ON SUSPECTED PERSONS. 217 



still further confessions before the punishment of 

 death is carried into effect. Alas ! no : this punish- 

 ment, more severe than, according to our notions, 

 the most heinous offence would require, was in- 

 flicted on these unfortunate fellows, not because 

 they had confessed — not because there were any, 

 even the remotest, suspicions against them — but 

 because they chanced to have the misfortune to 

 reside in the same street lohere the murder had 

 been committed. 



Proceeding along the balcony, we came to a 

 room, where a man in, if possible, a still more 

 horrible state of emaciation, and apparently suf- 

 fering mtense bodily pain, was chained to a post 

 in the centre by irons round both his ankles, a 

 rope round his waist, supporting the upper part 

 of his body, and preventing him from bending 

 over and falling to the ground, as, from his state 

 of extreme fatigue and exhaustion, he would have 

 been liable to do, on account of his not having 

 sufficient physical strength left to keep himself 

 upright. At the time we saw him his body was 

 almost entirely supported by the rope. Our en- 

 trance aroused him ; he seemed enlivened at see- 

 ing the countenances of strangers, and made a 



L 



