Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-09-29
THE GAZETTE.
THURSDAY MORNING. sErrEaEeR %, 1859.
DuCKlNG OF sCoLDlNG WOMEN.
Ec,,v tbe T,yiyfi0a Observer.

scolding and brawlins, by immersion in wa
ter. "A common scold is public nuisance
70 her neighborhood, and may be indicted
for the offence; and. upon conviction, be pun
i>hed by being placed in certain engine OF
correction, called the trabucket or cucking
stool. "-RnsseH on Crimes, i. 327. "CWk
or guck in the Saxon language according to
Lord Coke) signifies to sc"ld or brawl; taken
from the bird Cuckow or Guckaw; and iMy in
that language signifies water, because scold-
inc woman, when placed in this STOOL was
tor her punishment, soused in the water. =
Burns Justice The word has been moder-
nized into ducking-stool, to represent the
punishment more plainly to the unlearned
but my Lord Coke gives us the genuine orr
ginal spelling. Baily, in his dictionary, sane
lions it, and Butler gives it his authority IN
Hudibras:
"These mounted IN chair curule.
Which moderns call cuckiny stool,
March proudly to the river side.
And Owe the waves in triumph ride.
Several specimens ofthis engine of correc-
ton" are still preserved in England. There
is one in the town-hall at Leicester; another,
with wheels. in the parish church at Lean
ington: and vet another at the Mescum IN
Scarboro. This last is u substantial oaken
arm chair. with an IRON bar extending from
elbow, To elbow, TO prevent the escape OF
the occupant, rs Il wooden bar Is s"m--
times placed in a child's char to prevent It's
falling cut.
The punishment itself did not 90 into disuse
till quite a recent date. The latest English
case, of which detailed account has come un-
der my notice, occurred at kingston-on-
Thames, not a dozen miles from London.
in 1888. A contemporary periodical, gives
the following account OF it
Saturday. October 1t, l13S-Last week,
u, the Quarter Sessions ut kingston-on-
Thames. an elderly woman, notorious for her
Nociieration was indicted for common
scold. and the facts alleged, being fully prov
ed, she was sentenced to receive the old pun
.hment Of being ducked, which was accord
inply executed upon her in the Thames, by
the proper officers. in chair preserved Tor
tina. purpose; and, to prove the justice of the
courts sentence upon her, on her return from
the water.side she fell upon one OF her ac-
ouaintance, without proyocaton. with tongue,
tooth, and nail, and would, had not the OH
GERS interposed, deserved second punish
ment, even before she was dry from the
first"
Brooke. in his history Of Liverpool from
I775 to $500. says that this punishment was
inflicted in the old House OF Correction at
liverpool, as recently as lIf9: and ITS Ire
ouent infection there, is mentioned IN How
ards appendix to the State OF the Prisons In
England and Wales. a writer in Notes
and Queries" for Oct. IL, 1850, says that
the ducking-stool just mentioned as remain
ing in the parish church at Leominster, was
last used about 1888, in the punishment Of
a prostitute called Jenny Pipes" About
lSl6, it was put in repair and painted red;
and. after trial, to determine if it was IN
good working order, it was deposited in its
present resting-piace. After the punishment
by immersion had grown into dlsnse, the
stool was sometimes placed, rs mark OF
disgrace, against the residence OF Il notorious
scold.
Scolding as an offence at common law
was formerly punished in this country by
the same instrument rs in England. The
Colonial Assembly Of Maryland, at its SEES
sion in 1864, passed AN act for erecting
a pillory, stocks, and ducking-stool in every
county of this Province" In Pennsylvania,
the instrument was held in high respect
The Grand Jury Of Philadelphia, in III,
made presentment as follows
Whereas, it has been frequently and often
presented by several former grand Juries OF
:his city, the necessity of a ducklng-stool
and house of correction for the just punish
inert Of scoldng, drunken women, rs well rs
divers other proiligatc and uhraly persons III
this place, who are become public nuisance
and disturbance TO the town IN general; there
fore, the present grand jury do earnestly
again present the same TO the court OF quar-
ter sessions for the city, desiring their i'm.
mediate care, that those public conreniences
may not be any longer delayed, but with
all possible speed provided for the detec-
ton and quoting such disorderly persons. :"
Their recommendation seems not to have
been Needed form 1920 another Grand Jury
saws:
the Grand Inquest, we taking in consid-
Grafton the great disorders OF the tarbulcnt,
and ii-behayior Of many people IN tins city'
wc present the great necessity OF ducklng-
stoo! for such people, according To their
deserts"
s"rhis public convenience" was ut length
provided and put to use. Cases are on record.
from 1863 EDWARDS. Of the indictment aud
punishment of common scolds. In li69
Mary Conway pleaded guilty TO such an IN
dictment, and was publicly ducked IN the
Delaware river ut the end of Market street
wharf Ten years afterwards Ann Maige
was punished in the same way. No longer
ago than 1924, Nancy Jarvis was indicted IN
the Quarter Sessions Of Philadelphia as a
common sculd, was convicted, aud VAS sen
fenced 10 be placed in . certain engine oi
correction called ducking or dashiug stool,
on W Wednesday the Sd day OF November next
ensuing. between the hours of 10 and II
O'Clock il the morning, and being so placed
therein, to be plunged three times into the
water" This case was taken to the Sn-
preme Court by writ Of error. and the sen
tence Of ducking was reversed, though the
Court held that scolding was an indictabie
offence. A full report of this ease may be
found in Sergeant ( Rawle's Reports, where
there is long. learned, and interesting
opinion by Judge Duncan. 1t may well be
regarded rs probable that the duckIng stool
will I've known no more, save as subject OF
curious antiquarian inquiry. L. IL. W.
-Corenty. Vermont. .iugnst 3.
DIDGELY. HAMPTON & CO, are IN receipt
III Of their FALL STOCK of
TEAS,
WINES,
TOBACCO.
LIQUORS. and