Wichita eagle., 1890-01-12
DELAWARE'S WHIPPING POST.

| Expert Testimony As to What 1t Has Been
and What 1t Is in This Year of Grace.
At the last session of the Delaware legisla-
| ture it was enacted that hereafter no female
convicted of any crime in this state shall be
whipped or be made to stand in the pillory."
The introduction of this act revealed fact
| not generally known-that women could
lawfully be whipped for cOunterfeiting,
| horse stealing, burglary, arson, manning by
lying in wait and poisoning They are liable
to be put in the pllory for perjury, suborna-
ton of perjury, forgery, receiving stolen
goods, assault with intent to kill, conjura-
tion witchcraft, fortune telling and dealing
with spirits.
That law had been a dead letter for many
years, sthe last white woman having been
whipped for larceny about the year 1886
The law was "a ward amended to do away
with the last "a white women. As late as
1870 colored women were sent to the post.
AT the session of the legislature in 1871 the
word ''white' was stricken out of the law re-
lating to the punishment of women for lar
ceny, and the black sisters were put on an
equality with their white sisters. Now it is
designed to remove all possibility of women
being whipped or put in the pillory.
"A SeuJleiuan WHO mas Deen perfectly Ia
miliar with the operations of the whipping
post for over forty years says that he has
seen scores of prisoners dashed at the post,
and while it is seldom now that blood is
drawn, if ever, he has seen backs of prisoners
that were almost cut to "a jelly" He says
that the whippings became less violent when
the newspapers began to report the quarterly
performances at New Castle with the cat.
IL
twice a year.
There was a great tendency upon the part
of sheriffs to regulate the force of their blow
entirely through prejudice for or against a
man. A writer in The Washington News
says be has seen two or three hundred men
whipped, but has never seen the blood flow
He has seen large welts on the backs of the
victims and fine drops of blood almost ready
to come through, but never any blood run
ming.
The Jail gates are always thrown 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
leniency. There has been but little difference
as to numbers between white and black vic
Tins
There has been great toning down of late
years of the number of lashes applied. 1t
was a frequent thing years ago TO give pris-
oner a cumulative sentence and for three
successive Saturdays he would receive eighty
lashes. The result was, even though the
blows were lightly laid on, that the victims
back would be in an awful condition. The
story is told of one old black man VINO, after
being whipped upon three Saturdays, was
sold into slavery.
He declared that be would never go south, |
and when his purchaser got as far as Haxre |
de Grace the poor fellow cut his throat
1t was the rule at one time to sell colored |
men and women 70 the highest bidder after |
they had been whipped, and they were fire.
quently knocked down for 81 and quickly |
hurried south. There is an old man now in |
New Castle county alushouse who was regu-
larry engaged in the purchase of blacks and
selling them into slavery.
1t is really surprising, however, how few
are the real facts and incidents that those
who are In q position to know can tell.
There are very few whippings in Kent and
Sussex counties, so that all material for a
history OF the post has to be CLEANED in New
Castle county. Nearly every whipping has
some little incident attached 70 1t, but the
story Of one is really the story Of all.