Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-09-24
How Our Fathers Punished.
OFFENDERS AGAINST THE LAW MADE TO
APPEAR RIDICULOUS.

APPEAR RIDICULOUS.
1t is not very long ago since pun
ishments which were principally cal
culated to hold the offender up to rid
icule were so rife in England that one
might suspect that they were intend
cd to amuse the people, in tho days
when there was no comic periodicals,
rather than to deter from tho offense.
For instance, lew villages were with
out their ducking stools for scolds,
one hundred and fifty years ago
Nay, tho Chelmsford Chronicle for
April 10, 1901, contains tho following
paragraph:
"Last week woman notorious for
her vociferation was indicted for q
common scold at Kingston; and the
facts being fully proved, she was SEN
fenced to receive the old punishment
of being ducked, which was accord
ingly executed upon her in the Thames
by the proper officers, in chair pre-
served by the town for that purpose
and as if 10 prove the justice of the
courts sentence, on her return from
tho waters sido she fell upon ono OF
her acquaintance, without provoca-
tion, with tongue, tooth and nail"
The drunkard's cloak was barrel
with holes in tho top and sides, thr'o
which the Incorporate mans head and
arms were passed, and in this helpless
condition he was obliged to walk
through the streets of the town, the
sport of the idle boys. The Chinese
have q similar punishment.
A seat in the stocks cannot have
been pleasant for II proud and retiring
disposition; but apart from the moral
element, the severity Of the punish
ment must have varied somewhat un-
duly with the time of year. On a
fine but cloudy July day philosophi-
cal culprit who had no personal enc.
mics in his village might have borne
his sentence with considerable equa-
nimity, solacing himself, perchance,
by watching the fluctuations Of a
cricket match in progress on the
green; while in frosty February,
with keen northeast wind blowing,
Riccabocca himself would have found
tho hour of his release weary while
in striking.
To stand in the pillory must have
been an exceedingly humiliating as
well as exasperating punishment. A
man could not be placed in more lu-
dicrous position than with his head
and hands protruding through holes
exactly fitting them, and his body hid
away behind the planking. Flies
might wander about his nose and ears;
gnats might sting him without his be-
ing able to drive them of, save per-
chance, by a hideous grimaee, which
would only dislodge the tormentors
for an instant, while IL added consid-
cradle to the grotesque absurdity of
the culprit's appearance.
The severity of this punishment, as
well as of the stocks, was, of course,
dependent upon the amount of popu-
lar indignation excited by the offense.
When this ran high, the wretched
mans unprotected face was in the po-
sition of o live and sentient Aunt
Sally's, an object for every descrip-
tion of missile; while in such case
as De Foes, whero sympathy was on
the side Of the sufferer, "public ex-
posure became public ovation"
When Cairo merchant is detected
in using false weights and measures,
or in adulturating his goods, he is
placed against his own doorpost, stand.
ing on tiptoe and nailed by the ear to
the wood work. 1t is important that
he should get free without amputating
the member, for that is the penalty
for theft and il is probable that the
smart tradesman would be horrified
at having his little tricks confounded
with vulgar inartistic stealing. For
second offense the thief loses his
other ear; for third his nose. By
tbe-by, perhaps ! am wrong to use
the present tense, for these penalties
may be obsolete at the present day.
They may have model Jail and
reformatory at Cairo by this time
Naval and military punishments
seemed TO havo been very generally
framed with the idea Of rendering
the offender ridiculous in the eyes of
his comrades. Picketing was one of
these; man was so suspended by
his wrists that his heels rested on q
wooden peg driven into the ground.
Riding the wooden horse was another;
the back of this penal stecd was very
narrow, and weights attached to the
riders legs rendered his seat all the
more painful These punishmonts
were not only humiliating and ex-
tremely severe, but they too often in.
ficted permanent injury on the suf
ferers, on which latter account they
we're abolished, and for many years
the cat-o'-nine-tails ruled supreme !;
though the use of that instrument Of
torture was to an extent which excit.
al l.. II