St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1891-08-01
ANCIENT PUNisHMENTs.
The Treatment OF Criminals I'm the b
fouf

The Treatment OF Criminals I'm the Dis.
tant Past.
We have less definite information
about the punishment of criminals In
ancient times than about any other por-
ton of their public and private econo-
my. The prevalence of slavery left
much of what is now public jurisdiction
in private hands, and few records have
consequently been preserved. In an
early stage of civilization, moreover,
the ,retribution which overlook the
wrongdoer-when it did overtake him
generally took the form of private and
bloody vengeance on the part of the re-
latives or tribe of the person injured; to
use a legal phrase, the law of tort had a
much more extended application than
at present. Such particulars as have
come down to us relate chiefly to the
treatment of prisoners of war. These
were employed by the Chaldeans, Baby
lonians, Assyrians, Egyptians and the
Persians on great public works, such as
palaces, temples cities and roads; the
Pyramids, Nineveh and Persepolis were
thus constructed.
One of the Kings Of Assyria returned
from a single campaign with more than
two hundred thousand prisoners, and
they were Immediately set to work in
this way. Diodorus Siculus tells us
that in Egypt offenders against the
law, as well as prisoners taken in
battle, were employed in mining
for stone and were treated with the
utmost rigor and barbarity. They were
bound in fetters and obliged to work so
hard that the greater portion speedily
succumbed under the strain. No rest
or indulgence was granted to the sick,
the feeble or the aged, and all were
compelled by blows and ill-treatment to
labor@t to the extreme limit Of human en-
durance. No attention was paid to
their persons, and they were driven to
their work with the lash, until death
intervened to put an end to their suffer
ings.
In the history of Greece and Rome it
is difficult to find any distinction be-
| tween the treatment of slaves and that
of criminals; both were set to heavy
outdoor labor and treated with brutal
harshness; but any distinct system for
the punishment of crime can hardly be
said to have existed until late period
| of the Roman Empire. Even then in
generation in noisome dungeons and
labor in mines seem to have been the
chief methods of dealing with offenders
The prisons were without light and
ventilation and abounded in filth and
pestilential odors. But prisons formed
costly and troublesome means
s,1,
tions and whippings were preferred
for many offenses. The earliest ac-
count of prisons in China is found in the
Sinking, or Book of History, compiled
by Confucius, work which covers
the period from 1856 to 723 B. C. The
prisons seem to have been arranged
somewhat on the plan OF 3 large stable,
having an open central court, occupy
ing nearly fourth of the area, and small
cribs or stalls covered by a roof, in
which the prisoners were lodged. They
were secured by msnacles and gives,
chain joining the hand to the neck,
and desperate criminals were even
more heavily ironed Whipping and
branding were also employed as pun
ishments.
Coming down to more modern times,
the most common form of dealing with
criminals in France for many centuries
was condemning them to the galleys, or
galeres. Philip the Fair 12s5-1314) APP
pears to have been the introducer of
this system, and from his day until well
into the present century it continued in
vogue. The galleys were huge rowing
vessels, often containing several banks
of oars, which were largely used for
the transport of soldiers and military
stores The labor Of rowing was very
heavy; and as scant consideration was
shown to the prisoners, they frequently
died from the excessive exertions to
which they were compelled. To pre-
vent the possibility Of escape, each man
was fastened by chains to the oar at
which he labored, practice which gave
rise to the familiar expression, chained
to the oar."-N. Y. Ledger.