Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-03-24
WHIPPING POST 4
CRUEL PUNISHMENT
Report on Elmira Reformatory
Shows Habit Has Grown
Fast.
OFFICIALS
Constant Use of Paddle Has a Ten.
dency to Cause Them to Lose All
Sympathy with Human
Suffering.

washington Star: The widespread
general discussion ut the present time
of the whipping post as a possible corr
receive and r~eformatory punishment
for wife beaters makes of considerable
current interest and Importance the
report of the investigation OF the Ell
mira, n. Y. reformatory by the New
York state board of charities In 1905.
The opponents of the whipping post
have devoted considerable effort to-
ward demonstrating that the punish
ment of whipping has just the oppo-
site of the good moral effect intended.
The conclusions and findings Of fact
Of the board go TO show. perhaps bet
ter than anything else, the d~egenerat-
ing moral effect of the punishment up
on the whippcr as we'll as the whipped.
The conclusions of the board follow in
part:
A Cruel Punishment.
THAT the form of corporal punish
ment known as spanking or padding
adopted by the general superintendent.
and tacitly recognized by the man
ayers, is a very severe and cruel pun
ishment, capable OF doing serious in
jury physically and morally 10 the
convict punished thereby. and which,
IL uStu ut All, SilOUlu never De aDDileu
except IN extreme eases.
THAT spanking or padding as APP
piled by the general superintendent
under the fanclful title of physical
treatment, is frequently inflicted by
him in q very brutal and inhuman
manner The instrument or paddle
used is a heavy leather strap one foot
ten inches long. three inches wide and
aearly a quarter of an inch thick, az
fixed "a GtpGnp Etpl-nrNy has,1lA. aEaA
foot W inches in length, the paddle
weighs n pound when dry, and three
ounces more when soaked in water.
That during the spanking the pa
tient is required to stand with his fin
gers on the sill OF the window above
him N keep his mead turned. to the
right away from the paddler, and that
II for asking mercy or from he am
gulsh of the spanking or from any
other cause ne turns his head, he is
Immediately struck. a blow over the
head or directly on the face by the
general superintendent, who is invari-
ably the paddler, with the heavy pad
die, frequently causing what is called
a black eye, or cutting the skin of the
face or the head, so as to cause bruises,
and at times causing blood To flow
from the convict's nose. so as to daub
the wall in front OF him and the mar
BILE floor on which he stands. These
blows are also sometimes struck with
he wooden handle OF the paddle with
like effect.
Brutality.
THAT very brutal treatment is in-
.licted upon any convict who resists
the spanking or who il slow in disrob-
Ing for 1t. In such cases two or more
powerful assistants seize the man and
usually throw him to the marble door.
where he is kicked and pummeled into
subsection, the blows being given on
the face. on the head, or in the stomach,
or anywhere that can be reached. This
Is done in the general superintendent
presence and with his tacit approval
and is q regular practice and con-
stitutes a part of the punishment.
THE evidence of other officers ard
%convicts satisfies your committee that
the punishment inflicted was of a brutal
and most vicious nature. Furthermore,
with the force of robust officers pres
ent, such brutality was absolutely un-
necessary, for the testimony shows that
many of the convicts who suffered it
were lads OF slight physique, often
weighing less than 100 pounds, while
The officers present were always strong,
athletic and heavy men, weighing each
from $50 10 225 pounds.
"The evidence further shows that
kicks n blows were frequently adj
ministered by the keepers upon inmates
outside of the bath room, and when the
general superintendent was not PRESENT,
That another mode of discipline or cor
poral punishment consists in blows with
the open hand or closed fist given by
he observation-disclosures the head or
face of convicts brought before him.
The evidence shows that these blows
are often times given With great Sc
verify and that the convict is greeted
with them before a word he's been
spoken TO him by the general superin-
tendent.
How the Padding Habit Grew.
THAT the number of spankings or
paddlings given yearly, as taken from
the records OF the ~reformatory, is in
creasing very much more rapidly than
the actual number of conyicts
confined In the institution. The
general superintendent testifies that he
padded ten convicts during the first
five years OF the early history of the
institution. During the last five years
the number er different individuals
padded or spanked was ], LAG, and many
of the men were padded more than
once, some of them as many as ten
times, and therefore the total num-
Der of paddlings is as follows:
For the year ending September, 80,
1855, zol, 1871, $50, 1881, 900; 1917, ozl
1893, 6S1. a total of 2.57S.
Thus the spankings were very few,
amounting only to ten in all OF the
FIRST five years, during which the nun
Der of prisoners was 500 or under. or
am average of only TWO per e But
when In 1889, the prison population had
Increased to 944 the spankings had
reached 26i, and When, IN 1893, the pop
ulation had reached 1,4O9 the spankings
had grown 10 6Sl. 1t is also TO be no
ticed that while the population for the
year ending September 80, 1889, vas
944, and during five years only increased
about one-half TO 1.409 in 1893. yet the
s~pankings IL the I'm time had nearly
trebled.
1T is an extraordinary fact. and a
painful ms 10 consider. that this eno
nous mou OF padding. averaging
n last year nearly Two cases a day,
has been in every case inflicted by the
general superintendent himself. An ex-
animation OF the hgures shows that
this method OF punishment has nearly
treblsd ia the last FIVE years.
The psddIer Brutaiized.
And il hoes not seem possible thai
any human being could infiict upon
Others such sewers punishment so COM
stantly and Ia uch without
being absolutely hruta1ized thereby and
losing all sympathy with human suf-
fering.''
The recommendation OF the state
beard Or charities Included the follow
ing:
ment Is 70 he continued Ii state made
W"EN#WU#N-E WN#|| 4AM|." 1852