The Van Buren press., 1899-04-01
Believe In the Whipping Post.

beaters, says
:, Delaware is. we believe, the only
u u state that now employs whipping as a
mode of punishing criminals. There Is
strong sentiment in some other states
:. in favor of revival of this penalty for
Il certain peculiarly detestable crimes
. There is always Il burst of crocodile
Q tears from certain persons, too good Tor
this world, when the matter Is brought
: up. A man who will beat his wife,
y whether he be drunk or sober, or abuse
Q his child, or hit another man on the
. back of the head with ad pipe and
steal his pocketbook, is not In the least
!, punished by ordinary Imprisonment.
= 1t means food and shelter and only a
cruel absence of whisky. Let him sui
fer acute physical pain without
serious bodily injury. To pretend to pun
: ish wife beater by giving him thirty
! days in Jail, with warm cell and sum-
cient food, while the bruised and bat
tered wife shivers and hungers, is
travesty on justice. 1t may be better
than nothing, but such cases demand
the lash
1t is delicate subject to treat on and
''the Standard shows more than aver
age backbone, especially for religious
paper, to advocate, just on account of
the ''goody goody'' people of which it
speaks; but there can be no denying the
fact that incarceration is no punishment
to many of the criminal classes, especi-
ally the petty violators of the law. 1t
is no unusual thing to hear them say:
"Why, no, | m not going to pay fine !;
the weather is bad and II just board it
out with the county, An application
of the strap in such a case would be a
savingto the community and preven-
tive of frequent repetition of the Of
fense, especially if repetition carried
with it an increase of the dose. But
the assessing of corporal punish ment
would have to be made optional and
placed in discriminating hands; for
while it might prove valuable means
In some cases, in others it might drive
the offender to more desperate deeds
As an instance: The man who steals "a
loaf of bread for his starving family
| ueNduec ut cdu uuu uo HEALS VI earn
ing it. would be goaded to desperation
by its application, while the man who
steals because he is too lazy to earn il
would be brought to realization of the
r crime much quicker by it than putting
! him in Jail and giving him all he wants
10 eat Ind warm place to sleep.
. =. II l.. -,
} advocacy of again putting such IA law oil
the statate books as shown oy the fol
, lowing appearing some time since in tn,
New York Sun:
> Connecticut has found an advocate o
2 = return to the whipping post as mean,
. Of pnnishing criminals, especially tn
2 Younger criminals, in Simeon f. Bald
o win. judge of the Connecticut suprem,
. court of errors and professor of con
a stitutional law in Yale university
Judge Baldwin believes that moderi
methods of punishing crime are al
together too refined tnat they are no
4 severe enough to have any deterrent ef
feet upon the criminals whom they ar
intended ~ reform. Judge Baldwi
: stated his case at a recent meeting o
q the municipal judges association o
& Connecticut before which he read pa
n per on corporal punishment.
{ Society, said Judge Baldwin
o needs 10 be protected from the Grim
IT inal, and the sending of young and oil
to penal institution, where they ar
IT further schooled in crime, does not an
n longer have the sanction of the CON
u munity Whipping is form of punish
Il ment which all men shrink from. Tn
d stigma of it is felt alike by hardene
: criminal and novice in crime. More
e over, the pain is sharp, and compare
;. lively of short duration. On the othe
il hand, it is admitted that to the crimina
x it makes but little difference whether h
J. is sent to prison for one year or half
l. score, for many of them find bette
If homes and certainly better care tina
x anywhere else. To the industrious an
;. self respecting citizen imprisonment
! dreaded punishment, but not 80 to tn
,r offender.
e Judge Baldwin reviewed the effec
e which the whipping post had in tn
n Southern States and said it could b
n revived in Connecticut with advantag
J. to the community and to the crimina
" classes. He described wife beating as
n crime that could be treated advantage
W ously by the application of the lash. an
le he also thought that it would be ia
II more beneficial to BOYS than term i
n the reform school. He declared ths
many young men and boys would re
:, form their ways if, on their first az
l. pearance in court, they received soun
lc drubbing instead of being sentenced
le short term in Jail. 1t was only sill
}. prejudice that could prevent the re
e institution of this good old Connecticu
d blue law. 1t WAS natural to believ
that the New Haven public might b
/. shocked by the erection of whippin
m post upon the old green, but he though
= that any squeamishness on this scor
IN would be balanced by the great benef
lie that would accrue to the community
/, III this sentiment were too strong, th
te stripes might be administered in pri
vate, in the cell room of the local ia
! or courthouse. In any case the prt
r, fessor was persuaded that what tn
criminal classes of Connecticut an
10 other states needed above all things W,
good. old fashioned whipping po'
;, and a vigorous administrator of tn
Is same. He thought that the time ha
lie come to put an end to the attractiv,
as ness of modern Jail life and to substitui
In something in its place that would reall
) be distastsful TO those who fell unde
le the jurisdiction of the courts.
he
ic
all TUE death Of a congressman Is an el
VA pensive thing 10 the government. II
in funeral expenses of the late Congre:
rs sman Dingley, which the goveruner
M will have to foot, amount to -. 900, a
ss amonnt eonal 70 the annual salary OF