The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-01-11
DELAwARs.s wHIPPINo-Posr.

OGLAWARE'8 wHlPPtNo-POST.
what 40 ma. nee. a.d what u 10 is This
Wear 0f Grace.
A. the last srssion of the legislature,
aays the Wilmington DELI Nens, IL was
enacted ''that hereafter no female con-
victsSi Of amy crime i'm this state shall he
whipped or made tn stand i'm the piilory.'
The Introduction of this act revealed .
fact NOT generally Town that women
could lawfully he whipped for
feiting, horse-stcaling, burglary. arson,
manning ny lying i'm wait, and poisoning.
They are liable to be put i'm the piilory
for perjury, authorization Of psrjurys Tor
gerry, receiving stolen goods, assault with
intent tn kill, conjuration, witchcraft, for
tune-teliing and dealing with spirits.
That law has been n dead letter
for many years, the last white woman
having been whipped for larceny
about the year 1871. The law was after
vari amended to do away with the lash
for White women. A. late as 1870 colored
women were sent to the post. Al the ses-
sion of the Legislature i'm 1871 the word
"white' was stricken out Of the law re-
lating to the punishment of women Tor
larceny, and tho black sisters were put OH
an equality with the white sisters. Now
il il designed to remove all possibility OF
women being whipped or put IN the pill
A gentleman who has been perfectly IA
miliar with the operations OF the whip
ping pest for over 40 years says mat he
hAssS ~"
post. and while 10 il seldom now that blood
Is drawn, IL ever, he has seen hacks Of
He says that the whipping became less
violent when the newspapers began to
report the quarterly performances AT New
merly only took place twice u year.
There was - great tendency upon the
part Of shcrins Ia regulate the force of
their blow entirely through prejudice for
or against ~ man. For Instance, II the
sheriff was n farmer he would have but
lash for hSrs"-staaiing. The man who
robbed u store would get oil pretty well IL
the sheriff was "a farmer. Then again. il
the sheriff was n city or town man he
would have no mercy ON ia city burglar or
sneak-thief. This same gentleman de-
clarcs that he has seen, but many years
ago. nine ar ten men run back from the
post with their backs all bloody. The
story that blood often runs from the
o OF the T Victims ~r; nnr - Sas sns ground wa = nr
three hundred men whipped, hut has
never seen the blood flow. He has seen
and fine drops of blood almost ready tn
come through, hut never any blood run
ming.
hope WAS waylaid and robbed on the high
way, first being shot and badly hurt. The
robber was arrested and convicted and
sentenced To the pillory., A number OF
the butchers purchased three barrels of
old eggs and went 10 New Castle the day
the !" man WAS placed in the piiiary. which
was then in the open space outside the
Jail yard, the butchers began "a fusiliade
foul matter. besides being bruised by be-
ing hit i'm the face. The sheriff had great
trouble to stop the outrage. Al the next
session OF the Legislature the post was
moved inside the Jail yard. There have
been no incidents of the ~tanhopc kind
open to the public on Whipping days. but
the best of order prevails.
The history of the post for fifty years is
that the. lash as a rule has been used with
%lenicncy. The whites have escaped, il
has been claimed, for political rcasons.
the sheriff being in "a position to win n
vote every time he spared II mans hack.
There has been hut little difference as to
number between black and white vic
Tins.
There has been IA great toning down ~
late years OF the number of lashes APP
piled. Ii Was n %rcqucnt thing years
and for three successive Saturdays he
would receive eighty laslles. The result
was, even though the blows were lightly
laid on. that the victims back would he i'm
an awful condition. The story is told Of
one old black man, who. after being
whipped upon three Saturdays, was sold
He declared that he would never Ro
south, and when his purchaser got AS far
as Havre de Grace the poor fellow cut his
Ii was the rule ut one time. tn sell col
cred mon and women To the higles' bid
der after they had been whipped and they
were frequently knocked down for 81 and
quickly hurried south. There. il AN old
maj now in the New Castle county aims
house who WAS regularly engaged
in the purchase of blacks and selling
them into slavery.
IL is really surprising, however. how
few are the real facts and incidents that
those who are in n position to know can
tell.
There are very few whippings in
Kent and Sussex counties, So that all ma
terial for "a history of the post has To he.
cleaned in New Castle county. Nearly
every whipping has sounc little Incident
attached 10 it,, but the story of one is
really the story OF all.
IMAM OvERBOARD!.
A startling Cry on shipboard Rules uG Ac