The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-04-18
The Whipping Post.

We are somewhat SURPRISED to see that
the Kentucky Senate has laid on the
table the billto re-establish Che whipping
post. We esy we are surprised st this in
Kentucky, where men. are stern and stout
md practical, and where mock philan-
thropy ig scarce, if 1t has any existence
ct all. But we be2in to suspect that
demagogiam has. found 'lodgment
amongst the solid men of Kentucky. ca
we'll as amongst the Legislators Of most
ell the Eouthern States, Under the fearful
social revolution ofthe tim8s. The con.
Rideration; that in whipping q. lfelon a
voter might be whipped no. doubt pre.
vailed to carry the bin to tho table.
philanthropy had nothing 20 do With it's
fate. So it, Is in other tliipgs 4has the
public intereste :ere. .subprdinstcd 10 y 8
polite view, taken by the deu,agogue.
For instance, The measures to encourage
sheep culture, BY protecting sheep from
dogs, all fail because the dog has a uctc.
:, The criminal policy of thin country
.ss ii,,se>ssHS;;s;s i,esHS;;s;s inefficient huUause OF TOO
much philanthropy. The delusive idenI
that crime was to be ended by Kindness
to robbers and house burners, sneak
thieves and cut ithroats; that Villains
aud mnrderers were TO be made honest
men and gentlemen by preaching and
forgiveness; have 'paralyzed the law and
disarmed theIpolice. Felons are not To
be- roughly treated. x Their feelings are
net TO be wounded. They. must be hos.
pitably entertained and left 10 tho courae
Of meditation and fsmofSe, that thew
may emerge from their lpiaos of respecta.
BILE detention fit companions Cor the ,phi-
lanthropic people. who have extracted
the sting from the law and smothe cred the
discomfort of the hard and healthy dis.
cipline which Ii sc Galutary5 in ths pro-
cossses % of. repentance and atonament.
Thus the prisons and penitentiaries have
done absolutely nothing in the wey Of
reform, and the men who have pasasd
through them have como forth without
repentance, confirmed rascals, to mako
their art available with moro success
than before their confinement and before
that hardening process which made them
tmpenetrabie to the moral aeneibilities.
of which there were come traces in their
minds until they entered the so.called
The whipping post would do more to
from repeating their felonies than all
A'SA Ptos1o1Suo Va tii0 LAW. II Lu6 laSIl
were applied to big thieves and little
thieves without distinction of color, race
or previous condition of servitude, the
criminal docket would shrink UP aud the
jails and penitentiaries would be relieved
OF fully half their lodgers,s Widen the
range Of hanging, shorten the period OF
imprisonment, and introduce the whip
ping, post for application to cases Of
burglary aud stealing, aud there would
be. such change in the character and
number of criminal cases that we might
well imagine we were In o new country.
It is for the want of more rigid admin
istration of the laws against fSlonies and
misdemeanors, and for the want of 3
more just gradation of the rctrihntion to
the crime, that we hear even in this nd
vanced period of civilization OF 40 many
gases of the Intervention of Judge Lynch.
Make crime odious by proper punish-
ment, and the public security Wilt be in.
creased while crime will be decreased.
Richmond Dispatch. bs tatf3