The herald., 1897-07-22
Is Corporal Punishment
Against State Law?
CAPTAIN TREATS BATTERY
1T WAS NECESSARY TO DIsCI-
PLINE THE BOYS
An Echo of the Late Revolt at the
Reform School-Testimony of
Boys and Masters

The interest being taken in the ex-
animation of C. H. Treat, one Of the cap
tains at the Whittier reform school, who
is charged with battery" upon the
person of boy named Parks, does not
seem to be very great, to judge from the
very limited attendance of people in the
township court yesterday.
Inasmuch as the whipping that was
administered to the boy, in common with
many others, was given as corrective to
the spirit of characterization that was
then abroad in the school, it is improb-
able that superfuous amount of SYM
pathy will be wasted upon the case
1t is true, however, that when whip
ping is administered it ought to be done
in such manner that the front portion of
the body is protected. The old-fash-
Toned navy triangle, or the more modern
grating IS an absolute protection in
this way. Whipping in haphazard
manner is any time likely to result in the
blow falling, in the event of boy finch
ing, which he inevitably will do, upon
portions of the body liable to serious and
even permanent injury.
Deputy District Attorney Willis waxed
eloquent during the examination yester-
day anent the enormity perpetrated in
whipping the boys, and this boy particu-
larly He stated that he would argue that
corporal punishment was against the
law in all penal institutions of this state
and if he can convince the court and the
public of this some good will result. The
question whether corporal punishment
should be permitted in the girls depart
ment at Whittier or not was the one that
for long time agitated the minds of
the trustees. If it had been known alb
solutely that corporal punishment was
Illegal there might have been saved a
vast expenditure, and some girls prob
ably would be happier today.
With all Difference to the district at
torney, however, there are other legal
luminaries with some pretensions to
knowledge of the law bearing upon the
conduct of penal institutions who take
issue with him. The special act empow-
ers the officers of the reform school to
discipline" their charges, and when a
boy is committed to Whittier those hav-
ing him in charge stand in loco PARENTS
to him. AT present the whipping propo-
sition appears to be one altogether of
wisdom rather than of legal right. In
deed, later in the day this seems to have
occurred to Mr.. Willis, for while conced-
ing that the officials had the right to
whip Parks he contended that the whip
ping was excessive and cruel, and eX-
ceeded the bounds of humane chastise-
ment.
During the day a rather odd point
came up. Mr.. Willis was arguing that
the point whether the boy Parks had
been unduly punished was not to be
judged by that dealt out to the other
boys, and particularly when passed upon
and defined by one of the very officials
present at the time, but by the court
who was sole arbiter in the matter in
the light of the laws definition. Counsel
made several comparisons to illustrate
his me Gaming, and cited the mode followed
by the Chinese in binding the feet of in
fants in order to give them lilly feet"
He commended that we consider that a
barbarity, but the Chinese don't think
so, and by analogy he urged that though
the whipping might be pronounced en-
inently mild and proper by the captain
who administered it, it might at the
same time be unduly severe from the
courts standpoint and from the stand
point of law.
The parallel was not happy, however.
Repeatedly in this state, and also in the
east, Chinese parents have been brought
into court for binding their children's
feet and on account of the medical testi-
mony have been discharged. So with our
own infants it has been the habit to
bandage tightly newborn infants, but
the new school of practitioners decries
such method and believes in letting the
little one expand it's lungs and dia-
phragm in perfectly free manner 1t is
hard to draw a rigid line when the
statutory law or the law of social Gus
tom has not already done so.
SCARS OF THE BATTLE
The boy Parks was first put upon the
witness stand and testified to the whip
ping he had received. 1t was in the play
room, and he was told to put his hands
around one of the iron pillars support
ing the roof of the room. His clothing
was then dropped down and he re-
ceived nine strokes with a piece of small
eized rubber gas tubing. Some of the
blows fell on the inside of the boys
thigh, and in one instance struck deli
cate part. Throughout the examination
the prosecution sought to show that the
instrument was brutal one, and thu
whipping was administered in a brutal
manner.
Five other Whittier boys testified ais,
to Parks having been whipped.
Leonard Sanford testified to having
been at the school IA months He took
part in the whipping and testified that
y,ia of f1rI, tn Il