The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1895-02-02
THE WHIPPING-POST,
What it Was in Delaware in the Olden
Time.

1T is really too bad, the discredit that
has fallen on the whipping post" said an
old time native of Delaware
There was time when it had record
and reputation; when people of quality
were recognized by it, and it stood not
only as the stern and unbending dispenser
of justice by the aid OF the man who
handled the lash, but gave distinction to
that man as the purveyor OF punishment
to many of his fellow citizens who other
wise, owing to wide difference in station,
he never could have hoped to meet without
taking OIL his hat and standing aside until
they had passed by. This may seem strange
to any one who never lived in Delaware in
the good old days when folks but remem-
Der when some OF the Blue Hens most
respectable citizens were put in the post
known as the pillory and made to expiate
their ofenses against law and morality by
forced embrace of the whipping post.
These oifenses were worth while. They
were, if not the outcome OF genius at least
the result of talent that the common mould
of transgressoIs could not be capable Of
Then the whipping post was an adjunct of
justice that it was pleasant to contemplate
''See what the whipping post used to be-
| remember having seen men who after
being whipped were by law compelled to
wear the letter + felon) over the backs of
their coats as long as they remained within
the boundaries of the state.
''ln the old time, when Delaware was
more rigid in her righteousness than she is
today it was held by those who made and
those who administered the laws that dis
honesty was much more heinous when
engaged in by those placed by social posi-
ton above want and amid respectable sur
roundings than when INDUCED in by those
tempted by necessity and evil companor-
ship. Consequently when a prominent
citizen was caught stealing or forging his
punishment was made heavier and more
severe than that meted out to rogues of
either Of the classes contemptuously known
as poor whites and free niggers.
Toward the close of the last century an
eminent and well beloved gentleman of
Kent county, a public benefactor disting-
ushed for piety, fell from his high estate.
He was a magistrate and noted for wisdom
and excellence OF judgment. On one oc-
caSion there were brought before him in
his official capacity some counterfeiters
who had been arrested for passing bad
money, "A large amount OF which was found
on their persons. The magistrate, as was
his duty, took possession OF the counterfeit
stuff to destroy, as was the law. The
rogues were committed for trial and were
subsequently pilloried and whipped
Years afterward the neighborhood was
flooded with bogus money. Where it came
from was long a puzzle to the authorities
who had undertaken to trace its origin, but
when its source was at last discovered the
discovery fell like thunderbolt on the
community. The responsibility for the
prevalence of the counterfeit money was
traced to the very magistrate who had COM
mitted the culprits for counterfetng some
years before The discovery was made that
instead of destroying the large amount Of
spurious money he had contiscated for that
ostensible purpose he had kept it, and
biding his time had himself put it in full
circulation in the county for his financial
benefit. But he was so popular and well
beloved by his fellow citizens that every
effort was made to deliver him from the
consequences of his offense, but without
avail. He was whipped most severely in
the jailyard in Dover, and the officer who
inflicted the wounds was so apprehensve
that he might be accused by some one of
Partially for rich and respected criminal
that he cut so deeply into this mans flesh
with his lash that the blood ran off the
end of it and down over his own hands,
while the back of the offender was sight
that filled every onlooker with horror.
at is almost within this generation that
IA conspicuous and very able politician, a
citizen of Wilmington, ran for Congress
in his district and came within less than
half dozen votes of being elected. He
spent in canvass more money than he could
afford. In order to tide over the temper
airy embarrassment to which this eXpendi-
ture had brought him he forged the in
dorsement of near relative of his, who
was a leading Wilmington doctor, to note
and had the note discounted at one of the
local banks, intending to take it up before
it came to maturity and thus escape the
consequences of his act. Unfortunately for
him, the teller of the bank knew that this
man and the relative whose name was on
the note us its endorser had not been on
speaking terms for long time, and he
wondered much at the reconciliation the
Endorsement indicated had taken place be-
tween the two men, and meeting the doctor
one day his curiosity got the better of him,
and he accosted him.
" Doctor, said he, 4 am glad to see
you and John have made up your quarrel.
Nour nIorSpmant nf bic motto ~. III I,l,, I,;,,