The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-07-23

stead Of the usual punishment byacertain
number of hours of fatigue duty-digging
trenches, cleaning the company streets or
some other firing but healthfu1 and bene-
fetal ~labor-Cooper was tortured in as
merciless and inhuman q amer as might
be imagined.
A sAsawhorse'' after the style of those
used by carpenters had been specially con-
structed as an instrument Of torture. The
legs of the horse were made nearly 4 feet
long, and the cross bar was a o foot pole,
slightly larger at one end than the other,
triangular IN shape, with q sharp edge
uppermost.
At the time for his punishment Cooper
was led to the horse and placed astride it.
His bare feet were tied securely beneath,
hanging clear of the ground. His hands
were pinioned in front of him to the sharp
edged pole.
And there, bareheaded, under the glar-
ing sun of a fercely hot day, young Cooper
swayed in agony and excruciating pain
for four long hours.
1t was a new sight for his comrades 1t
was a spectacle.
It was much more degrading than
trench digging. : tt was more ludicrous
than street cleaning.
The men crowded about to see the sight,
and they laughed and jeered and tainted
poor Cooper TO their hearts content. They
seemed to find in his suffering and deg
radiation something outlandishly humor-
GUS.
The torture and cruelty were working
out just as was hoped for. Theyphysical
pain that the victim was undergoing was
fully as unbearable as had been intended,
while the humiliation and mental suffer.
ing were even greater. Cooper's "com>
rades'' were aiding the court martiats dss
signs splendidly.
Young Cooper bore the ordeal bravelr
No martyr ever showed q better 'front.'.
The sun burned down on hi-ssunprosected
head, and the swordkke pole cut into his
flesh with -unrelenting torment. The
weight Of his whole body rested on that
blade. There was no relief. Every vein in
the poor fellows face and neck seemed
ready to burst,
He would draw his legs up from time to
time In useless endeavor to rest thems
That was before they became numb
He would throw his weight orwardson
his hands and then draw hack again to
the old position. 1t was hard toskeepfrom
crying out, the pain was so intense.
After four hours of this torture they
came to take him down, but he-ceud NOS
stand and sank to the ground exhausted
They had to carry him TO his tent
He had been sentenced to eight hours OF
the sawhorse torture. but ON the following
morning it was found that his physical
condition would not allow the additional
four hours punishment. There+was nus
manity enough left IN the regiment topre-
vent the full sentence being carried OUT
This pleasant little torture they chose
was at one time practiced in the English
army of the old days. A contemporaneous
critic described its torrents, dwelling upon
the painful and even permanent injury it
inflicted and adding that the inquisitfon
itself could not have devised q more excru-
ciating punishment or a torture more hor-
rible.
Humane England soon got rid Of the
wooden horse, F" as 1t was called, and since
then it has been merely q relic of barba-
rism until now a United States court mar
tial revivcs it as q fitting and just punish
ment for breach of discipline.