New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-12-08
TIE DELAWARE PILLORY.

pOsT-AMOs LARKIN'S BLUNDER'
fPR0u OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEWCASTLE, Del, Dec ., 1SbS.-l nave just
witnessed sight which recalls to mind the odtne $40
-, Moon old women figured as victims Of the
rporapcc and cruelty OF people made blind ana Drnt
by the darkest superstiti0n .
Three hundred and twenty years ago. IN the $50
Gear Of the reign Of the eighth Henry Of England stat
ute was enacted declaring all sorcery ana Witchcai 10
he felony without benefit Of clergy During the next 200
,eor, more than $4,000 people were iudicially
murdered IN obedience 10 That law ana
S @r 81 Fzabri6 and james l. Under the Long Paa
ment. 5000 Condemned and burnt All xmas OF
cruelty we're prac upon the wretche accused Of deal
ngs with the Eyil Que, even women and children taking
delight IN itlcuug whatever torture Iher lhscnu NY
cimd invent. KING Jsmess "DemOnologie became nc
standard work on the subject OF witches aud wchcraft
aud 10 fgtier HIM Parliament passed MS tWenth INV
against wiichcra IN 1908 IN which II was prOviueu
IN any person shall use any invocation, sh ll
entertain, employ. feed, or reward any evl OF 5ua
spirit, or shall practice any sOftU W ,Cnastcj
sorcery whereby any person shall De keu' live
consumed panied, or llned ne should ne @ of Witch
The existence 81 the law settled he snakes
craft No lcal subject could d0unt ~; o,tions
pcere believed H. ana the learned bsnol' itcbes than
hOuges TIE many generations that nave p!Sio - ~
since those days OF ignorance have eacn d I sib
the preiudiceS az US hIhe - for tbat which was
sttutiug something useful ana gOou LOT UNI i,ard M
ts9leSS , ' oa-"I 0f Improvement. Witchcrit ana
many other supertitonS are 10" Du'1cu III '0
BIZ there are exceptions to the general RUE me sanH
wich Islanders dd not begin To Dtiel tir ~ Dbogev
ZION until very few years ago, ana the huS ol D"uoS
II reloIts d' h,, ,,,e civilized Than those who
sqrrifccl M the funeral Of his remote ancestor IhLo
are or may be- afcW other nations VINO are sun Ia. III wv
t-r,"Td ybCss manners. customs and institutions
remain as thcy were when antiquity was young nus
these Dc uuou the outskirts OF c'hatloh OF lar ou
bcTe Pgeroutus basks in the santng beams OF an an,
ciic s,1 gr near the III ace where the Napians rested
when they pas the Eluinoctal OF QueuD4s or Cise
buried away u Tie un6n0"hlneIIor OF uneN oteU eo n
TIE, beyond vast deserts as yet unIlaIhtu upon te
travellers maps These nations may DTref in ipfaufv
and demons, and other lonStlOQ? uels IN ~ nv y6
ana may have an abiding faith in the efficacy OF e anu
cold water fer satanSn IN men ana NonCu a.
Tie blessed days the Puritaus few days later DHt
they have NOS yet come within sound or me sC9oiioe
hell nor have eyes hccn blessed with slg o. te
uewsrnuer in which the foes of the age are hIst hel
up 10 1idcue aud all human abuses made aOomlhaDIe
10 those who Know King Cadmus his alphaOet, -.
