The Copiah signal. (Hazlehurst, Miss.) 1882-1883, 1883-10-25

HIS POSITION ON THE WHIPPING
POST BILL.
A Full Explanation. Which isLucid' For
chile and satisfactory.


In O recent issue Of your paper !
uotice ar article signed Justice
appealing to the prejudice of crimi-
malls and those supposed to be in
sympathy with them, for which !
beg the use Of yout columns briefly
to reply.
Before the Legislature Of 1873, Of
which was member. two schemes
were presented for settling the vex.
cd question OF what was to be done
with persons convicted OF INSIDE
ineauors and petty crimes. AS the
law then stood. aud now stands, lar
csny was divided into grand aud pc.
tit larceny, on tho value Of ton dol.
lars; that is those gully Of stealing
property valued at over ten dollars
were guilty Of grand larceny and
punishable in tho penitentiary, and
those guilty OF stealing under ten
dollars in value; were guilty Of petit
larceny, and punishable by imprisou-
ment in tho county jill. But oil
persons guilty Of stealing live stock
hogs, sheep. cattle, etc were and
are now, guilty Of grand larceny, and
punishable in the peniteutisry re-
CARELESS Of value. I regard this
law as cruel and wrong. I never
could sec why it was any greater
crime to steal q pig worth 80 cents,
than to steal nine dollars in money,
but 30 the laws stands. A man cou.
victed Of stealing pig is subject to
imprisonment In tho penltentiary for
years, there to be whipped at the will
Of the person to whom he may be
hired by tho lcsees. Aud when it
was proposed to hire out the county
prisoners, l argued that it would BIZ
to establish whipping.po not reg.
ulated by law. in all the counties,
and that too, for all small offcnses.
And I ask every fair minded man il
that is not true to-day?
We have now, under the present
law, whippiug-Post in overy coun.
ty in the State. and it applies to the
man who is convicted of profAne
swearing, horse racing on the public
hir hway. and all small ofrensea. as
we'll as to the small thief.
Anxious to avoid this state Of
things, I introduced what Justice
calls tho whipping post bill, which
repealed thu pig law, and then pro.
yided that all male offenders convict:
cd Of petit larceny should be whipped
according TO law, one strip, for
each dollars worth OF property sto.
len. S.. under my bill, man who
stole pig worth one dollar, or one
dollar in money, only got one stripe,
anG was turned loose, whether he
paid The fine or not; whereas now,
il convicted, and sent either 10 the
psnitentisry or convict farm. &c may
be struck at the present whipping
pos s one thousand lashes-depend>
emit entirely upon the will OF the con.
tractor. Under my bill o thief could
never be struck over ten ticks. II
applied to thieves and no o her Of.
Tenders. 1 submit, then, to a fair
and impartial public, If my plan
we're not he less cruel of the two.
TIE only difference is, I called it by
its proper name, a Whip ing. post,
and the present Law is commonly
called tho county contract law.
A law similar to the one / intro.
dnced, prevails to-day in q large
number of tho States Of the Union,
aud that 'oo. in much older aud
more enlightened communities than
our own. IL is the law at present in
Canada, the depency Of England, the
oldest. most civilized people on this
Continent. Both the plans were dis
cussed In the CANVASS in which was
elected, aud / was elected by both
races in my county over a prominent
independent, by the Target majori-
nv ever gwen for any candidate IN
Copiah county. I refer ths people
Of this coanty to tho colored and
white voters OF CopiaS, among whom
| have pracIiccd law for ten years,
a. to whether the cruelty Of heart
attributed to me by Justice" is
true or not. However, "Jastic O." or
any other honest man, need not fear
the penalties Of either system.
Respectfully.
II. N. MILLER