attempts toward political md legal re-
form, and he had certain giftof load
ership and instinct of Nstatesmanship
which he used to- best advantage Per-
sonally he was a coward. as was shown
at the siege of Kasan, where he kept dill
gently to his devotions in spite of the re-
| peated entreaties of his men to come and
help them