Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31
THE WHIPPING POST
Extracts From Letters Re-
ceived by The Star.
A BEATEN WIFE'S VIEWS
REMARKABLE SUGGESTION AS TO
VARIETIES OF WIFE BEATERS."
The Lash Will Not Cure the Evil
Proposed as Punishment of Those
Who Whip Horses.

AS result of the discussion over the
proposition to establish the whipping post
| for wife heaters in the District Of Column
| bia, precipitslted by the Presidents refer
| ence to the subject in his annual message,
| The Star has received a number of letters,
wholly unsolicited, expressing the views of
their writers. These letters afford an in
teresting study of the question from several
points of view. Extracts from them are
| herewith printed.
Mr.. Richard Gilbert writes:
Il am a lover of good order and am op-
posed to much corporal Establishments to
children or to the dumb animals, and also
to wife beating. Whoever is guilty of these
offenses, I believe, should be put in Jail
and kept there if he persists in such indie
cent conduct. But l am absolutely op-
posed to making the whipping post the
punishment for such wrongdoing, and for
the reasons admirably set forth in the
editorial pages of The Star since the mes
sage of the President brought the subject
to public notice. l thank The Star cor
daily for it's sound attitude in this matter.
l do not write this letter for the sake of it's
being printed but to assure The Star that
it has. in my Judgment, public sentiment
decidedly with it in this important sub
ject."
An Alternative Proposal.
Mr.. Thomas G. Hensey says in his letter:
II have read your editorials on the Wife
beaten question with more than ordinary
interest There is, in my opinion, no pun
lShment too severe to fnfiict on a brute
who will beat his wife. Wife beating,
however, is to some extent chargeable to
the common law of England, which permit
ted man to administer moderate correc-
ton to his wife, on, l presume, the same
principle he would his children. Right or
wrong, the English peasantry claim and
exercise that privilege today, as 1 am in
formed and believe.
But the adoption of the whipping post
is a very questionable eXpedient. 1t savors
of revenge, and its reformatory effect is
doubtful. An intense desire on the part of
several of our best residents to cure
brutishness has led them to advocate tor
ture that was abandoned nearly fifty years
ago in this country, and which must be alb
horrent to nearly every one advocating
the same, except when laboring under the
feeling of indignation which all experience
when the crime of wife beating occurs.
drunkenness and wife beating are prac-
tically correlative terms Usually a So
called man will not strike his wife unless
he is under the influence of liquor Both
the above offenseS should constitute a
crime Gas they surely are attacking the
home and the foundation of society and be
punished as such. The punishment, how
ever, should be, as near as possible, re-
formatory, not brutal or revengeful. Such
an offender against law and decency should
be sentenced to hard labor for such rea-
sonable time as may seem best (and the
usual methods applied to make him work.,
at a compensation to be paid over to the
wife for her support and that of the chill
dren while he is held as prisoner"
Prenatal Influence.
John mcdonnell offers a view of the
matter not often presented, saying:
ut Is astonishing to hear doctors Of d.
vinity suggesting the whipping post as a
remedy for that evil, when they them
selves compel members of their creed
who are out of harmony to live together,
producing and reproducing their kind. If
kleptomania is of a prenatal origin the
wife beaten is produced by the influence
of the same law. An individual born
into life surrounded by strife, begotten
in strife, reared in strife, only awaits
time to ripen into a degenerate. 1t is i'm
possible for a natural born thief to be
honest. If this is true, who should be
whipped. the teachers who extract money
from the people and who have failed to
teach truth or the unfortunate ones who
are born under those strong prenatal
conditions?
IF those emin ent divines take pains to
teach mothers and prospective mothers
how to prevent the production of wife
beaters, in twenty-five years from now
there will be no necessity for a whipping
post. They are simply dealing with the
surface of things, and not with the first
principle"
Why Not the Rack, Etc.p
j. A. Clark suggests a logical extension
of the whipping post principle:
TT Is fair to assume that those who adj
vocate the whipping post for wife beat
ers would favor severer punishments for
more serious offenses. If they simply
want to cause physical suffering, what's
the matter with the rack, the wheel the
thumbscrew and the numerous other i'm
plementS of torture of other and darker
days? AS a matter of fact, wasn't wife
beating decidedly more prevalent when
the whipping post was in vogue than it
is today? While it is conceivable that
man who has been imprisoned for beat
ing his wife may reform and resume
friendly relations with her, is it reason
able to believe such a thing possible in
the case of a brute whose wife has sent
him to the whipping post? And again, if
severe corporal punishment is a good
corrective for one offense, why not ex-
tend its employment to all other offenses
grading its severity to fit the crime?'"
The Howard Association May Take a
Hand.
Mrs. c. o. Keller writes: Our penal sys-
tenn is disgraceful enough already without
disgracing the capital city of this nation
with a whipping post. God Forbid l have
made constant study of our prisons and
jails and stockades, etc, and declare that
1 have unearthed cruelties that would dis
grace a nation of savageS / shall send
your editorial tomorrow to the Howard AS
ISOLATION in London, and if one step more
is taken toward having a whipping post 1
shall ask the secretary to interfere. This
is, of course, you know, an international as
ISOLATION. have been one of it's correspon-
dents for many years. / keep the associa-
ton posted on the evils and the abominable
crueltes that are going in our southern
convict camps, and l am going to keep on
doing it until we begin to see ourselves as
others see us. If our city must be disgraced
with whipping post, and it is the right
kind of punishment for husbands, other ma
tions are going to know it SO they can fol-
low the example.
IT have apology to make for a man
who strikes his wife, but what woman
would not rather die than see her family
and herself so disgraced? What are we
coming to, anyway? In Alabama a white
man is serving a twenty years sentence for
striking his wife when under the influence
of liquor. He was a good citizen when he
was SOBER 1t was said IN his behalf But
he was convicted of an assault on a woman
and that is a serious offense in Alabama
especially if his work is needed In coal
mine by a convict lessee. The wife pleaded
for her husbands release. but in vain (See
Montgomery Advertiser Sept. 10. 1909 Dr.