The Alaska daily empire., 1914-09-17
LA HAGUE By Gertrude B. MaHoas
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earned recent fame as VehtSl iV' the peace propaganda, 1t has several points of great historical interest By the side of the fish pond in the center of the city rises q group of buildings known as the Binnenhof, surrounding an open cout.. which is entered by several gates. Many of these build ings are very old, and the square which they enclose has been the scene of some great events in the history of Holland.
 It was in this square on the 24th of May in 1919 that the aged Grand Pensionary John Van oldenbarneveld was executed through the Influence of Prince Maurice of Orange. The Pen siopary was a distinguished represen- tative of the democratic element, and Prince Maurice Is known in the hall of fame as one of the greatest gener- als of the past. But though the Prince was a great general the curse of his blessing came with too much power. He was man of quick temper and great impatience and his utter intoi- lerance of opposition led him to per petrate the judicial murder of olten- barneveId, deed which has ever since cast It's cloud over his name. We rather like to think of characters as having decided shades either Of good or of evil and any opposition of one admired hero to another seems unnatural.
 Just east of the Binnenhot one
 meets the Maurice House Museum of
 paintings, which contains some very celebrated pictures. perhaps the most
 famous of which Is Rembrandts
 school of Anatomy" and a close
 ranking second is Paul Potters "Young Bull" which Napoleon carried
 on to Paris once as prize, spurning
 the Dutch Governments offer of SS6.-
 900 to leave 1t.
 At the Navy Office one gets gimp
 SC of hundreds of models of ships, guns and light houses. all constructed
 with wonderful skill. But the saddest
 of all is the collection of relics of a
 party sent in search of the northwest passage to China in 1895. all of whom fell victims to the severe climate. On Iy few years ago. comparatively, the things were found and brought back and one sees in the collection cooking utensils, instruments, guns and spears, books and fragments of paper with writing on them now no longer legible. i One of the most interesting places in Ia Hague is the old Gegangenwort prison. which Is situated short dis tance west of the Binnenhof It was built over gateway through which today's busy throng passes unceasing- : ly, unmindful of the gloomy memories which cluster around that ancient pile. One is admitted through a heavy wooden door and is allowed to ramble around at his leisure. The building is three stories high and con tains about twenty cells. On each massive door is an inscription in Dutch. French and English. recording the fact for which the adjoining ap- partments is especially famous. The windows are small and have double sets of bars. The winding stairs to the upper floors remind one of three of many branches. Perhaps one of the most interesting of the compart- ments in a cell which is itself within a cell. The rays of light that struggle through the bars are almost entirely intercepted by the inner bars. and beside the ordinary terrors of the place the prisoners had to suffer In semi-darkness. The inscription on the door reads Cell of Pistorius." A custodian leading one about through the prison will explain the history of this cell in a rough hoarse voice. and then strike a match and point out red figures on the wall and 1t requires but little Imagination to put oneself in the mood of the one time prisoner and feel something of the terrors and horror of the place.
 Another cell is labeled "Place where Women were strangled" and in this one there is a collection of the in- struments of torture which makes one involuntarily shudder. Strangely at variance with the whole atmOs- phere of the room. one slghtseer chanced, after an afternoon spent in examining the prison, to open door leading off from the last mentioned | cell. half expecting to find a pile of bones, or some other grim relic of the history of the room, his amaze ment can be imagined when he was confronted by the painted visage of a very ordinary child's rocking.horse. And one sees the meeting of the six teenth century with the twentieth century, and marvels how the love of a child puts to shame the hate of man.
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