Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-08
THE WHIPPING POST
Diverse Views on the Grand Jury's Recon-
mendation
The Question Diseased by Two Well
Known Ministers-A Lawyer
Who Approves.

The recommendation recently made by
the grand jury Of the District that the
whipping post should be revived as a pun
| ishment for wife-beaters, as well as those
convicted of minor offenses, in which i'm
| prIsonment seems to have no deterrent eff
| fects, has aroused great deal Of interest
among all classes, and has given rise to
very considerable discussion. Among the
ministers or tie city the suggestion has
been met either with strong expressions
OF approval or of dsapproval For the
NEST part however, they are opposed to
the whipping post, on the ground that it is
relic of barbarism
This morning Rev. DIR. Hugh Johnston,
pastor of the Metropolitan Me Church.
ana Rev. DIR. Oliver A Brown, pastor of
the Foundry NJ. f. Church, were sittins, to-
gether in the parlor of the latter's house
discussing church matters, when a Star re-
porter called End dropped bombshell be-
tween them by asking what they thought
Oh the recommendation of the grand jury
and the merits of the whipping post as an
institution for punishment.
Il think that its revival would he an ont
rage said DIR. Brown
That's just where 1 beg leave to dis
Metropolitan
A Symposium.
FROM that time on the duties of the re-
porter as an interviewer amounted TO prac-
tieally nothing. He sat back and listened.
ne whipping post" said DR.. Brown, 'is
relic of an earlier and more cruel time
II was an implement of barbarism. and to
bring it up again in this enlightened age
outraged" A Gil
But We nave inherited good many in
stiluttons from an earlier age, and they are
moi all bad simply on that account. For
instance, are yol opposed to capital nun
lSHlnent, Or. BroWnw'
mat Is quite outside of the present
question; but for your own Satisfaction
i pr. Johnston, l will say that l am. AS Tor
t!s whipping post, l am opposed to it on
the SroaEd that to use it IS to desrade a
human beng to the level of the beast Any
punishment that humiliates "a man to such
a degree is inhuman, and should never be
considered for moment"
But, interposed Or. Johnston, you will
hardly CLAN that corporal punishment for
children is always and altogether repre-
hensib.e."
NO; but the two cases are not at all
analogous A loving parent may be COM
PEELED, sometimes, to punish child that
way, but that is hardly to be compared 20
the lashins of grown man as a public
spectacle. The average child would prefer
a whipping, 1 think. to solitary contine
ment for day.
True. Confinement is a more severe
punishment frequently. in the case of
sensitive child. but l am not sure that it
Is in the case of a hardened criminal A
his brutal instincts are pretty strongly de-
veloped. and II is question whether
TEL IN behind the bars with a good bed and
Ilenty to eat means even as much to him
as il does to his wife, who has a pretty
hard tine of it while he is in Jail. 1t seems
to me that when a man beats a woman, d
little taste of the same punishment III his
case would bring him to a realizing sense
Of his iniquity. With what measure he
metes 1t should be melted unto him. Isn't
! there just little something in that Dr.
Brown"
You believe like the mikado," said the
reporter when he said:
My object all sublime
/ shall achieve in time,
To make the punishment mt the CRIME
The pu4..ShmenI lit the crime.
After it was explained that this waj
quotation from come opera, Dr. Jonn-
ston admitted that it gave very fair IDEA
CT his views-So far as wife-beating was
concerned
Then" said Dr. Brown. 1.-The punish
ment, by that l mean Imprisonment, should
| be made more severe.
More brutal You mean?
Not at all. l simply mean that man
when he is sent to prison should be COM
PEELED to work and not be supported in Idle
ness.
But there you have the great question
| that is always occupying the attention of
prison reform associations. When you put
| prisoners to work you at once bring them
into competition with the laborlng classes,
| and paid labor cannot compete with con-
| Wet or unpaid labor. / think, too. that
prisoners ought to be made to work. but it
| is not simple matter to find out what tLey
can best be put at. In the penitentlaries.
| of course, ali the convicts are kept at hard
| labor. or ought to be, but in an institution
! like the District Jail, where the prisoners
are locked up for only short terms. the
question becomes a more complex one. AS
| to the use of the whipping post 1 think
that it should be used only i'll extreme cases
| for such offenses as have been mentioned,
&c hot in lrNr sflfNIl nj
means nothing"
THAT is all right" continued DR.. Brown.
| -'but:I cannot admit that any punishment
which is brutal ought to be practiced or
allowed"
But is there any punishment which is
not brutal?" asked DR.. Johnston
IN a certain sense and in theory, per-
haps there is not. But the whipping post
is the last extreme of inhuman and brutal
punishment. 1t not only humilateS the
victim and leaves him devoid of eelf-re-
spect, but is degrading to all those who
witness its use"
But l take it that it is not to be a pub
lie spectacle If It is introduced into this
city. 1t of course should be done outside
the public view, just as is hanging today,
and as to the humiliation and all that, l
think that the sensibilit:es and self-respect
CT a wife heater are not very well develop
ed. Imprisonment leaves no stigma on him
that he cares for in the least,an the whole
question resolves itself into an effort to
find out what mode of punishment is most
likely to put a stop to the offense. l do
not know much about it, for l have never
lived III a community where the whip
ping post was in operation, but it seems to
me that If a man got a few lasneS he
would remember them for a good while
and would be careful not to put himself in
position where he would be subjected to
such a punishment again"
And so the discussion came to an end.
DIR. Brown is still opposed to the whipping
post, while DR.. Johnston thinks that it
altOgather good f
feet.
A Lawyer Approves.
q regard the whipping post for wife
beaters, viewed either as a punishment or
as a deterrent, as most desirable insti-
tution'' said Mr. Henry E. Davis, land
as respects the talk about it's being de-
grading my opinion Is that nothing can
degrade a man who will whip woman"
nAnIIlS RlSCANENRIEn