thumb-screw

It is often attempted to palliate slavery by comparing the state of slaves with our poorer countrymen: if the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin; but how this bears on slavery, I cannot see; as well might the use of the thumb-screw be defended in one land, by showing that men in another land suffered from some dreadful disease.

Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

It is often attempted to palliate slavery by comparing the state of slaves with our poorer countrymen: if the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin; but how this bears on slavery, I cannot see; as well might the use of the thumb-screw be defended in one land, by showing that men in another land suffered from some dreadful disease.

Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

The rack and thumb-screw will be used to extract secrets.

Morality as a Religion An exposition of some first principles W. R. Washington Sullivan

For fine work, fence _D_ has a lateral adjustment by means of a thumb-screw.

Handwork in Wood William Noyes

He saw ahead of him the rack, the thumb-screw, and the boot; the long years in a slimy dungeon -- at the best the executioner's scimitar.

The Book of Missionary Heroes Basil Mathews

Among the errors of the past we find the "rack," the "thumb-screw," the

The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume 1, January, 1880 Various

A more severe but more unusual punishment is the "thumb-screw."

Among the Pines or, South in Secession Time James R. Gilmore

The _veneer-scraper_, Fig. 151, has the advantage that the blade may be sprung to a slight curve by a thumb-screw in the middle of the back, just as an ordinary scraper is when held in the hands.

Handwork in Wood William Noyes

Many a sufferer has borne the agony of the boots or the thumb-screw without flinching, whose courage has given way under the less painful but more unendurable punishment of prolonged imprisonment.

The Opium Habit Horace B. Day

A more severe but more unusual punishment is the 'thumb-screw.'

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, April, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various