The morning times., 1896-12-25
OLD Time PUNISHMENTS
Curious Penalties Inflicted by Early
COlOnistS.
The BilEoes Were One of the Earl
lest Instruments of Punishment
Used in This Country.
N. y Ereninq Sua.


certain classes of offenders. Nor will he
hesitate to acknowledge that a few Of
these old puniStments, II revived might be
attended with good results, though in the
same breath he condemn them as Inhumdn
and barbarOus
1t has come to pass within the present
century that punisiImentS which appeal
| mainly to the prisoners sense of shame are
| almost universally regarded as bartarOus-
| 1t is true that the public whipping post is
| still in use in certain places, but 1T mas
now become ain Ost extinct. and for that
| matter the punishment depends, after all,
| only to a slight extent on the feeling Or
| shame But while such methods are now
| fallen into disrepute, there was time
when the ministers OF justice placed great
| faith in the efficacy Of ridicule, even in
cas- where it would appear least likely
| to appeal to the offender.
One of the earliest and most famous in
struments used in this country for the pur-
pose OF exposing an offender to the con-
| tempt OF the Multitude were the bilbUcs.
The bilboes consisted simply OF heavy
| bolt of iron with two sliding shackIrs
similar to handouts, in which the legs Of
| the offe nder Were secured with paddock
They were commonly employed in the old
| Colonial days, the Massachusetts magis-
| trates finding them very useful in the
| punishment of minor offenders.
! record at Boston, dated August Z, 1882:
flames Woodward shall be sett in the
| bilbows for being drunk at the NewetOw n
| Cambridge, and another records the same
! punishment for selling pecces and powder
| and shott to the Indians" Sometimes,
| too, men were condemned 70 be thus eS-
posed for 'swearynge" or because they
had ''sleited the magistrates In speaches. -
| But although the hilboes were popular
! among the magistrates for q time, they
! had fallen into disuse by 1910, when the
/ stocks, which were cheaper and easier
| of construction, were introduced.
! An instrument OF a very different nature,
| but Of still greater rennwn and more wide
! spread use in this country, was the tTe-
bucket or ducking stool OF all the other
devices for casting ridiCuie on an offender
surely there never was one which ap-
preached it. For this reason it seem ed
peculiarly appropriate 10 employ IL in the
| punishment of scolds, shrews. bTawlers,
| railers and such like offenders The tru-
bucket consisted of a short post planted in
| the ground near a pond or river, with q
| long beam or pole resting upon it, which,
| by simple system of hinges, could be
| swung around parallel to the bank 4 chair
| was secured to one end. and in this the
| culprit was placed, after which pole and
| chair were swung out and worked after the
! manner OF pump handle. In Pennsyl-
! ginia the docking stool was frequently
| employed In the statute books of the last
named colony the following law may be
found.
Whereas oftentmes many hrabling wJ-
men often slander and scandaiiZe their
neighbours, for which their poore husbands
are often brought into chargeahle and vex-
atious suits and cast in great damages, be
| it enacted that all women found guilty be
sentences to duckinC.''
Virginian of the seventeenth century
thus describes a ducking in a letter to a
friend:
THE day afore yesterday at two Of We
clock III ye afternoon l saw this punish
ment given to ole Betsy wife OF John
Tucker who by ye violence of her tongue
has made his house and the neighborhood
uncomfortable. She was taken To We pond
near where l am sojourning by the officer
who was joined by We Magistrate and We
Minister Mr.. Cotton who had frequently adj
monished her and large number OF People.
| They had a machine for We purpose vt
| belonged to the Parish and which l was
so told had been so used three times this
| summer. 1t is a platform with four small
| rollers or wheels and two upright posts
between which works Lever by a Rope
| fastened TO its shorter or heavier end
| AT ye end of ye longer arm is fixed
| stool upon which sd Betsy was fastened
her
| feete. The Machine was then moved up
to We edge Of We pond, We Rope was slack
! ened by We officer and sc woman was
| allowed to go do OwH under ye water for We
| space of half a minute Betsy had a
! stout stomach, and would not Weld until
| she had allowed herself To be ducked 3
| several times. AtIength she cried piteousIy,
| Let me go Let ME go, by Gods help Ill
! sin no more. Then they drew back We
Machine, united We Ropes and let her walk
home in her wetted clothes a hopefully
| penitent woman"
| 1t is comparatively but recently that this
| punishment was abolished, for in 1911 a
| woman, indicted for scolding, was tried and
| convicted by the supreme court, OF Mill
| edgevillc. Ga, and publicly ducked in the
| Oconee River.
| An other fayorite mode of furnishing
| scolds was to encase their heads in the
| 'gossips bridle," or Drank a sort of
| iron cage, of great weight. to which was
attached spiked plate OF iron fitting into
| the mouth over the tongue, so as TO make
it impossible for the culprit to speak
| without suffering exquisite pain. DR..
Plot, the historian of StaffOrdShre, spoke
| highly in praise of this ingenious engine,
| which corrected, scOlds $50 effectually
| and so very safely that he looked on it
| as much to be preferred to the ducking
| stool, which not only endangeTS the health
of tie party, but also gives her liberty
| to wag, twixt every dip, to neither of hich
is this at all liable, it being such a Birdie
Tor the tongue as not only quite deprives
them OF speech, but brings shame for the
| transgression and humility thereupOn be-
fore it is taken off Which, being
put upon the offender by the order of the
| magistrate and fastened with a paddock
behind, she is led through the town by an
officer, to her shame: nor is it taken off
till after the party begins to show external
| signs Imaginable Of humiliation and amend
| ment.
| Although the Drank was not known II
America in its English form, gags were
commonly employed, as appears from 6
letter of John Dunton. who wrote in 1856
"Scolds they gag and set them at thei
own doors for certain hours together, TO
all comers and goers to gaze at; were
this Law in England and well executed
it would in little Time prove an effectua
| Remedy to cure the Noise that is in man,
Women's head
A penalty made famous by Nathane
Hawthorne was the wearing OF the Scarle
letter. This was imposed not only on loos
women and adulteresses, but even on drunk
ards, blaSphemerS and many other offend
ers. Thus, for blasphemy, a woman wa
sentenced in 1859 to be "whipt at Taun
ton and Plymouth on market day." an
| having been fined. forever in the futur
Ito have o letter B cutt out of ridd ciot
& sewed to irer upcr garment on her righ
arm in sight" Again the following ser
tence was imposed on noted drunkard:
1884 Robert Coles, for drunkenes b
him committed at Rocksbury shalbe di
franchiZed. weare about his necke, X So
to hange vpon his outwd garment q u. mad