St. Landry democrat., 1888-09-08
a CHAPTER ON EARS.
People Who Were Punished ny na@
Their Listeners Removed.

People Who Were Punished by ha'iA@
Their Listeners Removed.
When jealous Husband Bell cut Oh,
the ear of Lothario Murray he reVlVeu
an obsolete punishment. Though MS
act was not the result Of an antiquarian
impulse his object was the same as CnaO
of the public exccutioner two hundfeo
wears aro. Any mutilation Of the ear
which involved portion OF all OF IL las
ALWAYS been a mark of disgrace. lh
one of the statues of Edward VI. the
penalty affixed for its violation Is 'ila
''loss of an ear and perpetual lnfamy'
In those days the celluloid ear had not
been invented and the loss OF one =.
these members was public badge VI
shame for life.
| Following the retributive law OF
Moses, probably the punishment orlsi-
| tiated in the ecclesiastical courts lt Is
| first mentioned in the trials OF ottenses
! against the church and some OF the ear
less clericals were noted men. Inc
sentence to the pillCry frequently had
the additional punishment of the loss OF
one or both cars added. Ganlel Fooe
or Foe, later in life known as Danlei
Defoe, wrote a pamphlet called '4he
Shortest Way With the Dissenters' ana
lost his ears. Pope, in his ''Dunclad,
speaks of the author of 'Roblnson
CrusOe": "Earless on high stood un'
Dashed Defoe.''
He was placed in the pillory three
times. That instrument being on
raised platform explains the line. In
Defoe's case, however, as in many
others, his punishment was rather
martyrdom and lifted him in the es-
TEEN of those who believed as he did.
DR.. Bastwick, who published more
pamphlets than pills, concluded one or
his essays with: From plague, pesti'
lence and famine, from Bishops, priests
and deacons, good Lord deliver u.s."
This was so serious an affront that the
doctor was sentenced to the pillory and
to lose both his cars The execution of
his sentence was a sort of public fete.
His friends gathered before the plilory
and shouted words of encouragement.
His wife climbed upon the pillory and
kissed him. When his ears were cut
off ''she put them in clean handker-
chief" and carried them home. The
celebrated Prynne suffered a similar
punishment.
The names of lesser criminals have
escaped the permanent records, but
Blackstone mentions number OF early
English parliamentary enactments maxi
ing the loss of an ear a penalty in law.
Fighting in church or church-yard
by acts passed during the fifth and sixth
years of the reign of Edward vi. meant
the loss of both ears. If the prisoner
had no ears-which implies that there
were habitua1 criminals $50 years ago
he was to be branded with the letter f
In the check. In the second and third
years of the same monarch combina-
tions among victualers and artifcers to
raise the price of provisions or the rate
of labor for the third offense were pun
ished by the pillOry and the loss OF an
ear. The statute not only extended to
the combinations to raise wages, but to
regulate the quantity of work Or to
lessen the hours of labor. In this de-
generate age the coal barons' associa-
bion, the gas trusts, and other combines,
with the different labor Unions and
walking delegates, If these laws were
would give the public execr-
5ioner active employment.
In later years loss Of an ear or part
II one has also been regarded as inn
1lying disgrace. The ear is not easily
ost. Any accident that destroys the
ear usually destroys the person wearing
t. One of the favorite ways of mutil-
ating an enemy in q rough-and-tumble
light Is to bite off his ear. In disreput-
lble brawls and low resorts brute in
tinct makes ear mutilation fitrevenge
or almost any wrong. Jack slade, the
notorious desperate, in fit of rage Is
aid to have cut off the ears of q man
le had murdered. He kept them in his
pocket and boastfully exhibited them
vhen in a drunken and dangerous
mood. When he saw on the poker
able stake he wanted particularly
lack played the ears. Flinging them
N the table they beat four aces or a
traight flush, for Jack had a pistol in
ach hand the next instant. He al
Vays took the pot on the play Chicaqo
VeaOs.