The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-09
RETURN To THE WHIPPING POST
A Plea for h Cheaper and More Eff
fective Punishment ofPetty Grimes

SCOTS Hill, October Goth.
Editor Messenger:
The legislature will soon be in ses-
sion. AS that body takes c-ognizance
lof legal remedies for the prevention of
Crime and the protection Of society.
with your permission / desire to present
a few facts which in my humble opin-
ion, the general assembly would do
well to consider.
On the statute books OF North Caro-
lima are two laws which, in general,
are not enforced against a certain class
lof persons. These two laws are p)lyg-
amy and that statute which finds a
definition in the Seventh command
ment- Any one who has observed
closely the criminal docket of our SUI
Iperior courts knows that few cases ap-
pear there for violation of the laws
mentioned. The reaso for this is not
THAT these laws are not broken, but
that an aversion to prosecute the
wrongdoer rests in the public mind.
Why does this aversion exist? Because
if every violator of the before mention
led statutes was vigorously prosecuted
in the courts, the jails n penitentiary
would not accommodate the nlaIefac-
TORS. The cou ltry, towns, and cities in
eastern North Carolina are filled with
them. The money necessary for their
Isafe-keeping and support would run
taxes far beyond the constitutional
limit. Under u present system of
punishment the laws mentioned are
imperative. Not only this, but a arg
number of persons are now Serving
terms in the state penitentiary for pet
Ity offenses, who, if a reformation were
had in our mode of punishment, would
be gaining their own support Take
for instance a petty thief who appro-
PIRATES a pig, who is tried, convicted
and sent to the state prison for two
years. He probably has a wife and a
number of small children. AS soon as
his departure is taken his wife applies
leither for admission with her children
to the county home or for an allowance
by the county commissioners to enable
the criminal, the wife, the children and
the criminal, the wife the children and
the tax payers if the sheriff were en-
powered to place this offender in the
stocks n administer a proper chaS-
Itisement? Is it more humane to house
this thief for two years in the peniten-
ltlary to be fed, clothed and .doctored
lat the expense of honest people, many
Iof whom are widows and orphans
for an existence? This
whipping post is no new invention. 1t
has done good service in the state in
the days gone bye. It's presence would
WELD a more potent influence for the
suppression of vice than n one force
now in the hands of justice.
Before the civil war the whipping
post was an institution in North Caro-
lima, but when civil government was
Overturned by the federal army in the
Isouth in 1865 n negroes and carpet
baggers We're, later on, placed in con-
ltrol of affairs, this mode of punish
lment was not re-established, as it was
VERY obnoxious to these wise and hui
name law-givers. The negroes were
bitterly opposed to the lash and the
Icarpet-baggers and ~scallawags could
mot (even if disposed to) advocate such
Ia mode of punishment. They (the car
Ipet-baggers) were in the same predica-
lment in reference to this matter as
was a cOlOred preacher on one occa-
lsion, when asked if he talked against
stealing in his sermons, and who re-
piled by saying mo sahl dat would
throw a coldness on de meetin, sah."
The penitentiary is stopping over ana
numbers of cOnvicts are employed on
farms in various parts of the state.
Each of these OnVict farms is an insi-
tuition of itself, that is to say, an es-
Establishment separated and disconnected
from the central prison, requiring su-
I~perintendents, ~overseers, guards. an!
all the incident to order and
Aoo1Ao y c( N1IO lkNl-
leigh prison. This being so, each of
these convict farms lis a penitentia-y
sof itself, and altogether they form on
Iof the heavy items of expense, which
the tax payers of North Carolina muSt
inject Not only is this so, but IT,,
number of convicts is increasing, nj
if my information is correct, this penal
lcolony is getting to be both bu7 den
some and unwieldly. Lik a cancer on
a human body, it is eating itself into
the vitals of the commonwealth. Every
general assembly of North Carolina is
lsorely puzzled to know how to deal
with this problem in a proper and
economical way.
The convict farms have butt been ex-
lperiments. They have never paid ex-
lpenSes except, perhaps, in a few iso-
Hated instances.
To check and punish crime is essen
Itia1, and to do this in as economical
and humane manner as is consistent
with the needs of an enlightened y
lilizatiOn, is imperative upon the legiS-
llator.
If the urden of the tax payers can
lbe Hghtened, it is the duty of the gem
iera1 assembly to do it, provided such
relief does not ~jeopardize what is neces-
lsary to the best interests of the gen.
Iera1 good.
If the whipping post was necessary
as a corrective in ante-bellum days, 1T
is more necessary now, in consequence
lof the liberation Of a large body OF
slaves who formerly were punished
flor small Offences b. their owners, and
who now punish n~ine-tenths of the pen
ftentiary inmates.