The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-11-14
IN, EN1lONs AS BooMERANu.,.
Fatality Has Doggcd Men Who De-
signed Instruments of Torture.

Fatality Has Doggcd Men Who De-
signed Instruments of Torture.
The lot of the average inventor
usually Is not happy one, and most
! of his troubles are peculiar to the
sphere Of usefulness which he occu-
pies. Comparatively few inventions
are perfected before the inventor
has been subjected to long series
of disappointments incident to the
| unsuccessful experiments, difficulties
! In raising necessary funds, and the
cold shoulder which the world turns
to the man who employs all his time
In attempts to make seemingly
wild dream come true.
But even after the last experiment
has demonstrated the fact that the
long days and nights spent In the
laboratory have not been spent in
vain, the inventor often finds that
fame and fortune have no mind to
lift the latch of his door. One man
may rob him of his title as inventor;
another may filch from him the
monetary reward of his labors.
Then, too, Death sometimes has in
tervened and the reward has taken
the form of empty honors for the
dead.
Deaths of inventors as a result OF
dangerous experiments have been of
frequent occurrence, but it is not
generally known that remarkable
species of fatality has dogged the
steps of men who have devised in
struments to be used to torture or
kill their fellow men. Following is a
list of inventors who were punished
by their own inventions.
Bastile-Hugues Aubriot, Provost
of Paris. who rebuilt and improved
the Bastile, was himself confined
therein. The charge against him
was heresy.
Brazen Bull-Perillos, who in
vented the Brazen Bull for Phalaris,
Tyrant of Agrigentum, was the first
person baked to death In the horri-
BILE monster.
Haman, son Of Hammedatha, the
Amalekite, of the race of Agag, de-
vised a gallows fifty cubits high, on
which to hang Mordecai, by way of
commencing the extirpation of the
Jews; but the favorite of Ahasuerus
was himself hanged on his gigantic
gallows. In modern history we have
a repetition OF this incident In the
case of Enguerrand de Marigni, Min
lister of Finance to Philip the Fair,
who was hung on the gibbet which
he had erected at Montfaucon for
the execution of certain felons; and
four Of his successors in Office under
went the same fate.
Matthew Hopkins, the witch find-
er, was himself tried by his own
tests, and put to death as a wizard.
Iron Cage-The Bishop of Ver-
dun. who invented the Iron Cages.
too small to let the person confined
In them to stand upright or lie at
full length, was the first to be shut
up In one; and Cardinal La Balue,
who recommended them to Louis
XII, was himself confined in one for
ten years.
Iron Shroud-Ludovico Sforza,
who invented the Iron Shroud, was
the first to suffer death by this hor-
rible torture.
Maiden-The Regent Morton of
Scotland. who invented the maiden,
sort Of guillotine, was the first to
be beheaded thereby. This was in
the reign Of Queen Elizabeth
observation-disclosures introduced
the custom of ostracism, and was the
first to be banished thereby.
The Perriere was an instrument
for throwing stones OF three thou
sand pounds in weight; and the in
ventor fell victim to his own in
vention by the accidental discharge
of Perriere against a wall.
Porta a Faenza-Filippo Strozzi
counseled the Duke Alessandro de-
Medici to construct the Porta a
Faenza to intimadate the Floren-
tines, and here he was himself mur-
dered.
Utropius induced the Emperor
Arcadius to abolish the benefit of
sanctuary; but few days after
ward he committed some offense and
fled for safety to the nearest church.
St Chrysostom told him he had fall
en- into his own net, and he was put
to death.