Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1873-07-17
The Whipping Post.

World, writing from Newcastle, Del,
gives the following account of the
semi-annual gala day in that barbar-
Gus State. After the u. S. military
forces have completely squelched
Capt. Jack and the balance Of the Mo
doc murderers and thieves, they
should turn their attention to the Del
aware women and children whippers
1t almost staggers ones belief in the
justice of the Creator to read such
tales as the following, so near the
close of the nineteenth century:
Delaware has never had her laws
materially altered since they were first
framed, and in the revised code of
1852 appears the folio wing:
Every person who shall commit
treason against the State shall be
deemed guilty of felony, and shall suf-
fer death"
This is short and summary, and, as
in the case of every other penalty,
convicts find few precedents whereon
to found a kope for pardon or Ie-
prive, they naturally conclude never
to be guilty of felony again. Section
says:
Every person who shall commit
murder in the second degree shall be
fined at the discretion of the court !;
shall stand one hour in the pilIory.
and be whipped with sixty lashes, and
shall, if white, be imprisoned for life,
or, if negro or mulatto, be sold as a
servant, to the highest bidder, for
| life"
The other penalties, for assault
with intent to kill, causing death by
poison, manning, at:emptto rape, rob-
| berry, highway or other,'' are pleasant
ly varied and relieved from the mo
notony of legal phrase ology so com
mon i'll the statutes, by a cheerful ref
ference to the pillery, or the kindly al
luson to the slavemarket. Some
times the offenders received sixty lash
es; sometimes only thirty nine, OF
twenty, or ten, according to the ex-
tent Of their mischief. The Delaware
people say the whipping-post is q
good thing. 1t promotes a healthy
circulation of the blood, it frightens
New Workers. Pennsylvania and Jer-
seyites away from the State, and then
and this seems most reasonable,
is the only circus they have. New
York, New Jersey and other pagan
commonwealths, are visited by Buffalo
Bill, the Black Crook, and Other
shows, but Delaware can not raise
money enough to entice them within
her borders And Barnum-he's toe
big a gun for them, and Delaware
would be lost under his mamoutl
tent. So they have the lash and pill
lory, and, on every Saturday in May
and November, the citizens don thei
best ''beeshine," and, taking their op
era glasses, children and servants will
them, proceed to the Jail. (There ar,
three jails-one in New Castle, one il
Georgetown, and one i'll Dover y
Then the gates are thrown open, anC
the crowd rushes in and fills the Jail
yard, and the sheriff and warden
with Sunday suits on and cigars il
their months, stand beside the grea
post, splitting tobacco juice on the chill
dren, and serenely eyeing the crowd
and soon delicate, fair haired young
ster of fourteen or fifteen, with grea
tears streaming from his blue eyes
and his white shoulders and back bar
ed to the delighted gaze of the audi
ence, steps out from the inner court 0
the prison, and the warden pinions hi
slender wrists to the post with irol
bands, while the sheriff swings hi
scat o'nine tails over his head, and
murmur of pleasure comes from tn
appreciative crowd. The sheriff bite
his cigar little harder, tips a mean
ing wink to bystander, and then h
raised the ''cat," steps little back
and whiz down it comes on the boy
back, and the thongs wind under hi
arm and bite great holes in his sid
and chest, while his back is striped re-
and white. "Two," says the warden
''Oh-h h h." from the boy, and crash
down comes the lash again, and th
boys back is all raw and bleedin!
with great ridges across it. The littl
fellow, in his agony, asks once o
= twice, ''for Gods sake" to be NOR
mildly whipped, but his sobs chok
him, and, when the ten lashes hav
been dealt, he staggers, faint and e1
hausted, in his cell. "Ah there's jus
+ tice for you. Our sheriff's a man
/ no d-n chicken about him." says
+. representative citizen, and the crow
), murmurs, ''No, indeed" There is n
t first class drama to-day, nothing br
e this laughable boy whipping farce :
e They. expected a woman to be whil
ped. Indeed, that's what drew such
crowd; but the Governor postpone
that part of the show, and SO the al
a diepce quietly dispersed, after anothe
,e boy had been ''cared for"