The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-08-08
brutality in "a Prison.


A correspondent of the ST. Louis Re
public who has been there tells of pri-
son punishment in Missouri. He says:
1.-The use of the lash in the prison is
common-too common to be of any pos
sble 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-feeiing of some guard
whose enmity he has incurred. Deputy
Warden Bradbury is the one whose
duty it is to WELD the rawhidc. 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 neglected his work, or
was talking to feilow-prisoner; per-
haps 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
caressiug way picks up rawhide
which he intently examines to see if it
IS all right.
ilt III ID pL'iSlt up W lliC
post. His hands are tied to the post
near the ground, leaving him in Il
STOPPING position. His neck is placed
under the stocks. which are then fast
encd so that he cannot jerk his head
away The Deputy Warden steps up,
and seizing the mans shirt, pulls it up
around his neck, leaving the bare back
exposed. The prisoner receives from
one to twenty-five lashes, according to
the oi1ensc 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 a
| full swing of his powerful arm, down
comes the whip with a swish and a
crack upon the bare back of the pris-
oner. Swish comes the whip again,
and the prisoner bites his lip to keep
from CRYING our with the pain, ITS such
Il thing only increases the punishment.
Crack, the whip again and again strikes
the Quivein@ flesh. leaving thick welt
along the skin, and as the force of the
blows increases rs the Deputy Warden
warns up to his work, the welts as
sumo first Il red, then blue hue, and
finally the blood tricklcs 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 pun
ishment has been inflicted or else the
prisoner faints from the pain and tor
ture.
HE is then given over to the care of
the doctors. From long practice the
whipping master can make tho whip
ping more severe in Il 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 a series of cross-cuts, max
ing Il number of bloody Ks on the back,
I have seen Il 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, tho punishment
was always more severe. l have seen
one of the officials staggera rs he walk.
ed up to the whipping post, and know
he was greatly under the influence o.
liuuorn