The Cairo bulletin., 1904-07-07
THE WHIPPING POST.

The abandonment Of the whipping
post was brought about largely by the
belief that this form OF punishment
brutalizes the victim, There was good
argument In this when lashcs were
administered for all sort OF petty
offensss, bat It is Iifficuk TO find any
good reason against 1t so long as It's
use is limited 10 certain cases.
The Memphis Scimitar presents
some logical argument in favor OF
return of the wholesome discipline
engendered by an application Of the
cat-o-nine tails which might with
equal force be extended to numerous
other offences, particularly IN a city
so situated a. Cairo. The Scimitar
says
Wife beating and wife assertions
are two crimes that in their very ma
ture. appeal strongly for this punish
ment The claim that the offender
viii he "brutallZed" thereby cannot
be said to apply to them. II II net
possible To drag q wife heater any
nearer to the brute kingdom than he
already is. The selfish. cowardly
creature who abandons his wife and
children and leaves them upon the
charity Of the world belongs in the
same class. Even the idea OF reform
can hardly be said 10 enter in any
punishment that can be melted out u
them Already degraded and deprav-
ed, II cannot be hoped that by any
form of punishment their reformation
can he brought about
The punishment of them can have
but one object in view-aside from
the idea OF retributive justice-and |
that is the le son to society The |
wretch who sees one OF his |
kind logged at the post will ponder |
long and earnestly before he will put |
himself I'm a position where he may |
have to "shuck his coat" The man |
who maltreats woman is a physical |
and moral coward, and If the law |
would lessen this character of otfense |
it should make for the strategic point.
At a recent convention of the New /
York State superintendent of the /
Poor. Pre- ident Redmond, who has /
made a deep study Of crimology, car
nestly advocated the re-establishm2 mt
of the whipping post. In giving a
reason for his belief, Mr. Redmond
said:
I'VE must all acknowledge that the
wife heater has no reason for exist I
ance. He is out Of place I'm our time.
But the wife deserter is indeed the !
wife heater. The man who deserts
his wife would beat her had he the
After years of experience
IN public charity and in the handling
lf these very ca es, which are such
IN evil, have come to no other con
,lusion than there exists a demand
Tor some other species of punishment
Il am sorry, indeed, 10 advocate
what that punishment ought TO be,
nut can no longer refrain from pro-
claiming 1.-THE whipping post This
will at least add terror TO the punish
nent and terror is the element need
II to awaken in a coward the sense
If obligations toward his wife and
amily 1t will fill the bill. II will
II the crime"
This from a man who ha given
fears TO the study OF his subject and
whose duties bring this class of crime
lnder his daily observation. He has
eon that incarceration does no good.
hat confinement in idleness and with
hree meals served every day IS no
,uni- hment for such criminal nor
loes il deter others from like Oifens-
IS. There is but one punishment that
S logical and FITS every angle Of the
rhine"