Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1890-06-13
BRUTALITY IN 4 PRISON.
The Whipping Post in the Missouri Peni'
tentiAry.

A correspondent of the st. Louis Re-
public who has been there tells of pri-
SON punishment in Missouri. He says:
''The use of the lash in the prison is
common-too common to be of any pos
sible benefit in keeping order. A man
goes to the whipping post, not with the
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 neglected his work. or
was talking to fellow-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
caressing way picks up rawhide.
which he intently examines to see if it
is all right.
The culprit is brought up to the
post. His hands are tied to the post
near the ground, leaving him in
STOPPING position. His neck is placed
under the stocks, which are then fast
ened 50 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 prisoners receives from
one to twenty-five lashes, according to
the offense and the number of times he
has been ID 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 q
crack upon the bare back of the pris-
oner. Swish comes the whip again.
and the prisoner bites his lip to keep
from crying out with the pain, as such
a thing only increases the punishment.
Crack. the whip again and again strikes
tile quivering flesh. leaving thick welt
along the skin, and as the force of the
blows increases as the Deputy Warden
Warns up to his work. the welts as
sumo 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 pun
ishment has been inflicted or else the
prisoner faints from the pain and ton
ture.
He is then given over to-
the doctors. From long
Whipping master gan M
ping more severesin Civ
strokes on the person of ohc~
than another. In case he wishes
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 a number of bloody Ks on the back.
l have seen 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. have seen
one of the officials stagger as he walk
ed up to the whipping post, and l know
he was greatly under the influence OF
LIQUOR"