Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-01-11
THE WHIPPING POST.
WHAT " WAS IN DELAWARE IN THE
OLDEN TIME.
In Those Days It Had q Record and . Rep
utation--Respectable Offenders Gould
Not Escape It--Instances Related by an
Old Time Native.

utation-Respectable Offenders Could
Not Escape It--Instances Related by an
Old Time Native.
at is really too bad, the discredit that
has fallen on the whipping post" said an
old time native Of Delaware. There was
Q time when it had record and reputa-
ton; when people Of quality were reccg-
nized 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 purvcyor Of punishment to many OF
his fellow citizens who otherwise, owing
to wide difference in station, he never
could have hoped to meet without taking
off 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 and when folks were
folks, but I remember when some OF the
Blue Hens most respectable chickens were
put in the pen known as the pillory and
made to expiate their offenses against law
and morality by forced embrace of the
whipping post. These offenses were worth
while They were, if not the outcome OF
genius, at least the result Of talent that
the common mold of transgressors 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 com
PEELED to wear the letter felon) over the
backs of their coats as long as they re-
NAMED within the boundaries of the state.
I'm 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 dishonesty was much more heinous
when engaged in by those placed by social
position above want and amid respectable
surroundings than when INDUCED in by
those tempted by necessity and evil COM
panionship. Consequently when "a prom
inent citizen was caught stealing or forg-
ing his punishment was made heavier and
more severe than that meted out to rogues
of either of the classes contemptuously
known as poor whites or free niggers.
Toward the close Of the last century
an eminent and well beloved gentleman
Of Kent county, public benefactor dis
tingushed for piety, fell from his high es-
tate. He was magistrate and noted for
wisdom and excellence of judgment. On
one occasion there were brought before
him in his official capacity some counter
feiters who had been arrested for passing
bad money, large amount OF which was
found on their persons The magistrate,
as was his duty, took possession of the
counterfeit stuff to destroy it, as was the
law The rogues were committed for trial
and were subsequently pilloried and whip
ped Years afterward the neighborhood
was flooded with bogus money. Where 1t
came from was long puzzle to the au-
tborities who had undertaken to trace Is
origin, but when it's source was at last
discovered the discovery fell like thun-
dorbolt on the community. The response
bility for the prevalence of the counterfeit
money was traced to the very magistrate
who had committed the culprits for coun-
terfeiting some years before. The dis
covery was made that, instead of destroy
ing tho large amount of spurious money
he had conliscated for that ostensiblc pur-
pose, he had kept it, and biding his time
had himself put it in 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 at
Dover, and the officer who inflicted tho
punishment was SO approhensive that he
might be accused by some one of PARTIAL
ty for rich and respected criminal that
he cut so deeply into this man S 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
filed every onlooker with horror.
1t Is almost within this generation
that conspicuous and very able politi-
clan, citizen of Wilmington, ran for
congress in his district and came within
less than half dozen votes of being elect
ed. He spent in his canvass moro money
than be could afford. In order to tide
over the temporary embarrassment to
which this expenditure had brought him
he forged the Endorsement of near rela-
tive of his, who was leading Whining
ton doctor, to a note and had the note
discounted at one of the local banks, in
tending to take 1t up before it came to
maturity and thus escape this Consequences
of his act Unfortunately for him, the
teller of the bank knew that this man and
the relative whose name was on the noto
as ltS lnQOfSer Dau not DeSn Oh spcdhllS
terms for long time. and he wondered
much at the reconciliation this indorse-
ment indicated had taken place between
the two men. and meeting the doctor one
day his curiosity got tho better of him,
and he accosted him.
doctor, said he / am glad to see
that you and John have made UP your
quarrel Your Endorsement of his noto
will help him out
My indorseInentl' said the doctor. Il
have not Endorsed for him nor made up
with him.
The bank teller reported this at the
bank, and the maker of the motto was
charged with forgery. His relative, the
doctor, eagerly and willingly came for
ward and assured the bank that he would
mako the Endorsement good, so that tho
unfortunate forger might not be exposed
and prosecuted, but political enemies of
the man were among the directors of the
bank, and they insisted that the law
should take its course. The culpirt was
arrested, tried and convicted and sentenc-
cd to be publicly whipped. The sentence
would have been carried out but for the
fact that the wife of the citizen had been
a schoolmate and an intimate friend of
the wife of the then governor of Delaware.
She went to her and appealed to her to