We then proceeded, said Col. L., to explore another room on the left.
Here we found the instruments of torture, of every kind which the
ingenuity of men or devils could invent. Col. L., here described four
of these horrid instruments. The first was a machine by which the victim
was confined, and then, beginning with the fingers, every joint in the
hands, arms and body, were broken or drawn one after another, until the
victim died. The second was a box, in which the head and neck of the
victim were so closely confined by a screw that he could not move in any
way. Over the box was a vessel, from which one drop of water a second,
fell upon the head of the victim;--every successive drop falling upon
precisely the same place on the head, suspended the circulation in a few
moments, and put the sufferer in the most excruciating agony. The third
was an infernal machine, laid horizontally, to which the victim was
bound; the machine then being placed between two beams, in which were
scores of knives so fixed that, by turning the machine with a crank, the
flesh of the sufferer was torn from his limbs, all in small pieces. The
fourth surpassed the others in fiendish ingenuity. Its exterior was
a beautiful woman, or large doll, richly dressed, with arms extended,
ready, to embrace its victim. Around her feet a semi-circle was drawn.
The victim who passed over this fatal mark, touched a spring which
caused the diabolical engine to open; its arms clasped him, and a
thousand knives cut him into as many pieces in the deadly embrace. Col.
L., said that the sight of these engines of infernal cruelty kindled the
rage of the soldiers to fury. They declared that every inquisitor and
soldier of the inquisition should be put to the torture. Their rage was
ungovernable. Col. L., did not oppose them. They might have turned their
arms against him if he had attempted to arrest their work. They began
with the holy fathers. The first they put to death in the machine for
breaking joints. The torture of the inquisitor put to death by the
dropping of water on his head was most excruciating. The poor man cried
out in agony to be taken from the fatal machine. The inquisitor general
was brought before the infernal engine called "The Virgin." He begged to
be excused. "No" said they, "you have caused others to kiss her, and
now you must do it." They interlocked their bayonets so as to form large
forks, and with these pushed him over the deadly circle. The beautiful
image instantly prepared for the embrace, clasped him in its arms,
and he was cut into innumerable pieces. Col. L. said, he witnessed the
torture of four of them--his heart sickened at the awful scene--and he
left the soldiers to wreak their vengeance on the last guilty inmate of
that prison-house of hell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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