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

weather the unfortunate victim suffers
kecnly. In olden times the spectators were
permitted to pelt the poor victims with old
eggs and decayed vegetables, but this dis
graceful practice has been prohibited for
many years.
The whipping post, one foot SQUARE, is
provided with an iron staple on either
SIDE in which the prisoners wrists are in
serted and the staples fastened down with
hasps. This confines him securely, and
though he may move his body and dance
about under the tortures of the lash, he
cannot escape from the blows inflicted
upon him. '<s
The general use of the whipping post is
as punishment for larceny, and the
number of lashes for this crime varies
from five to twenty, at the discretion of
the court Formerly women were whipped
but they have been exempt from corporal
punishment for thirty years. The pill
Tory of itself Is provided as a punish
ment for -, forgery and assault and
battery with intent to commit murder
Post and .pillory combined are imposed
for the crimes Of arson, burglary, high
way robbery, horse stealing, and assault
with intent to commit rape. Formerly, a
prisoner convicted of murder in the Sec
ond degree was sentenced to an hour in
the pillory and sixty lashes, in addition to
Imprisonment for life. but several years
ago the corporal part Of the penalty for
this grade Of crime was removed.
Discretion of the Court.
Another modification Of the law in re-
gard to the penalty Of whipping Is the
clothing of the court with authority to
omit corporal punishment for larceny
where the prisoner, having been convicted
for the first time, Is recommended to
mercy by the jury; or when he pleads
guilty and furnishes proof of previous good
character
While in years past the whippings were
very severe. invariably drawing blood and
frequently cutting the back of the victim
Near re hn nlrSt for fba
past two decades has been to apply the
lash lightly. The language of the law
with respect to corporal punishment is:
The punishment of whipping shall be in
nicted publicly, by strokes on the bare
back, well laid on. 1t shall be administered
by the sheriff or his deputy" Chapter
l33, section 20. Revised Code of Delaware.)
Each sheriff. however, CONSTITUTES for him.
self the language of the law, well laid
on, and so general has become the Gus
tom to apply the lash lightly that it is
seldom drop of blood is drawn, even in
sentence of thirty or forty lashes. Some
times, In the case of prisoner whose Of
Tense has been of a particularly heinous
or revolving character. the sheriff will con-
strue the law literally, and give the Of
fender a whaling that he will never for
get. Such instances, however, are rare
I've absence of any specific provision in
the law respecting the instrument with
which the punishment shall be inflicted has
caused curious variance in the practice
followed in the three counties composing
the state. In New Castle county the sheriff
uges the genuine cato nine-tails" The
whip consists of nine leathern thongs, each
an eighth of an inch In thickness, fastened
to stout hickory handle. The thongs are
about TWO feet In length.
Terrors of the LASH
1t can readily be imagined how terribly a
culprits back could be mangled with this
veritable instrument of torture should the
IN with ho To-
Of the law, and see that the lashes were
'well laid on" And yet, in slavery days,
many a negro and white man, too, had his
pack fairly cut into ribbons by the awful
blows of this terrible scourge. 1t could be
SO now, did the sheriff choose to consider
IT his duty under the law. In Kent county
the sheriff whips all post victims with an
ordinary rawhide whip This gives the Gull
prits In this county practically only a
ninth part Of the punishment their fellows