Smyrna times., 1873-05-28

N'AAo n"N0 Ihe auuIhulcuI as complete as may
be consistent with the public purse.
III BECOMES TIRESoME The semi-annual
chickering's over the whipping post and pillory
of this State, started after each fogsing at
New Castle, becomes tiresome. The mere fre-
quency of the discussion is tiresome enoueb
and Its acrlmOnlOusuess makes it absolutely dis
gushing, IN most cases. We can readily ac-
count for the former. There is a strong public
sentiment against this particular mode Of nm.
lshment, and Delaware being the only State in
the Union that still adheres to it, it becomes
the target of concentrated fire of nublic re-
buke. But why the argument should be so
uniformly Incorporate, as it seems TO be. is
not SO clear. There seems to be a particular
sting to the debate that is more calculated to
lrrltate than to convince. The part of the
press that oppose it draw conclusions after this
fashion: fogging is barbarous, therefore Del
awareans are barbarians it is heather cus.
tom, therefore the people of Delaware are
heathenlsh 1t is degrading, therefore the peo
pie OF Delaware are degraded people. And
thus they continue, in hyperbole instead OF
logic, giving out interences that they do not
believe, and exciting opposition rather than
accord. Is 1t to be wondered at that we use the
same weapons that are used against us? WHY
not treat the subject honestly and fairly, with
out exciting the disgust of our people-as well
asthose who oppose as those who favor the post
and pillory?
we believe that majority of our citizens
favor the abolition of this institution" We
have 1t, however, and many seem to defend il
because We have it, but when it shall have
been abolished, as it will be in time. we feel
sure, our people will be no more anxious to re-
store 1t than the people of the other States
have been. Like slavery, the institution that
called 1t into being, when it is gone our people
will say good riddance."
The particularly fierce onslaught that has
been made against US for the past week or
SO has been brought out by the sentence of the
court against Mary Meter, the mulatto woman
OF Newark, who murdered her ilIegitimate
child. THIS woman literally butchered her in
tant, and confessed the crime in omen court
alledging, with simple honesty, that she did
the deed because she could not get home
while she had it, and that she could not love il
because it was not of her color. This coDfes
sion, coupled with the simple mindedness OF
the girl, constrained the States Attorney to
put IN plea FOR her life, and he sccordin Civ
Instructed the jury to bring in a verdict Of
mansiaughter, or murder in the second degree
This the jury accordingly did. She was thu,
saved from the gallows, the punishment fo,
the grade OF murder for which she was conyic
ted being sixty lashes, one hour in the pillory
and imprisonment for life. At once there wa,
plea put IN from the people Of the State to
have the post and pillory punishment remitted
Governor Ponder, giving need to the upuues
tlonable tone of public sentiment has remitted
TINS part of the sentence until sometime ir
June, and II Is understood that this is eduiya
lent to final remission. The press of the
country, however, opened the vias of wrath
upon us after the usual fashion, and in view
OF the fact that the prospective victim was Q
woman, the wrath was poured out all the moro
irc.ly The text was plain one, from which
could be preached astrong sermon. But much
OF the force was lost by some of the paper,
running oii INTO abuse as usual.
Many OF US wish this mode of punishment
were abolished, and urge its abolition, but tina
we hold to it does not at all render us heather
ish or barbaric in tendency, and it is time som,
OF the public prints out of the State had lef
of this line Of argument against it, if argumep
1t can be called. AS We have said before, i
excItes anlmosity, and utterly fails to convince
Nothing more clearly shows the repulsive
ness OF the punishment than the feeling mani
Tested when it was announced that the woma,
an question was to be pilloried and whipp ed
That she should thus stand, improperly expos
ed 10 person to the morbid gaze of mike,
multitude, and receive such an infection aite
the Attorney General had pleaded the mere
Of the court, was well calculated to excite re
pugnaRce. The almost universal desire tba
this part of the sentence be remitted il no
" hVpQcrilscal cant - ~ In u;,a,;oo.:.,. ..