TORTURE IN A PRISON.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5220, 23 December 1927, Page 4

TORTURE IN A PRISON.

MANI WEEKS AGONI- *'

SOUTH AMERICAN “JUSTICE.”

Ten or twelve iishermcui and harbour pilots whose work brought tnern at sunrise a few weeks ago to the far end of the mole at St. Naza re, France looked curiously at an Englishwoman wno stood at tiie extreme prnjit of the pier. Braving, tne raim squall and ciouds of spray around her, she stood—a lone figure—for several nuurS gazing ,across tne water. At iast she exclaimed: “Tnere sue is—l can seq her I” Through the mists of the da.wn the watchers could then, see on tne horizon the funnels, of the French lines i J erou, aboard which was the woman’s nusband a captain ox tne Bi'itisn Mercantile Marine.

Tne woman was Mrs Brining, of BlundeUsanus, near Liverpool, ana sue had travelled from tnere to tne French seaport so that at the first opportunity she could receive her husuand, who was being delivered back to her from a foreign prison. Captain P. R. Brining w,as the master of the Leyland liner Ninian, and he was returning from Puerto Cabedo, Venezuela, where he had endured such terrible conditions in gaol that he could recount them only in whispers to his friend- When in the first Week of April last the ship he commanded was entering the Venezuelan port its propeller struck a mcp.ring-.boat, one of the occupants of which .was inn jured. The man subsequently died. Captain Brining was arrested and charged with murder, the; charge being reduced later to that of “frustrated murder.” Some time .afterwards when the full facts had been published, and when protests had been madq to the Venezuelan Government, he was released. Foi- six weeks, however, he was ipin prisoned without trial, and during that time he underwent such experiences and witnessed such spectacles that his health has been affected very seriously. Decency, says the “Daily Mail,” forbids that many of the incidents of his incarceration shpuld be revealed, but months must elapse before his physical appearance ceases to bear witness to them. On one of his wrists there was an ugly gash resembling a bullet wound, and when he was asked wfiat had caused it he said it was “a prison sore ” and that he had many of them on his body. He bared his arms to reveal that they were pitted with similar disfigurements, and remarked, with a hearty laugh, that they would be cured very soon now.

Later it was learned from, the officers of the Perou, in which vessel Captain Brining had travelled from Venezuela, that on the voyage; he had undergone the most drastic surgical treatment so that a. cure might be affected. The chief surgeon of the liner had stated that the only remedy for the wounds was to heal them by burning.

While crossing the Atlantic Captain Brining submitted 40 times to having his flesh seared by the insertion. of red-hot steel pencils. The; officers of the French ship praisedirs fortitude in withstanding these operations without a murmur.

An hour or two after the accident at Puerto Cabello, where tne propeller of Captain Brining’s ship struck the small boat, notwithstanding repeated orders that it should not conceal itself under the stern, a Venezuelan official went on hoard and told the cammandw to consider him tclf under arrest on a charge of murder. The official added that he was prepared to u;a force if Captain Brining did not surrender himself at once.

Captain Brining was then for a. few days placed on parole at the British consulate, but soon he was again taken into custody and was placed in a cell in the police The only chance of exercise given to him was to walk in the courtyard among a crowd of negro prisoners. Naturally he declined to submit to degradation of this kind.

It was then decided by. the authorities that Captain Brining should b' e put hr an old prison which was bttilt in the time of Drake. With a display of courtesy by the State, he was conveyed there in a cab, but after a short acquaintance with the place he refused tb

Around him he saw, in- his new gaol, prisoners employed about the yard with iron weights attached to their ankles, and he declared bluntly that lie would not join them. His protest was s.o vigorous and effective that he was taken back to his old cell behind the police station. He says that even that place was dreadful. It stank and was overrun with vermin, although every day the British Vice-Consul sent some of his servants to the pris;on in an effort to clean the ceil. • Captain Brining described numerous dreadful scenes he had been forced to witness in his Venezuelan- prison. One is sufficient to envisage al]. Two persons were brought into the office at the end of his cell, and were charged with unseemly behaviour. It was obviously the intention of the officers who had made the# arrest to provoke the prisoners to a show of anger. They steadfastly refused, however, to be baited. Then one of the attendant policemen lashed them across the face with a whip. After long lashing they were reduced to insensibility. While they lay prostrate and unconscious police officers poured buckets of water over them and left them to recover as best they could.

At St. Nazaire Captain Brining had a remarkable international welcome back to Europe. Officers from ships of many nations then in port gathered to greet him. Captaip Brining insisted in all his replies that his freedom had been brought about by the influence of the Press.