Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1899-04-14
BARBARoUS pUNISHMENTS.
Horrible Treatment to Which Rebellious
English So dLers Were Subjected

6iers--that is, those who Join the
ranks--have been treated as ma
chimes, made 10 do certain work, and
falling in the slightest degree, sub
Iected to the most harharic punish
ment.
4d5ne of the favorite methods Of cor
rsNtion was known as "picketing."
The victim was suspended by the
wrist to an iron ring let into a wall
or high post, and one Of his heels was
permitted to rest upon a shalpened
stick, just blunt enough not to break
the skin. Thus the whole weight of
the body was thrown either upon the
bare heel or upon the wrist, The
agony in either case was extreme.
In moment of demoniac cruelty
some officer invented device called
"the wooden horse" Rough, sharp
boards were nailed together so that
they would form a rude imitation Of
a horse, the back forming a sharp
ridge. On this culprit was made to
sit, sometimes for hours at time, and
to increase the pain muskets and even
heavy weights were fastened to the
legs.
During the beninsular war there
was punishment much used, called
the ''strappado." 1t was Spanish in
its origin and brutal in its torture.
The soldier was Eoisted up by means
Of rope fastened to his arms behind
his back, and then suddenly dropped
with jerk, by which process his
shoulder joints were sometimes dis
located.
A form of punishment known as
tbottling," or ''cold-burning," was
4feaded by the men more than any
other. 1t consisted in tying the Of
fender's hand, palm uppermost, so
that it was held quite motionless, and
then allowing water to fall upon it,
drop by drop, from height of five
feet. The pain caused in this way is
said to have been so intolerable that
,the strongest men tainted away under
its inAiction.
4 In the whole history Of military
Punishments fogging takes the first
place. Its earliest form was known
as running the gauntlet" The Of
fender was stripped naked to the waist
and driven slowly through the ranks
OF his regiment, each man of whom
had been armed with a stout rattan.
In front of the prisoner marched a
file of the guard, stepping slowly
backward, and holding their bayonets
pointed to the culprit's breast, in or
der to make him take the regulation
step.
IS In1700 an English army regulation
made mention for the first time to the
Scat This terrible weapon of tor
tufe was made of nine leather thongs
,klotted near the end and fastened to
d: handle about 12 inches long. Every
stroke brought blood, and when
man was sentenced to receive 12
lsshes, it was equivalent to nine times
that number, and his back was one
mass of bleeding scars.
sf;Fcr grave offienses, such as mutiny
or desertion, the "cat" was used with
such violence that death often ensued
4 The Twenty-eighth Foot was called
for. half century the ''fogging regi-
ment, and it we'll earned its distinc-
tion, If a sergeant, writing in 1905
from Bremen, is to be believed He
says that in the regiment from ten to
twenty men were fogged daily. "
Sir Charles Napier tells of a colonel
Of the Fiftieth regiment who ordered
a man to be fogged because he did not
stand steady on parade after a
previous floggine, 'My back is like
a piece of raw beef, sir, after the last
so you gave me, and can't bear the
weight of my pack" "Take another
so, then" retorted the brutal officer,
"and see if it will do your back any
good"
These terrible tortures were in
flicted on the private soldiers up to
recent date. In, 1879 the writer had
a "cat" exhibited in the English par
lament which caused the death of
soldier few months prior to that
date. Green Bau.
Great Waste of Labor.
The members of an archaeological So
ciety had gathering at the home of
one of their number. While they were
roaming about the house, the host
fonlled the attention of his guests to