The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-09-16
EOSTON'S WHIPPING POST.
Some of the Cruel P~unishments Inflicted
In Puritan Days.

Some of the Cruel Punishments Inflicted
In Puritan Days.
The first whipping-post in Boston
was erected in front of the old meet
~ing-house. This old Westinghouse, the
first church of Boston, was an unpre-
tentious structure of wood, and was
situated on State street, on the ground
which is now occupied by Brazer's
building, and in it preached the first
ministers of the town-John Wilson
and John Cotton-and thither went to
worship John Winthrop and Richard
Bellingham and all their jealous Puri-
tanical followers. The church re-
manned here until 1910, when it was re-
moved to that part of what we now
call Washington street, nearly opposite
the head of State street, on the site of
the present Rogers building.
But the whipping-post remained in
it's original position for some years
afterward, until it was removed to near
the West street gate of the common,
and public whippings, whether de-
served or not, continued to be inflicted
as late as 1903.
Samuel Brock, in his recollections,
says: THE large whipping-post,
painted red, stood co~nspicuously and
permanently in the most public street
in town. 1t was placed in State
street, directly under the windows of
a great writing school which l fire.
quented, and from them the scholars
were INDUCED in the spectacle of all
kinds of punishment suited to harden
their hearts and tantaliZe their feel
ings. Here women were taken from a
huge cage,on which they were dragged
On wheels from prison. and tied to the
post, with bare backs, on which thirty
or forty lashes were bestowed, amid
the screams of the culprits and the up
roar of the mob. A little farther in
the street was to be seen the pill
lory, with three or four fellows
fastened by the head and hands,
and standing for an hour in that
helpless posture, exposed to gross and
cruel insult from the mu ltitude, who
peited them necessarily with rotten
eggs and every repulsive kind Of gar
bage that could be collected"
Almost every kind of misdemeanor
was punishable with whipping, and
the number of stripes varied according
to the enormity of the ~offense. Here
are some of the instances: On the
30th of. November. 1880, and possibly
before the regular whipping-post was
set up, a man was whipped for shoot
ing al a fowl on the Sabbath day
whether he hit her or not is another
rpaffar Thara yroc n rrim hit NJ hr-
NOR enacted at the court on this day.
for the first business transacted was
to fine one of the assistants five pounds
for whipping two persons without
another of the assistants being pres
ent, as the act provided.
On the 4th of September, 1882, a man
was ordered ito be severely whipped
for cursing, swearing, then j~ustifying
the same and glorying in it," and anoth-
er man, who had sold a gun, pistol.
powder and shot to Monlowampate
(Sagamore James,, was whipped and
branded in the face with a hot iron.
On December 9, 1910, one Mrs. Oliver
was whipped for ~reproaching the magis-
trates, and,she "stood without trying and
bore her punishment with a masculine
spirit, glorying in her suffering But
there was something more, for some
time after 'she had a cleft stick put on
her tongue half an hour for approach
ing the elders"
In September 1861, Obadiah Holmes.
for being a Baptist, was whipped with
exceeding severity, yet he told the
magistrates it was as with rods of
roses, although the blood streamed
from his cut and bruised body.
Horred Gardiner, with a child at her
breast, was whipped for being Quaker
in September. 1857. Yet in the midst OF
her sufferings ''she kneeled down and
prayed the Lord to forgive them!"-
Boston Herald.
Purely a SuuuoSed Case