Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-10-23

WHrPPrSe VAeRANTs. Three centuries
ago the punishment of Migrants in England,
, was carried to cruel extent. Intirm and
unemployed persons, without any legitimate
means Of support, who sought subsistence
from the aims Of benevolent persons, were
arrested and carried to some market town
or other place, and there tied to the end of
cart, naked, and beaten with whips through
out such market town or other place, till the
body should be bloody by reason of such
whipping" This punishment was slightly
mitigated by a statute passed in ELIZA
BErH's reign, and Migrants we're only ito be
stripped naked from the middle upwards,
and whipped til thebody should bebloody"
Notwithstanding the severity of the
punishment vagrancy not only continued,
but increased 70 an extent that called out
special orders from the quarter sessions at
Wycsmb, in Bucks, on the 9Th of May, 1893,
directing all constables and other parish
officers to search for Migrants, etc; and all
persons apprehended begging, wandering,
or miscondueting themselves, were taken BY
the officers or Pensioners and whipped
naked from tine middle upwards" as above
described. This order was Immediately
carried into execution, not only within the
magisterial Jurisdiction Of Wycomb, but
throughout she county of Buckingham.
Lists of persons whipped were kept in the
church registers, or in some other parish
book.
In the book kept in the parish of Laven-
den, the following explicit record appears:
qELIz RoBERrs, lately the wife OF JOHN
ROBERTS, tallow chandler in We strand, in
Hungerford Market, in ye county of Middle
sex, of a middle stature, brown-hsired and
black-eyed, aged about = years, was whipped
and sent to St. Field, in
London, where she was born" And from
long list of persons whipped, kept in the
church register of Burnham, in the same
county, the following specimens are taken
BENJAMIN SMAT, his wife and three chill
dren, vagrant beggars; he is of middle stat
ure, but one eye, was this 18th day of Sep
TENDER, 1899, with his wife and children,
openly whipped at Boveney, in the parish of
Burnham, in the county of Buck, according
to We laws" A majority of this list were
females, as 'ELIz COLLINS, mayd, pretty
tall of stature !" CANINE SMITH, vagrant
beggar, about fifteen years old )" "MARY
WEE, child about thirteen years of age, a
wandering beggar;" ISABEL HARRIS, a
widd. about sixty years of age, and her
daughter, ELIz. HARRIS with one child.p
Thus it appears that this degrading pun
ishment was publicly inflicted on females,
without regard to their tender or advanced |
age.
The law of whipping Migrants was en-
forced in other counties much in the same |
manner as in Buckinghamshire.
The following curious items are from the
constable's accounts at Great Staughton,
Huntingdonshire
Pd. in charges, taking up distracted wo-
man, watching her, and whipping
her next
cpenL on nurse LOnuOn IOr searching the
woman to see if she was with child be-
fore she was whipped. 3 Of them, ........-. 2 0 |
Pd. Tho. Hawkins for whipping people
vt had the smallpox.
Pd. for watching, yiotuals and drink for
Ma. Mitchell, ...... ......,....... 2 b
Pd for whipping her...,............,......... 0
Pd. for whipping Goodv Barry, .............. 0 0
Men and women were whipped promiscu-
ously at Worcester till the close of the last
century, as may be seen by the corporation
The fee for the whips-man was
I'D. for each case.
During the reign of HENRY VIII. the
was required by statute to be ex-
ecuted at the "cart's-tail" In ELIzABETH's
reign this was not essential, and whipping
posts came into use.
The whipping of female Migrants was ex-
pressly forbidden by statute of 1871.