Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-24
Ancient Romans Piled the Lash
Freely Upon Their Criminals
and Their Slaves.
In Good Queen Bess's Time the Whip
ping-P0St Was an Established In
stitution in Merrie England.
How the Great Empress Catherine of
Russia Practiced Flag !iation Up
OIL the Ladies of Her Court.

I
where we find that Pharaoh whipped the
! officers of the Israelltes when they did NOT
furnish the required number of bricks
which they were compelled to make every
day.
! In ancient times the Romans carried
| whipping as punishment father than
/ any other nation, and their Judges were
surrounded with an army of divers kinds
OF Whips well calculated to alright the of
tenders that might be Brought before them.
The mlldeSt form of whip was fat leather
strap called the ferula and one of the
most severe was the fiagellum which was
made of plated ox-hide and almost as hard
as iron.
Not only was fagellation in various
forms used as judicial punishment, but
1t was also common practice to punish
| slaves by the same means. The Roman
ladies were greater offenders and even
more given to the practice of whipping
their slaves than the men, for in the reign
of the Emperor Hadrian Roman Iadv
was banished for five years for undue
cruelty to her slaves The practice of
whipping was in fact SO prevalent that it
furnished Plautus, in several cases, with
incidents for his plots Thus. in his
Eplcldus, slave, who is the principal
character In the play, concludes that his
master has discovered all his schemes
since he saw him IN the morning purchas-
ing scourge at the shop where they were
sold
From ancient times the use of whining
can be traced through the middle ages
down to, comparatively speaking, more
modern times, when it is easier to find re-
cords Of the use of the rod.
In Queen Elizabeth s time the whipping
post was an established institution In al
most every village In England the munich
pal records of the time informing us that
the usual fee to the executioner for admin
lsterlng the punishment was Il pence a
! head. In addition to whipping being
thought an excellent corrective for crime,
the authorities of certain town in Hunt
lngdonshire must have considered the
use of the lash as a sortof universal specif-
ic as well, for the records of this town
mention that they paid 8 pence ito
Thomas Hawkins for whipping two people
that had the smallpox
In France and Holland whipping does
not seem to have been so generally prac-
tlced. The last woman who was publicly
whipped In France by judicial decree was
Jeanue st. Remi de Valois, comtesse de la
Motte for her share in the abstraction of
that diamond necklace which has given
| point to so many stories.
In connection with the history of hagel-
latlon In France may be mentioned the
custom which prevailed there land also in
Italy, in olden times of ladies visiting
their acquaintance while still in bed on the
morning of the "F' stival of the limo
cents, and whipping them for any in
Jurles, either real or fancied, which the
victims may have done to the fair fagei-
lants during the past year One of the
explanations given for the rise of this
practice is as follows: On that day it was
the custom to whip up children in the
morning, that the memory of Herod's
surrender OF the II nocents might stick the
closer, and In moderate proportion to act
| the crueltie again in knife There is a
story based upon this practice in the tales
of the queen of Navarro.
| Among the eastern nations the rod in
various forms played prominent part
and from what we read China might be
said to be almost governed by it. japan
is slngulariy free from the practice of
whipping, but makes up for it by having
remarkably sang1inary criminal code.
Russia is, however par excellence a
home OF the whip and the rod, the Rus
memorial by the use of the lash.
Many of the Russian monarchs were
adopts in the use of the whip. and were
also particularly ingenious in making
things unpleasant for those around them.
Catherine II. was so particularly fond of
this variety of punishment (which she
often administered in person. that it
amounted almost to a passion with her.
1t was related that she carried the craze
so far one time that the ladies of the court
had to come to the winter palace with
their dresses so adjusted that the empress
could whip them at once if she should feel
so inclined.
While the instruments Of torture used
IN Russia were of great variety, the most
formidable ''punisher'' was the knot. an
instrument of Tarter origin and of which
descriptions differ. In It's ordinary form
it appears to be a heavy leather thong,
about s feet in length, attached to a handle
2 FEET long, the lash being concave. thus
making Two sharp edges along its en-
tire length, and when it fell on the Grim
malls back it would cut him like flexible
double-edged sword. Running the gaunt-
let was also employed, but principally in
the army. In this the offender had to
pass through long line of soldiers, each
of whom gave the offender stroke with
a plant switch. Peter the Great limited
the number Of blows to be given to 1900.
but unless it was intended to kill the vic
tim they seldom gave more than 1000 at a
time When the offender was sentenced
to greater number of strokes than this,
the punishment was extended over several
days for the reason above stated.
Whipping. after dropping out of sight
for time in England, was reintorduced
in England in 1867, in order to put check
on crimes of violence. The law was so
framed that the judges might add fogging
at discretion to the Imprisonment TO which
the offenders were also sentenced The
first instance of this punishment being
used was at Leeds, where two men re-
ceived twenty-five lashes each before enter
ing their five and ten years penal servi-
tude for garoting. The whip used in this
instance was the cat 'o-nine tails
The whipping post is also still used in
some parts OF this country, notably at New
castle, Del, where the ''cat'' is still adj
ministered for minor offenses. Judging
from a whipping that the writer once wit
messed. it appears to be a very mild form
of punishment
A lot of ten year-ods were told by the
teacher in a Pressure Isle. Me-, school the
other day to write the names of FIVE per
sons of whom they had read. The ques-
ton was poser for most of them, but one
rose to the occasion and handed in list.
He was told to read it and did so as fol-
lows: 1.-The Lord. George Washington,