Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1883-02-02
Wife whippers and the LASH

Wife Whippers and the Lash.-lt
will be remembered that at the last session
of the Legislature law was enacted pun
ishing wile-beaters in this State with the
lash. About two months ago case was
tried in Baltimore under the law, and mu-
latto, named Fo0te, convicted of the offence.
The case was carried to the Court of APP
peals and that tribunal has sustained the
constitutionality of the law. Since his con-
viction Foote has been serving out sem
tence Of sixty days confinement in Jail and
seven lashes, and on Monday he received
the infiction of the lashes upon the bare
back. We take the following account of
the whipping from the columns of the Bal.
timore american:
"Sherif Hunter had charge of the affair.
His orders were that the punishment should
be very private. BY what authority he did
this it is hard to conjecture, as the law
states that the convicted one shall be pub
licly whipped. About 10 o'clock Foote was
brought out. He looked cleaner and health
Ter than he did when he was tried in Grim
inal Court. He is n bright mulatto, with
dark whiskers, and what is known in plan
tation lore as red eye This betokens
bad man. He was dressed in blue check
hickory shirt and dark pants. On the back
OF his shirt was stenciled Section 2, City
Jail Deputy Sheriff Roseman, who was
detailed to administer the lashes, read aloud
in u nasal voice the order of the Court sem
fencing Foote to be whipped. The prisoner
made no sound or movement, but looked at
Warden Morrison and Otis Keilholts, who
StnDd fOOnfbar xyatrhipn hin, At
strip said the Warden and Foote pulled
off his blue shirt.
"'To the skim he then added, and Foote
skinned off his undershirt, disclosing ten
der-looking back, very much lighter than
his face 1t was, in fact, almost white
Two deputy wardens in busness.like man.
ncr fastened the hands of the prisoner TO
the grating with handouts. His arms were
Strengthened up and his chest touched the
iron-grating. Deputy Roseman said, Pre-.
pare and Foote said, Ready SIR Then
stout-twisted raw-hde, an inch in diameter
at the butt, and tapering down to fine
point at about three feet, was raised in the
air and descended with hiss and sharp
crack on the prisoners back Just below the
cervical vertebre, or what is commonly
known as the small of the back, A welt
sprang up Immediately, blue and livid, clear
across the back, and the lash of the raw
hide, wrapping around the body, brought
blood out Of the right side, where the skin
was very tender. Tho muscles about the
scapula twitched convusively, and the
shoulders were slightly shrugged but there
was no other outward sign Of pain that the
blow must have inflicted The second blow
fell about Il quarter of an inch above the
first, and left the same results. The Others
fell in quick succession near about the same
spot, raising the skin on the back every
time, and bringing blood where the lash
wrapped around the body. Two, three,
four, five, six, seven-each time the lash was
raised high, and strength was put into the
blows. Alter the punishment FoOte was re-.
leased aud taken 10 his cell, where Dr. HotI.
man put some arnica on the wets and
dressed the gashes in his side
Now that the ice has been broken in re.
gard 10 the efficiency OF the whipping post
MS punishment for crime, we again urge
the necessity of adopting il us punishment
for petty theft and minor crimes, for which
the people of this state have so muC4h TO pay
in order to enjoy the reputation Of not being
"barbarous."