Tie little State OF Deawareis not an unknown country
the pe0pla There Is a college somewhere within her
borders aud several Of her htops and rom many
of her valleys tall church spires point yWafd ana she
prints papers too, and here and there IN out9theNy
places the curious traveller tnds nttle sen0onV50
the midst OF a plain, hard by crOSSroad grocery WIN
fivafe0 with cLurs hes and schools and newspapers 10
Instruct and hnanize and keep from the torpOr OF X
norauce is very far behind her sister states III almost
everything that tends make them prosperous ana pow
rrfu and their people useful, intelligent YrtuouS. ad
happy. Her school system is abomtnaDie her
progress slow, her Government m0cAery' Aer peh@l
'OSe WSs in Newcastle the county town Of Newcastle
County, that the sight which has prompted THESE
Ii the jail yard Enclosure of perhaps 60 by 30 feet,
stands the pOy an instrument OF torture hst sed III
excGp in eases Of PERJURY in 1876 and totally abolished
I'm 1851 l consists OF heavy upHghV posi- ol aOout
feet IN hight with platform through which passes az
0bonf fopr feet above liS platform IS crosspiece with
sbre holes an ecb ,fe of ne unreht one hole for the
head neck the other two for the hands and wrists OF
haif may be lifted to admit and hands of the
Wretchos VINO are doomed to the barbarous punish
room enough for these indispensable members Of
the human Frame and sometimes ID the case OF Iafge
man, the circulation OF TIE blood is almost c OH D he
pressure Beneath the platform, and on either SIDE or
the upright, the manacles by which men who are 10
be whipped strung by the hands The instrument
is notwithstanding alaT. How old u is nobody knows
who made it, the first brute tortured fellow
upon it, aud the first wretch that hung to 1t while
II once Stood ont & the i0 Yard but the bows of
the town. some Of whom had been away TO school, used
root It up at night and hack IT, and otherwise main
The indignant authorities tried long to detect The
this sacrilgous work but never succeeded Well Tor
very sleepy place for had they been captured In the act
of Showing dsrespcet OF the most valued instru
pad the penalty and the dorsa cutce Of more than one
Newcastle gadee for long years aier would nave D9rhe
tie officer Of the lax knew DO pity or was not IN dread
Of the press or OF Wh9lsoS IVc oid emf ceap
well laid on, ana tle Nhsef wiz Soulu out Cea
est and deepest the flesh OF the writing criminal was
an object Of great admiration among the laW-aDldlhg
people OF that country Wheh the whipping uay Sa s
Newcastle thTOnged with people VINO crowded IRON
stui and cruelty TO crafty his audience wen
satisfy the law and perfect himself in the brutal art
wond practice the baTcbacks OF such OF his own or
his neghDJrs slave ard women. as were not erim
nails In the eye Of the law. but had been adJudged
worthy OF punishment by their mastersfor this was IN
tie good old days of slavery when could do what
he pleased with his own Then, when Court adjourned,
aud the batch OF convicted criminals were sent 70 the
county Jail the whip, grown stun WIN SIX lnonths 9lsuse
its thongs, taken out aud hmbered When the day
fOc the pubic noggng came, then came also tne
tbe sight OF and women writing
under the lash Then there was much Tassang at the
tayern aud bets made at the coming hOrseraee at
the crossroads and waPerS were laid that ths criminal
that would or would not yen at the st cut OF he
whp and bargains were made; and the question OF APP
pointing new minister was discussed When the DelI
rung or The horn blown announcing me aPpearace
there the enlightened pOpulace men ana women, Win
% s would have delighted tie dwellers in and around
the village OF a Patagoman chief before the days OF
S sggs With Which they saluted the Victims Of
the plory until the supply OF odorons ammunition
WIS the treat OF ali treats. In that primitive age, sheiis
telt pride in their profession particularly that branch
ans In executing the law to letter Every stroke Of
the shers cat gashed the flesh with knife, and the
The tortured wretch and the shouts of the delighted
people Men were scored till their backs seemed 70 have
heen sliced by the butcher Women acerated with
a nendlsh cruelty that has never been equaed
except on a Southern plantation Even little
children could not be spared the nhcuon OF the terrible
nlnishment and their sheks heard far beyond the
Town limits making the blood OF all but the crelheared
curdle in their veins In 1855 the whipping OF women az
he post was abolishedust ca years after the British
Parliament had erased the punishment from the statute
books u Great Britain This first step Ia deDIutaLe the
penal code OF Delaware was prompted by the cutlery
raised other States against the barbarous punshmen
the same influence that must eventually do away Win
the whipping post altogether.
When al he Invitation Of SIR j. b vniDg, the Tailor,
entered the Jail yard, the great iron gates having Deeh
thrown omen TO the public was treated my first view
OF the pillory. The rain was coming down In long
SLOW cold, driZze. and the mud IN the yard was an inch
deep Two miserable wretches with their heads and
hands thrust through the holes in the beams occu
ped the platform. Each was covered with common
gray blanket to protect him from the storm, for they