Narrative of Charles Ball, American slave, on waterboarding torture by a slave owner in Georgia:

SOURCE: Ball, Charles.  Fifty Years in Chains; or, The Life of an American Slave. New York: H. Dayton, 1859. (Read the full account here).

When I had been here about a week, my master came into the field one day, and, in passing near me, stopped and told me, that I had now fallen into good hands, as it was his practice not to whip his people much. That he, in truth, never whipped them, nor suffered his overseer to whip them, except in flagrant cases. That he had discovered a mode of punishment much more mild, and, at the same time, much more effectual, than flogging; and that he governed his negroes exclusively under this mode of discipline. He then told me, that when I came home in the evening, I must come to the house; and that he would then make me acquainted with the principles upon which he chastised his slaves.

Going to the house in the evening, according to orders, my master showed me a pump, set in a well in which the water rose within ten feet of the surface of the ground. The spout of this pump, was elevated at least thirteen feet above the earth, and when the water was to be drawn from it, the person who worked the handle ascended by a ladder to the proper station. The water in this well, although so near the surface, was very cold; and the pump discharged it in a large stream. One of the women employed in the house, had committed some offence for which she was to be punished; and the opportunity was embraced of exhibiting to me, the effect of this novel mode of torture upon the human frame. The woman was stripped quite naked, and tied to a post that stood just under the stream of water, as it fell from the spout of the pump. A lad was then ordered to ascend the ladder, and pump water upon the head and shoulders of the victim; who had not been under the waterfall more than a minute, before she began to cry and scream in a most lamentable manner. In a short time, she exerted her strength, in the most convulsive throes, in trying to escape from the post; but as the cords were strong, this was impossible. After another minute or a little more, her cries became weaker, and soon afterwards her head fell forward upon her breast; and then the boy was ordered to cease pumping the water. The woman was removed in a state of insensibility; but recovered her faculties in about an hour. The next morning she complained of lightness of head; but was able to go to work.

This punishment of the pump, as it is called, was never inflicted on me; and I am only able to describe it, as it has been described to me, by those who have endured it. When the water first strikes the head and arm, it is not at all painful; but in a very short time, it produces the sensation that is felt when heavy blows are inflicted with large rods, of the size of a man’s finger. This perception becomes more and more painful, until the skull bone and shoulder blades appear to be broken in pieces. Finally, all the faculties become oppressed; breathing becomes more and more difficult; until the eye-sight becomes dim, and animation ceases. This punishment is in fact a temporary murder; as all the pains are endured, that can be felt by a person who is deprived of life by being beaten with bludgeons;–but after the punishment of the pump, the sufferer is restored to existence by being laid in a bed, and covered with warm clothes. A giddiness of the head, and oppression of the breast, follows this operation, for a day or two, and sometimes longer. The object of calling me to be a witness of this new mode of torture, doubtlessly, was was to intimidate me from running away; but like medicines administered by empirics, the spectacle had precisely the opposite effect, from that which it was expected to produce.

After my arrival on this estate, my intention had been to defer my elopement until the next year, before I had seen the torture inflicted on this unfortunate woman; but from that moment my resolution was unalterably fixed, to escape as quickly as possible. Such was my desperation of feeling, at this time, that I deliberated seriously upon the project of endeavouring to make my way southward, for the purpose of joining the Indians in Florida. Fortune reserved a more agreeable fate for me.

***

[UPDATE: See more on waterboarding in history at: http://balkin.blogspot.com/2007/11/waterboarding-through-ages.html]

BRAZIL: NEVER AGAIN[1]

Brasil: Nunca Mais is a study of state repression during the Brazilian military dictatorship from 1964-1985. Undertaken clandestinely by a team of lawyers, clergymen, and others, the study is based entirely on the Brazilian government’s own records of interrogations, disappearances, and other operations taken on in the name of national security. The documents were photocopied secretly until the archives of the Supreme Military Tribunal were reproduced. To date, the identity of many of the project’s participants is unknown. The book was first published in 1985, the final year of the Brazilian dictatorship. It is an abridged version of the complete work, which is over 5,000 pages long.

The Brazilian dictatorship opened Pandora’s Box on officially-sanctioned torture in 1964. Torture remains widespread and systematic in Brazil to this day.[2]

*****

Preface by Cardinal Arns, Archbishop of São Paulo (May 3, 1985)

…

4. What has most impressed me throughout the years of my vigilance against torture is, however, the following: how the very torturers degrade themselves.

…

Chapter 2: The methods and instruments of torture

So states article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed by Brazil: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

In twenty years of Military Government, this principle was ignored by Brazilian authorities. Our study revealed nearly one hundred different torture techniques–using physical aggression and psychological pressure–and with the most varied of instruments applied on Brazilian political prisoners. Court documents reveal in rich detail this criminal activity done under the auspices of the State. The depositions, here partially transcribed, demonstrate the principal methods and instruments of torture adopted by the repression in Brazil.

The parrot’s perch

“… The parrot’s perch consists of an iron bar that is introduced between the bound wrists and the bends of the knees; that ‘arrangment’ is placed between two tables and the body of the tortured remains hanging 20 or 30 centimeters above the floor. This method is almost never used in isolation; its usual ‘complements’ are electroshocks, the wooden bat or club, and the drowning [waterboarding]…”[3] (emphasis added).

The drowning [waterboarding] (emphasis added)

“…The drowning is one of the ‘complements’ of the parrot’s perch. A small rubber tube is introduced into the mouth of the tortured and water then follows…”[4]

“…, and had introduced into his nostrils, into his mouth, a hose of running water, which he was forced to breathe in each time he received a charge of electric shocks;…”[5]

“drowning by means of a wet towel in the mouth: when one has almost stopped breathing, one receives a jet of water in the nostrils;…”[6]

…

Chapter 3: The torture of children, women, and pregnant women

…

[1] Brasil: Nunca Mais [Brazil: Never Again]. 34th Ed., Petropolis: Editora Vozes, 2005. (Originally published by the Archdiocese of São Paulo in 1985. [Translation by Stop Torture.]

[2] See U.N. Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, 57th sess., agenda item 11(a), Report of the Special Rapporteur, Sir Nigel Rodley, Submitted Pursuant to Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2000/43, Addendum: Visit to Brazil, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2001/Add.2 (2001).

[3] Augusto César Salles Galvão, student, 21 years old, Belo Horizonte; handwritten letter, 1970: BNM no. 150, V. 2, p. 448-450.

[4] Supra note 2.

[5] José Milton Ferreira de Almeida, engineer, 31 years old, Rio de Janeiro; identification and interrogation deposition, 1976: BNM no. 43, V. 2, p. 421-430.

[6] Leonardo Valentini, steelworker, 22 years old, Rio de Janeiro; identification and interrogation deposition, 1973: BNM 75, V. 5o, p. 1277.