The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-26
DeIaware's Penal system.


The fact that Delaware has revived the
old custom of the whipping post is well
known, and the writer Of an article in
"Ainslee's Magazine" has been investi-
eating the workings of it. His report is
not exactly favorable to this mode Of
punishment. He says:
AT New Castle which is the suburb of vii.
minGton, in which tie northcrninost pili9ly OF
the State l. located I saw t crowd OF at least
two hundred gathered to witness the lashlng
and pilorying of men who had been convicted
Of offences covered by these penalties. The spec
tators CAPPED with wide-eyed interest. WINGED I'M
animously at each separate lash. smiled sometime;
at the conturtons Of the victim. and laughed
when his grimaces in torture seemed ludlctouS.
As each victim WAS led forth. his face was
studied with careful interest. With each detall
of fastening him safely to the post his crime
discussed. Usually he was condemned ioI
his action. and mans serves him rght vas
exchanged. When it was seen that the criminal
was not physically incapacitated 10y the stripes
received he was thought TO be well of and de
serving If no further q; the mental scars,
stretching red across the sensibiltics and finer
feelings. the spectators took thought. OF
the influence which the contemplation OF such
spectacle must have upon their own minds
not a thought.
Go into Delaware today and you will be
invited by the barber. the waiter, and inc hotei
clerk to witness this very ANTICIPATED form oil
punishment. BY the very first servant that at
tended me | was advised.
- They is to he whipping at New castle
today, sub said this colored citizen.
"a what:'
a Whipping. sub We has the pillory and
whipping post in this State
How often do they iti' asked.
Every Friday sub, when cote's in session.
=. Then courts in session now:
q Yes. sub
Il saw this same servant after witnessing the
scene in question and enqnired what he thought
- don't think so very much of it, suh,' he
replied.
. Don't you think it stops these people from
doing the same thing over again.
q NO. sub, not any mo than jail would:
They is men here that has been whipped an
whipped until they is SO hard they don't care
no more fob it than fob flea 1t Juss makes
EN- wuss | think
MANY others Of more refined feelings express
ed the same opinion, though in different terms
But that is not the most important
point made in the article. Certainly, IL
every other method OF correcting Grim
inals has been tried, and failed, and the
whipping post also fails, the outlook Tor
Delaware is a bad one. But II appears
from the Investigations of this observer
that the medieval method is the only one
that has been tried. He says that the
State has penal system, which is IN
decidedly chaotic condition. There is no
penitentiary, no system of prison labor,
no reform school The county jail at New
Castle harbors prisoners charged with
grave crimes and with the most trivia!
offences. Boys and men, negroes and
whites. old offenders and novices. are all
jumbied in together, and it must be re-
membered that Delaware is on an i'm
portant line of travel, So that il receives
some consignments Of that most unpleas-
ant product of modem conditions, the
railway tramp. And yet, the people of
the State think they cannot get along
without the whipping-post. because no
other method of correction answers SO
well!
The more enlightened part of the Am r
lean public is beginning TO understand
that an ounce of prevention is better than
a pound OF cure. and that it is consider
ably easier to prevent a youngster from
learning certain forms of wickedness than
IT is to stop him in his wild career after
he has learned them. The young criminal
of today has facilities which his prede-
cessors did not have. He can learn his
business OF the shrewdest and most ex-
perieneed criminals in the world. and that
is & profession which has advanced in
complication and effectiveness with time,
as every other business has. He can call
to his aid all the improvements OF
science; and he has the railway to help
him get away from the scene of mis- crime
The work of the modern philanthropist
should be TO oppose these advantages Of
the criminal with shrewd devices 20 pre-
vent the making OF rogues. Among these
devices is not the herding Of youths and
old men together in the county jail, and
it may be added that to place an ignorant
negro boy in close contact with degraded
and vicious white men is not the bcsi
way 10 elevate his moral condition, pre-
vent his retrogression to sayagery, OF
eolv., he rare TrOhiem