Arizona republican., 1894-11-10
WHIPPING-POSTS AGAIN
Efforts of Prominent New Workers
 in This Direction.
What It Is Hoped to Accomplish Through Such a Law-To Be Employed Only for Wife-Beaters and Brutal
 Thugs,
Thugs.

At least certain people in New York
 led by Elbridge T. Gerry, will try t,
 have the following made a law at tn,
 next session of the legislature:
 Whenever male person shall bt
 convicted of felony consisting of ol
 accompanied by the infiction of phys
 ical pain or suffering upon the perso1
 of another, the court may, in it's dis
 cretion, in addition to that penalty
 now prescribed by law, impose an ad
 ditional sentence of corporal punish
 ment to be inflicted upon the offender
 in the prison to which he shall be sen
 tenced. Such corporal punishment
 shall be inflicted in private in said
 prison, in the presence of the warden
 and SUI geon thereof, who shall certify
 the fact to the court wherein it was
 imposed"
 Commodore Gerry is very much in
 earnest in the matter, and in an inter- view with a reporter for the New York Recorder stoutly defended the plan on the ground that it provided for the only punishment that is really feared by the brutes that it is intended to reach.
 Crime said he, "of the more brutal and fiendish character is frightfully on the increase, especially in the case where children of both sexes are the victims. Instances in which lifelong injuries have been inflicted on girls and boys of tender age are becoming so numerous that it is time something was done to strike at the very root of evil, and l am sure the only weapon that can be effectively used against the brutes who, in their passions, exhibit no thought or feeling for their victims is the lash.
 ''Once let the brutal element of the community know that the pain and suffering inflicted by them on others will be meted out on their own bodies and the shocking state of affairs now existing will be to a great extent wiped out. I am thankful to say that the creatures responsible for the of lenses are foreigners. The grade of crime against which the resolution is aimed is peculiar to men from other countries. And the only way to show these wretches that they cannot in- dulge in such things in this continent is the crack and the sting of the lash.
 Ut has been enormously stated that wife-beaters are included among the creatures against whom we are fight ic1 o+ ] vocating the lash for felony committed by men. Wife-beaters belong to an- other class of animals which may or may not deserve a good thrashing They, however, do not enter into the discussion. Burglary with violence, as sault of any brutal nature-those are the offenders who, maintain. should feel the sting of the lash. A conviction of twenty years, reduced by good be- havior to twelve, has no salutary effect on the callous element with which am dealing.
 As an instance, you, lava biding, peaceful citizen, are enjoying we'll earned rest; a hardened brute of bur- glar, not satisfied with plunder, delib- erately knocks you over the head, puts your eye out, crushes in your skull, mains you, beats you, and for this he gets twenty years. Is that any satis- faction to you? Do you get a new eye or another skull or a clean skin? No! Then I say let his punishment be pro- portionate in some degree to the of fense.
 Formerly crimes of which specially speak were punishable by death. But experience showed that the class of people that commit these crimes of personal violence don't dread death. Nihilists, anarchists, atheists and the more degraded classes scout the idea Corporal punishment is the only thing the scamps and rascals are afraid of A few years in prison doesn't have any deterrent effect. A man comes out of prison and he immediately perpetrates a similar crime, but if he understands that he is going to get dose of that which he inf1icts on other people, he thinks twice before he runs the risk.
 Tt is nonsense to play the fool with criminals and say that corporal punish ment is degrading and a revival of the dark ages. Are the abuses inflicted on little children degrading? Was there anything in the dark ages more debas- ing than the revolting acts which oc- cur to-day? There seems to be mawk- ish sensibility in the opposition to cor moral nnDiShman+ If is tho ol1aSt form of punishment known, and it is to be found in the Mosaic law. There can be nothing brutal in it, provided yon don't make the exhibition public In Delaware they have a curious meth cd. A felon is sentenced to thirty lashes, fifteen of which are admins tered. He is then told to get out of the state, and if he is found there after the lapse of week the balance of the