Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-17

in the previous year, 1880. that John Tay
| lour, the water poet" wrote:
I'm London and within mile, ween,
There goals and prisons full fifteen
Anc sixty whipping posts and stocks between
1t is not of record that the sympathy of
the English people was received with graft
tuGe by the unfortunate Radcliffe. who had
already received his lashes, and lost his
ears and his citizenship.
| In Boston in 1913 pious regard for the
| Sabbath, in appearance at least, was en-
! forced with the lash. Roger Scott, for re
peated sleeping on the Lords day and for
stryking the person who Weakened him,
was sentenced to be severely whipped. The
gift of prophecy was also subdued by SINH
lar means about this time.
Every week in Boston there were fresh
whppings, and forty lashes was the ordi-
nary dose. The post was on the Boston
Common near State street in revolutionary
times. In 1T71 Samuel Brock, resident of
Boston, who was evidently good deal
ahead OF his generation in his views with
respect to this particular phase of eight
zenith century civilization, wrote to friend
in New York the following brief account of
his observations:
A Brutalizing Sight.
The large whipping post, painted red,
stands conspicuously in the most public
street of the town. 1t is placed on State
street directly under the windows of the
great writing school which I frequented,
and from there the scholars were INDUCED
in the spectacle of all kinds of punishment
suited to harden their hearts and brutaliZe
their feelings Here women were taken in
a huge cage. in which they were dragged on
wheels from the prison, and tied to the post
with bare backs, on which thirty or forty
lashes We're bestowed among the screams
of the cu1prt and the uproar of the mob"
In New Haven, Conn, the city magis
trates were early in favor of the whipping
post, and declared that stripes and whip
pings is correct. fit and proper in some
cases. when the offense is accompanied with
british or childish folly or rudeness or
with stubborn insolvency or beastly cruelty,
or with idle vagrancy or faults of a like
nature
In Rhode Island. even under gentle and
tolerant Roger Williams, the whipping post
was kept~SiIsy good part of the time. 1t
is rather difficult to realize at this time
that in Newport. until the nineteenth CEN
fury, malefactors We're dragged around
town at the tail of a cart and then taken
to public square and whipped on the
naked back in sight of all who cared to
gaze.
In Plymouth women We're whipped at the
carts tail. and at the post many a lash
was worn out on the backs of the Quakers
Brutal Indifference.
In New York city a whipping post was
set up on the strand in front of the "Stadt
Hugs" under Dutch rule, and the sentences
were many and severe. One little para
graph in a New York newspaper published
at that time throws keen light on the
cold-blooded selhshncss and brutal indif-
ference of the people of that day to human
suffering, and illustrates almost better than
any argument could possibly do, one of the
principal reasons why, with the advance
of civilization and enlightened sentiment
the institution of the whipping post grad
ually fell from favor. The newspaper in
+, discussing number of whppings that had
taken place the day before in front of the
Stadt Hugs. says that one woman who was
under the lash created much amusement
by her resistance.
OF course so far as the correction and
punishment of slaves We're concerned the
whipping post was a southern institution
until the close of the civil war At that
time slavery and the whipping post NAV
be said to have vanished hand in hand
the latter disappearing from every state
with the exception of Delaware. And now
| TINS latter commonwealth has as before
| stated. the unique and questionable dis
| junction of being the only state in the
| Union where the whipping post is and has
! consistently remained, throughout all the
years or progress and advancement a fea-
tufe OF the penal system. 1t must be said
| however. that Delaware is not the only civ
lllzed state of modern times to approve of
| whipping ioi certain crimes. Thirty years
| ago, when garroting became so freouant
and SO greatly feared in England the
whipping post was re-eSta blished and the
lasn became once more an authorized IN
strument of punishment.
| And in 1882 there was a revival of this
form OF punishment in Maryland.
! In Delaware
! The history of the whipping post In Della
| ware is particularly interesting in view of
! the fact that 1t is a weIl-recognized mode of
| punishment at the present time. In IT'S
| William Keith, governor of the counties on
the Delaware, with the consent of the as
| sembly of Bremen, passed an act directing
| that 'all crimes be tried and punishment
adjudged according to the laws of Great
| Britain In this act the phrase such
| corporal punishment as the court shall think
mt to inilict evidently refers TO the whip
| ping post and the pillory, and IL is the first
! mention of either in the laws of Delaware
| few years later, in a succeeding act.
| II was provided that twenty-one lashes on
| the bare back should be given TO slaves
| found carrying their masters weapons
! without permission. From that time on
! the post has held free sway In the state In
| an act OF 1898 Is a list OF sherin's fees for
| court at % cents each The present sheriff
| BE- much better OF than his predecessor, as
hc receives $50 FOR each whipping he adj
! ministers.
The present law under which the punish
ment ~ administered provides that "thc
| punishment 81 whipping shall DO Inflicted
| hy strokes on the bnro back well laid on. -
Women are now exempted from the lash
| The last female 90 be publicly whipped ga
| the state having bren punished ia isfi
| M"r' than twenty years ago. whom tho
isah wac used much more freely IN Del