The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-13
THE WHIPPING POST.
Fifteen Lashes I'm Sixteen Sec
Onds, for WifeIseatinS.

main hall OF the jail, facing east
ward. Warden Morrison ordered
Frank Pyers to be brought out for
punishment. Pyers had been sen
fenced to six months in Jail and
fifteen lashes for brutally beating
his wife last January. He was the
first white man punished under the
Maryland law Of 1882.
Deputy Warden Shea conducted
the prison ner from cell 1O6, which is
on the third tier. Pyers was
dressed in dark trousers, shoes, and
a wooden shirt. He is a short
thick set fellow, with brown nous
tache and hair, and coarse features
He came from behind the prison
bars with a steady step and a sullen
determined manner. He pulled off
his wooden shirt without exhibiting
nervousness, and walked up to the
whipping post and planted his feet
firmly upon the platform, and then
glanced at the twenty or thirty per
sons who were in the hall.
Warden Morrison motioned with
his hand for Pyers to get in posi-
ton, and he obeyed promptly,
stretching out his arms to be fas-
tened to the crossbeam Of the post.
deputies Edwards and Russell Sc
cured his arms and legs with steel
shackles. The shackles around his
legs pressed against him so tightly
that he asked to have them loosen
ed, and Warden Morrison told Dep
uty Edwards to grant the request.
When all the shackles were fast
ened Pyers could not bulge.
AS soon as everything was in
readiness Warden Morrison said,
''Come on, Mr.. Sheriff." and Sheriff
Airey walked toward the whipping
post quickly. His lips were closed,
and his manner showed that moth
ing but strict sense Of duty could
have induced him to undertake SO
disagreeable a task. He turned
and nodded to Deputy Sheriff Thur
low, who Immediately drew out
from under his waistcoat a thin
stiff rawhide three feet long.
"Count aloud as l lay it on" the
sheriff said to Thurlow, and then
raised the cowhide aloft, and with
his long arm brought it down on
Pyers' back, with a swishing sound.
''Oner' cried Thurlow, and the mo-
ment the whip was lifted for the
second lash a red mark appeared
across Pyers' back. and the blood
seemed as if it would burst out.
3.Two! threev exclaimed ThurlOw,
and at the third swipe Pyers wine
ed. The muscles i'll his arms began
to swell and his teeth came together
with a grinding noise, but not a
word or cry did he utter. The other
twelve followed rapidly, each leav-
ing its red mark, but none drawing
blood except the last one or two,
which Tapped the shoulders and
tore the flesh open under the right
breast, from which the blood
trickled.
1t took just sixteen seconds to
give the fifteen lashes. Had the
Sheriff, by going slower, been less
merciful, it is likely that Pyers could
not have stood the punishment with
out fainting. AS it was, the pain
was so intense that when he was
untastened the flesh OH his arms and
breast and back quivered, his eyes
were blood-shot, and his face plain
ly indicated that though he had
nerved himself to bear great deal,
the agony was more than he ex
pected. But he did not whimper.
On the contrary, he tried to sneel
or smile as he was putting on his
shirt, but as it came i'll contact with
his raw back the sneer and smile
j. faded away. DR.. S. V. Hoopman
followed him to his cell, and with
arnica and laudanum tried to re
lieve his suffering. "That's ID
hard punishment for white man
Doctor" he said, and as he spoke
tears came in his eyes, caused by the
relaxation of his nervous system
and probably by the realization o
his degradation:~ezHe spent the res
Of the day sitting in his cell, i'll ;
dazed, haHretupid condition.
, The whipping post rests upon.
pla$torm, and is about six feet 81,
ipehes high, and ten inches broae
! by seven deep, with a circular head
It. is T-shaped. The arms slide OF
: steel gearing, to enable them to b.
adjusted to the height Of the TALES
man. With a short man like Py
| ers the arms were so low that the!
formed a cross. The steel shack
les are at the ends Oft the arms and
at the base and halfway the centr
Of the upright post.-Baltimore Sn,