Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1905-01-12
CAR IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
Instances of His Cruelty Which Are
without Parallel in Worlds
History.

SOME VI Tic ICdbOhD W ~ ANSAb S@sNA -
Russia, was called "the Terrible have
been retold'by X. Waliszewski in his re-
cent book, says the Chicago Daily News
Persons who displeased him he would
saw asunder by the constant rubbingof q
rope round the waist, or sprinkle alter
nately 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
knife. He rebuked an unmannerly en-
voy by summoning carpenter and Or
dering 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
a slow fire by new and ingenious proc
ess and then run down on sledges into
the river to be drowned. At Moscow the
car had a disappointment There was
to be a great execution Of 300 victims
who had already been tortured to the
last extremity and loyal subjects had
been summoned to the function. ITO
Ivan's establishment the great square
was empty. The instruments Of torture
that stood ready-the stoves and red
hot pincers 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
neighbor The czar 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
a lengthy speech. Could he Go 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 1870 should have their lives!"
Torture and execution weres 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 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, Feodpre
Vorontsov; one of his last was the muir
der of his own son.
According to Waliszewski, 1t 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, 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 re-
form, and he had certain gift Of lead
ership and instinct Of statesmanship
which he used to best advantage. Per-
sohally he was 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.