The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-07-31
The Whipping Post i'm the Missouri
Penitentiary.

The Whipping Post i'm the Missouri
Penitentiary.
The use of the lash in the prison is COM
mOn-tOO common to be of any possible
benefit in keeping order. A man goes to
the whipping post, not with the feeling that
he is being punished for some infraction of
the rules, but to crafty the ILL feeling of
some guard whose enmity he has incurred
Deputy Warden Bradbury is the one whose
duty it is to WELD the rawhide. In the
middle of the room stands the whipping
post and stocks. The men stand facing the
instrument of torture, and the guards report
the conduct of their men to the Warden.
One complains that one of his men neg
lected his work. or was talking to fellow
prisoner; perhaps prisoner was caught
carrying bread to his cell from the kitchen.
Deputy Warden Bradbury steps up to the
whipping post. pulls off his coat. rolls up
his sleeves. and in a caressing way picks up
a rawhide. which he intently examines to
see if 1t is all right
The culprit is brought up to the post.
His hands are tied to the post near the
His neck is placed under the stocks, which
are then fastened so that he cannot jerk his
head away. The Deputy Warden steps up,
and Selling the mans shirt, pulls it up
around his neck, leaving the bare back ex-
posed. The prisoner receives from one to
twenty five lasheS. according to the Offense
and the number of times he has been at the
post The Warden tucks his shirt sleeves
carefully above his elbow, takes the rawhide
in his hand, plants his foot firmly, and with
full swing of his powerful arm, down
comes the whip with swish and crack
upon the bare back of the prisoner. Swish
comes the whip again. and the prisoner
bites his lip to keep from crying out with
the pain, as such thing only increases the
punishment. Crack, the whip again and
again strikes the quivering flesh, leaving a
thick welt along the skin, and as the force
of the blows increases as the Deputy Warden
warns up to his work, the welts assumes
first red. then blue hue. and finally the
blood trickles down over his back in little
streams. Again and again the lash, soft
and pliable with the warm blood, curls
around the naked form of the crOuching and
shrinking prisoner until either the allotted
punishment has been inflicted or else the
prisoner faints from the pain and torture
He is then given over to the care of the
doctors. From long practice the whipping
master can make the whipping more severe
in given number of strokes on the person
of one prisoner than another. In case he
wishes to make the pain more intense. after
one half the strokes have been given he
goes to the other side of the prisoner and
makes series of cross cuts, making num-
Der OF bloody KS on the back. have seen
a prisoner faint from the severity of the
punishment and from loss of blood. After
the whipping is over the prisoner is cared
for, the blood on the rawhide is carefully
wiped off. and it is ready for the next culprit.
When the whipping was done by an official
who was intoxicated or under the influence
of liquor. the punishment was always more
severe. l have seen one of the officials
stagger as he walked up to the whipping
post, and know he was greatly under the
influence of liquOr.-St Louis Republic.