come to take possession of the city's wealth,
and they set themselves faithfully to accomplish their task. For gold,
infants were dashed out of existence in their mothers' arms; for gold,
parents were tortured in their children's presence; for gold, brides were
scourged to death before their husbands' eyes. Wherever, treasure was
suspected, every expedient which ingenuity; sharpened by greediness,
could suggest, was employed to-extort it from its possessors. The fire,
spreading more extensively and more rapidly than had been desired through
the wealthiest quarter of the city, had unfortunately devoured a vast
amount of property. Six millions, at least, had thus been swallowed; a
destruction by which no one had profited. There was, however, much left.
The strong boxes of the merchants, the gold, silver, and precious
jewelry, the velvets, satins, brocades, laces, and similar well
concentrated and portable plunder, were rapidly appropriated. So far the
course was plain and easy, but in private houses it was more difficult.
The cash, plate, and other valuables of individuals were not so easily
discovered. Torture was, therefore; at once employed to discover the
hidden treasures. After all had been, given, if the sum seemed too
little, the proprietors were brutally punished for their poverty or their
supposed dissimulation. A gentlewoman, named Fabry, with her aged mother
and other females of the family, had taken refuge in the cellar of her
mansion. As the day was drawing to a close, a band of plunderers entered,
who, after ransacking the house, descended to the cellarage. Finding the
door barred, they forced it open with gunpowder. The mother, who was
nearest the entrance, fell dead on the threshold. Stepping across her
mangled body, the brigands sprang upon her daughter, loudly demanding the
property which they believed to be concealed. They likewise insisted on
being informed where the master of the house had taken refuge.
Protestations of ignorance as to hidden treasure, or the whereabouts of
her husband, who, for aught she knew, was lying dead in the streets, were
of no avail. To make her more communicative, they hanged her on a beam in
the cellar, and after a few moments cut her down before life was extinct.
Still receiving no satisfactory reply, where a satisfactory reply was
impossible, they hanged her again. Again, after another brief interval
they gave her a second release, and a fresh interrogatory. This barbarity