Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-01-10
RUTLAND HEIR Alp.
TUESDAY, JANUARY s, 1867.
pnhllc whipping nt the south.

"a
become interested in the discussion
which has grown out OF the efforts OF
Gen. Ssckles to abolish the whipping
most. an Institution maintained as the
last relic of the barbarsm characteristic
Of slavery, in North and South Carolina
In January, 1866, Gen. Sickles issued an
order, AS military commander OF the
States mentioned abolishing whipping
as a punishment for ohenses or crimes,
rxcept in the cases Of minors, through /
ont his department, and though, through |
fear, the late shareholders, reiraiued .
for time from administering corporeal /
punishment 10 their delinquent %ofeS, |
the custom was in short time revived, |
and. in direc, contra distinction to the
orders issued by the military command
ant of the department, negroes were
upon trivial ofenses, some of which
were indeed so trifing as to amount to
nothing more serious on the part OF the
accusers than that the blacks had no
right to lire within the State, taken and
tied to the public whipping post where
their flesh was numerically larcerated,
at the will Of the complainant, who was
allowed in most cases, that his anger
might become satiated, to intict what
punishment be deemed satisfactory on
the offender.
The practice became so frequent dur
ing the year that Gen. Sickles, whose
previous order had not been revoked by
higher authority than himself, in JUS
tice to humanity, saw fit to interfere
with the brutal outrages practiced by
the late Shareholders upon the freedmen,
and he accordingly re,issued his order
Of the previous January. This renewed
Outrage" on the part of the General
commanding, of course, incensed the
e6iralv, and at their bidding, Governor
Worth, gentleman well calculated to
represent that class, was dispatched to
Washington, where he had an interview
with the great A. j., and in the name of
Estate rights" procured the revocation
of Sickles' order by the cOmmander-in-
chief
The tenacity with which certain por-
tions Of the South, particularly the
States above mentioned cling to this
custom, which more than any other lent
slavery it's horrors, is surprising, until
we consider that, though slavery is no
more, its spirit throughout the greater
portion of the .ate Confederacy still
exists.
Though our readers have mostly, no
doubt, heard OF the manner OF inhicting
punishment, which is particularly men
toned in this article, few know really
what whipping post is, and that they
NAV know the treatment to which hu
man beings like themselves, though per.
haps a darker hue of skin, are subjected
we extract the following description o
the instrument of their torture from The
Southern correspondence Of the Pitts
burg Gazette.
every county seat has its whipping
most. At Raleigh. it stands by the sid
0fthe Court House, exposed to the street
At Newbern, it is enclosed by a fence
over which tall man can look. On
raised platform, foot or 80 high, stant
two stout posts, say six feet apart. Tw
boards extend from one to the Other
about four feet from the base, one g
which ia fixed; the other, which is abOv
it, arranged with hinge, so as to b
elevated at one end. When lowered !
its mace its lower edge rests on the ul
,,Ar edge of the other board. ConcelV
a sort of exaggerated H, having tf
cross bar wider than the uprights, an
Won have it. In the edges of the
boards are cut notches, which, corre
sanding with each other, form, when Il
9h,'no Is closed, round or oval hole
ore in the middle suited to ht man
neck. and at a proper distance on eiVh
side tw others for the wrists Inc Gu
nrit hau ng taken off his shirt, the u
ne her board is lifted. He fits his neck al
wrists to the respective orihces, al
DOWN comes .he relentless board, and
wedoed fast. ho. lding him securely. I
sheriff or his DEB 'uty stands by with
light, common raw hide, such as ever
hodv ia familiar with. He doesl
strike hard. Many man gives
child harder blows, but no"n the stro
comes, deliberately, one, Two, three,
thirty, and the job is done"
1t is not strange that such arrans
ments for inficting punishment shot
have an existence in the days when S
very was recognized as an institution
our land; out it does seem out oil pl'
Cor such p oceediDgs to be tolerated n
that we have advanced to the top rou
in the ladder of human freedom,
proclaimed our country as the "iano
the free" to the oppressed OF all natl'
If the earth. Let us hope for u
when no accidental President can In
fere with the wishes of the people
infict upon portion thereof cl
and barbarous punishment.