The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-12-18 00:00:00

EIGHT GAROTTERS FLOGGED AT
LEEDS.

On Saturday afternoon eight men, Who at the recent Leeds
gaol delivery had been convicted of robberies with violence,
were muddied with 24 strokes each of the cat-o'uine tails in
the borougk gaol, as ordered by Mr. Justice Lush. Two new
" cats," of a formidable character, had been specially made
by a Leeds sadder for the occasion. About eighteen inches
in length, each lash has at the end three strings id whipcord,
with nine knots on each string, and it told with " marked
effect upon the hare shoulders of each criminal. The follow-
ing were the convicts who had to undergo punishment:—
Thomas Kilmartin, 23, convicted of aqsaulting and
robbing Hugh Gallagher, at Leeds, had been only
once convicted, but he was well known to the police as
having been concerned in numerous offences against
the law, always escaping punishment by either getting
another member of the gang implicated, or by " round-
ing " upon his associates when they got into trouhle.
Richard Walker, 24, Henry Rollitt, 24, John Cusick,
22, and John Farley, 29, had been found guilty of
assaulting and rob, ingThomas Edward Till at Sheffield.
Walker and Cusick had been several times previously
convicted. William Craven, 28, and James lioltues,
2:4, were in trouble for being concerned in garotting
and robbing John Gibson, at Whitkirk. William
Jennings, 18, convicted of an assault and robbery at
Bradford, had been sentenced to twelve months' im-
prisonment and two dozen lashes.
A correspondent thus describes the Infliction of the pun-
ishment

.....
Walker was the Erst man who was attached to the
halbert's. lie was no it hardened,
.throughout the
whole of his junbbmnt never uttertng a groan, but
only occareonally grasping the timber to which he was
affixed in a convulsive style. At his text, enth stroke,
his energy entirely gave way, and he cried out nht
the twenty-third lash fell upon his shoulders, as if he
were no longer able to control his feelings. His bock
appeared to be fearfully punished.
• •

Holmes was next brought out. Like a coward he
sang out when the second stroke was administered, an
if he hoped thereby to procure some consolation at
the hands of the stalwart warden, who wielded the
"cat." When the sentence of corporal punishment
was over, he cried out in a shivering dolorous manner,
"Thank GA. it is now over!" and also attempted to
give a bravado appearance as he disappeared into the
. . . . . .

Kilmartin, who. as we have above stated, has been
previously in trouble, but not en frequently as he
night to have been—for he has been to some extent
an educator of thieves—sobbed when the fifteenth
stroke fell upon his shoulders, and when he woo re-
leased from the halberds, he Edo:, wished to appear to
put on a jaunty appearance, declaring, SS he was
marched away to his domicile, that "he did not care
a button about it!'
Jennings cried out on the sixth lash being adminis-
tered, and appeared for the moment as if he was about
to faint. Perspiration accumulated on his cheeks and
brow; but, though he sobbed occasionally, he went
through the operation without betraying anything
more than a temporary weakues.s.
Rollitt, one of the Sheffield convicts, screamed out
AS POOll as his vertebree were first tickled with the
gentle operation of the " cat." Evrry stroke provoked
shrieks of apparent agony, and crie, of "Mercy!" and
he also struggled as if he were attempting to free him-
, self from the thraldom of the halberds. "Murder !"
and "Have mercy on my poor soul !" were the burden
of his cries throughout the whole of his punishment.
As he was being removed to his cell, he had t be as-
.. . .

oidt,d by the.tv.7o werdere, and,it wag evident tbat the

laqh ha'a tt)ltl e•eve:ely Upon him, for hi a back Wll4
scored" with " welts ' and marks sufficient to indi-
cate to the t flieWa and the professional men present
that his cries had not been given without cause.
Farley, another Shsffield man, uttered a muttered

and ironr.cful cry at every stroke, as if by so doing he
hoped to touch the heart of the warders who had to

execute the corporal sentence. He also called out
.• Mercy " in a wry cowed and tame tone of voice.
Craven, a Leeds convict who wird the violence in
the Whitkirk robbery, for the supposed participation
in which it was alleged before the judge that Holmes
had been innocently convicted of assault, but for
which, as will be seen above, Holmes was equally
punished, with respect to flogging, gave way, Hire a
craven as he is, as soon as the first stroke descended
upon his bare back. He cried out at the repetition of
every stroke, accompanying his lamentations with the
expressious, "Oh deary me ! " The "cat," in his in-
stance, told decidedly, for a long line of blood under
the left shoulder testified to the efficacy with which
the flogging sentence had been administered. He
sobbed violently, as if in extreme pain, as he was
being led away to his compartment in her Majesty's
1 gal2-!* . . . . .

- Cusick was the last man brought up to the "scratch,"
and he did not appear to enjoy the aituation, for he
had previouely protested his innocence, and that Rob
litt was the man who had placed him in the false posi-
tion he then occupied. Cusick writhed under the
agouy of the eighteenth stroke of the "cat," and as he