The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-21
PUNISHMENT FOR SCoLDS.
THE DUOKING STOOL rs Still kTAIL-
ABLE IN SOME STATES.

Unusual interest has been ovinced in q trial in
Criminal Court for two days. Mrs. Amanda
| Stocko Of Lowell street was charged by Mrs.
| Elizabeth Meyers with being n common scold.
She was ACQUITTED by tho jury yesterday, but the
costs were apportionod 30 that she must pay
onc-fourth and Mrs. Meyers three. fourths. The
respective partisans Of the ncighbors created q
great uproar when the jury's verdict was an
nounced. Tho costs amount TO 5000.
Tho fact that the common law offence Of Boz
ing q common scold Is indictablo In Pennsyl-
vania aroused even legal antiquarians, and the
dust was brushed from old tones that treated
Of nuisances, which, being so much endured,
few suspected that the law afforded redress. In
mans desperation the Humane Society may
have punished him wnere q Grand Jury would
have indicted his c~onjugal mate.
Not only is the common scold still within the
p~urview of laws against routs and riots, and
favoring tranquility Of the vicinage, but 1t In
held that the ducking stool Is yet q means Of
punishment, should some approciative Pennsyl.
vania Judge have the nerve to decree a removal
Of Its use. Fine and imprisonment are the mod
ern refuge against the shrewish. No Judge
would caro- to return to the old ways, for The
gossips might wonder over his woman hatred,
and tho public might think he was getting
personal.
1t is likely that few people know that the
| uuOhihB pOooA q ohCo ohproS Ou VI tcobu
1t is held that women had more grounds for
scolding in pioneer days than now, and hence tho
stool should again be brought into requisition.
The English settlers brought to the United
States the ducking stool as an implement Of
punishment, as they imported the common law.
be seen to-day the old ducking stools; Even
In 1903 a woman was ducked there. The Puri:
it was adopted in New Jersey and Delaware. In
lssethe Grand Jury of Jersey City indicted Mrs;
to mI By t ahraas as as Se sS,na stiIl an Seo indictab Ts ]ofi toans
and that the ducking stool was YET available
as asoo q means an . Of ,pEaniashhm I'M NJ. R Not hsyi s4sth been
Meade, in his "old CHURCHES. Ministers, and
Old Dominion the practice Of thus treating
ing to repeat tho history Of the establishment
Of courts in this city by Virginia, which began
the birthday Of George Washington, then but
tS' the sheriff p 5frt was ordered order e q to to employ nnplG.v worG Gi ZEN
BY patient dolving one can dig up much Gu
rious information about the duckine stool. Al;
through the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eigh:
teenth centuries. scolding. women in these
public. peace. Blackstone in his "Commen.
taries" treats of the common common scold in his chap
fences of graver degree his prelude is: ITO
descend next to offences whose punishment is
short OF DEATH These offences are such, he
says, 'as annoy the whole community in gen.
eral, and not merely some particular portion,
and, therefore, are indictable, not nctionable,
by giving every man a separate right o~f'action
for what damniies him in common only with
the rest of his fellow subjects"
Then the great jurist treats of six classes of
public nuisances, and concludes: Lastly, a
Latin confines it to the feminine gender, is q
public nuisance to her ncighborhood. She may
be. indicted. and If convicted placed in n GER
l min uln nf FrnNfinh liz M frahllaEnt
saxon language is said to signify the scold stool,
d dTeIfn stool, because the residue Of the jude.
ment Is that when she is 20 placed therein she
'n sIac Ie p1a" Was IA a Better Better 'G jur ast P than etSmcl.
ogtst; There was In even as early as the n
eTeEins stool for Using short WEIGHTS seilins
bad ale, and scolding, but 1t was q chair OF dis.
home. pIt In the lapse la Of time the cuckins and the
dp In 81. S sTaa Ressn ne SEE n9ISynde Us 100. Mis-.
s women Mr is pleasant mt enough M% u R fhes'f fassen ss an arm
chair to the end Of two beams. twelve or fifteen
these two pieces Of wood, with their two ends.
embrace the chair. which hangs between them
freely. and always remains in the natural hori.
zontn position in which the chair should be,
er You raise it :" or let it down. They set up o
post on tho bank of a pond or river, and over
tRls PGfss they SF I MSod almost at ane in ea efu of %hiah; the the
w PSSSS =" 1920 o
chair hangs over the water"
The English poets have had their thrusts at
the ducking stool, when their eyes in fine fren-
zy rolling seem to have caught inspiration from
the temper of the shrew. In 1865. in Homer
a la Mode the poet sings:
She belonged to Billingsgate
And oftentlmes had rid in state.
And sat in the bottom Of a pool,
Enthroned In q cucking stool.
Butler in his "Hudibras /" has tho fling:
March proudly to the river side
And DER the waves in triumph ride.
Bourne relieves his mind:
Astride II set out a Xantippe.
Thence twice or thrice; yiraso. dip yo.
VIII leave the stream more mock than she.
West wrote n complete poom on the stool in
1850. the philosophy Of which lies in the ex'
tracted couplet:
No fire 30 hot but water quenches.
All through England there were the stools
used for ducking scolds. There was one at
, beating bis wife. Court records reveal many
instances where the penalty was inflicted or
account in the archives of Rugby, 1t has q
smack of a legislative expense bill. 1t runs
'1721-Paid for a lock for ye ducking stoo,
and spent in town business, Is. I'd. 49,,
The chair used at scarborough. III gland. IL
yet preserved. 1t vas last used IN 1913. when
head and ears" In tho museum at Ipswich is
another. 1t has iron rods converging over The
Boat. Win u ring luIouBn WIlCu " run u poIo
In 1928 the constable Of Morley. charged two
shillings for a pole. The stools in some citiel
were on wheels. and were called scolding carts.
At Observation-Disclosures ducking was moi
infrequent, and the London Post, In l745. 70.
Queens Head alehouse for ~soolding, in the
! presence OF 5000 people" 1t was at Leomin
ster, in 1909. that the last recorded ducking Of
a woman occurred in England, Tho stool used
is preserved in the Jail there. Jenny Pipes was
paradeo through the town on the stool anc
ducked near Kcnwater Bridge.
There was another instrument OF punish
ment for scolds, but not as ancient as the stool
1t was the Drank. or scold's Bride. Its modern
a%utotype is tho mask of the baseball catcher
except there was a sharpened plato OF iron II
front that hurt the tongue when an effort t.
talk was made. The Drank figures in ntera
turo as frequently as the stool.
JOKE THAT