Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-12

at the New Castle Jail receive. Here, also,
the sheriff uses his discretion as to what
constitutes lashes well laid on" but Sc
we're puni3hments and the drawing Of blood
are the exception and not the rule.
When the sheriff of Sussex county has
offenders to thrash at the post. he simply
goes out and cuts a supply Of pliable hick-
cry switches, using his discretion as to
their size. Switches superseded the lash in
Sussex about forty years ago.
The punishment of the whipping post Is
most frequently inflicted for the crime Of
larceny, and most of the offenders are ne
groes. 1t can scarcely be argued that the
punishment is a deterrent. Men continue
to steal, despite the terrors Of the whip
ping post, and instances are not rare of
hardened offenders being returned a second
end even third time to receive their pun
ishment. The ordinary criminal, the man
of low intellect and vicious tendency, seems
to have little dread of the whipping post.
The Moral Eject.
But there are many who hold that the
post and pillory serve to deter the COM
MISSION Of many graver crimes in this
state, particularly that of burglary. Sit
uated as is Delaware, and particularly the
city Of Wilmington, on the main highway
between New York and Washington, it is
contended that the skillful burglars Of the
large cities would fairly overrun this COM
munity did they not so much dread the
punishment of the post. The jails of Del
aware could not hold such fellows, and it
is urged that only the peculiar mode Of
punishment provided for their crimes keeps
them away from here.
The high-class professional burglar looks
upon the whipping post as a degradation,
and one who Is unfortunate enough to he
compelled to embrace it and feel the
sting of the lash upon his bare back, loses
caste among his fellows. This was shown
back in 1873, when Jimmy Hope. big
Frank" Carter, Jimmy" Lawler and ED"
Sc ho favY, n
men in the land at that time, took the OBJ
noxious dose of post and pillory for an at
tempt to rob the Bank of Delaware In this
city. These burglar princes would have
guaranteed the payment Of any amount of
money could they have evaded the sentence
of hour in the pillory and forty lashes
each imposed upon them. They felt 1t as
a disgraee that forever barred them from
though the sheriff applied the cat In a
manner that scarcely Redeemed their backs,
they hung their heads in deepest shame
while the castigation was being admin
iste red. All soon after escaped from the
prison, but all felt that they had been
forever degraded by their public fiagella-
tion at a Delaware whipping post. There
has never since been an attempt to rob a
bank in Delaware.
Fear of the Disgrace.
Burglaries are committed here, but they
seldom amount to much, and are almost
lENdfADly the Work OF DunSHnS amateurs
Skillful professionals in this line of BUSH
ress give Delaware a wide berth. 1t is also
held that the fear of the disgrace attending
punishment at the post keeps many a
young man in the line of honesty who
otherwise might yield to the temptation to
go astray. OF course, this is largely con-
jectural, but 1t is a belief entertained by
many. The whipping post, therefore, has
hosts of supporters among the good peo-
pie of Delaware. They look upon it as
protection to a state too small to provide
itself with the elaborate and costly means
OF punishment for desperate and dangerous
criminals. The judges of the courts have
never joined any movement to do away
with the post and pillory. Every prosecut-
ing attorney for the past fifty years has
upheld the institution as good one for the
punishment of evil doors and the preven-
ton of crime.
For these reasons 4 is safe to predict
that the post and pihorv will remain in
Delaware for many more years. The only
recent agitation of the question was sug-
sestion made a few years ago to extend the
punishment of the whipping post to men
who beat their wives, but the suggestion
was not put into practical shape 1t is
likely, however, to come up at any session
of the legislature, and will find many warm
advocates. As to the efficacy of the pun
fshment for this offense, the. records of the
courts of Maryland, where 1t has been in
force for some years, ought to afford ample
evidence. NJ. 7.