The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-09
IVAN THE TERRIBLE
MONSTER OF CRUELTY THAT
ONCE RULED RUSSIA.
Torture and Execution Of Those Who
Had Dspleased Him His Chief De-
Ilght-ln Some Ways an Enlieht-
ened and Progressive Monarch.

Some of the reasons why Ivan, Gear
Of Russia, was called "the Terrible"
have been retold by X. WaIisewski in
his recent book Persons who dis
pleased him he would saw asunder
by the constant rubbing of a rope
round the waist, or sprinkle alternate
ly with ice-cold and boiling water. He
marked his sense of bad jest by de-
luging the perpetrator with boiling
soup and then running him through
with knife. He rebuked an unman-
nerly envoy by summoning a carpen-
ter and ordering him to nail the mans
hat ON his head There were also
wholesale orgies, as at the punish
ment of Novgorod, when he had hun
dred persons roasted over a slow fire
by a new and ingenious process and
then run down on sledges into the
river to be drowned. At Moscow the
Czar had a disappointment. There
was to be a great execution of 300 vic
Tins who had already been tortured
to the last extremity, and loyal sub
jects had been summoned to the func-
tion. ITO Ivan's astonishment the
great square was empty The instru-
ments or torture that stood ready
the stoves and red-hot pincers and
iron claws and needless 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 ex-
ecutioners were growing too long
armed. Every man sought to hide
deeper than his neighbor The Gear
had to send reassuring messages all
over the town. Come along. Don't
be afraid Nobody will be hurt. At
last, out of cellars and garrets the
necessary spectators were tempted
forth, aud forthwith Ivan, inexhausti-
BILE and quite unabashed, began a
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 500 who had
been sentenced 1S0 should have their
1 livesl" 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 ter
races and watch their dying agonies.
LAS q man he used to go the round Of
the torture chambers after dinner.
/ lOao - b;o Rrcf o-i,,, &c moe tho axonu.
tion Of his earliest friend, Feodor Vor-
| ontsov; one of his last was the muir
| Her of his own son.
According to Waliszewski it was the
/ recognized thing in Russia for the up
per dog to make things as uncomfort-
able for the under dog as knouts and
slow fires could make them. So "the
Terrible" only talked to his subjects
4 in the language they could most read
! kly understand. Ivan was by no
means unpopular with the people. In
| many ways he was an enlightened
ind progressive monarch. He took
| he first steps toward the founding of
4 l3ussia's great eastern empire; he
4 made more or less successful attempts
/ Toward political and legal reform. and
he had certain gift of leadership and
4 tnstinct of craftsmanship which he
/ used to the best advantage. Person
| ally he was coward, as was shown
4 at the siege of Kasan, when he kept
diligently to his devotions in spite Of
the repeated entreaties of his men to
come and help them.