United States the third degree has attained a revolting ill-fame.
But the American third degree must be paradise in comparison with what
can only be described as its equivalent in Germany. The Teuton method is
far more effective and brutal. The man is not badgered, coaxed, and
threatened in the hope of extorting a signed confession, but he is
condemned to loneliness, silence and solitude amid a gloom which can be
felt, and which within a short time eats into your very soul. Add to
this complete deprivation of exercise and insufficient, un-nourishing,
food, and one can gather some faint idea of the effect which is wrought
upon the human body. The German idea is to wear down a man physically as
well as mentally, until at last he is brought to the verge of insanity
and collapse. By breaking the bodily strength and undermining the mind
he is reduced to such a deplorable condition as to render him as pliable
as putty in the hands of his accusers. He is rendered absolutely
incapable of defending himself. He fails to realise what is said against
him or the significance of his own words.

His brain is the first to succumb to the strain, utter loneliness
speedily conducing to this result, aggravated by a sensation which is
produced by walking the cell, and which I will describe later.
Consequently he invariably achieves with his own mouth what his
persecutors desire--his own condemnation. To make their devilry
complete German justice resorts to a final phase which seals the fate of
the poor wretch irrevocably, as I will narrate.

I had been deprived of every belonging. I was denied paper, pencil and
reading material. Solitary confinement in Germany is carried out in
strict accordance with the interpretation of the term. One is left alone
with one's thoughts. At intervals of ten minutes the gaoler opens the
peep-hole and peers within. Consequently you are under constant
surveillance, and this contributes towards the unhinging of the mind.
Night and day, without a break, the peep-hole opens with mechanical
regularity. Not only is all mental exercise denied but physical exercise
as well. All that one can do towards stretching one's limbs is to pace
the tiny cell. The method is typically Prussian, and is complete in its
Prussian thoroughness and devilishness.

I sat down upon my bed with my bleeding, aching head in my hands, an
object of abject misery. Not a sound beyond the clanging of doors was to
be heard, punctuated at frequen