The lips of the wretched criminal who was thus stretched on the rack above described were moving convulsively. On the floor below him was a sullen Gaoler, and, to judge from the bruises on the fleshy parts of his thighs, it had been freely applied. He was standing in front of him, wobbling about. One of the Gaolers, who had been previously posted outside to keep watch, was also present.
"You had better tell the truth, you wretch," said the Gaoler in a stern tone. "It is better to confess at once," he added. "Mercy," he said with a significant glance at a book, "I shall have to make you suffer." After a few moments' hesitation, the prisoner, who was accused of having taken part in an aggravated assault upon a woman, signified a reluctant assent.
A clerk of the Court came forward, escorted the criminal to a table where he was made to affix his thumb impression with ink onto the deposition to be held below to receive it. I watched the criminal being taken down from the rack, and I could see that his clothes beneath his right armpit were drenched.