Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-11

| William Keith, governor of the counties on
| the Delaware, with the consent of the as
| sembly of Bremen, passed an act direct
| ing that "all crimes be tried and punish
| ments adjudged according to the laws of
| Great Britain" In this act the phrase such
| corporal punishment as the court shall think
| fit to infiict' evidently refers to the whip
ping post and the pinory and It is the first
mention of either in the laws of Delaware.
A few years later, in a succeeding act. 1t
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 1893 is a list of Sheriff'S fees for whip
ping every person by order of the court at
ca cents each" The present sheriff is much
better off than his predecessor, as he re-
ceives $50 for each whipping he admins
tiers.
The present law under which the pun
ishment is administered provides that
the punishment of whipping shall be in
fiicted by strokes on the bare back, well
laid on Women are now exempted from
the lash, the last female to be publicly
whipped in the state having been pun
sished in 1864.
More than twenty years ago when the
lash was used much more freely in Del
aware for the punishment of various
crimes than it is at the present day, Gen.
Brinkerhoff, president of the seventh ma
tional conference of charities and correc-
TONS who had studied the penal system
thoroughly, said that Delaware, despite
it's posts and pillories, had the largest
prison population with respect to COM
parative size of any state in the Union.
The LASH" said Gen. Brinkerhoff, as the
result of his observations, "harrows up
the worst feelings of the soul and drives
from the being of the man undergoing
punishment every remnant of better ma
ture. And, more than that, 1t makes him
desperate enough for the accomplish
ment of any evil deed.
Two years ago at the thirtieth ma
ti0nal conference of the MIA
ton Warden Meserye of the Wilmington,
Del. workhouse, who has studied the sys-
tenn at close range for many years, and
who has welded the whip on occasion.
declared that the system was all wrong.
we have whipping post where whip
ping is a part of the sentence of the
court" he said. Il would be very glad to
have the state rid itself of this relic of
barbarism, but which will exist until pub
lie opinion is worked up to the exteat OF
demanding that it shall be abolished In
the last year thtrty-nine persons We're
whipped, and it was a very unpleasant
duty. A bill was introduced in the Del
aware legislature last winter for the
adjustment of the whipping post. and
was making very satisfactory progress
toward ultimate passage, when one after
noon in the corridor of the state house a
New York crook put his. arm around a
certain member of the legislature and
bosom. He was arrested and in the course
of his examination said he would rather
commit suicide than undergo the ordeal
of the lash. The legislature said that If
the post had that effect on crooks 1t was
certainly worth having. and SO the bill
did not pass. The members of the Society
of Friends In the state now taking
the matter up and are raising money to
pay good speakers to go up and down the
state to work up public sentiment against
it. so that these forms of punishment may
be abolished by legislation.
One of the best utterances on the subject
of the whipping post-brief. clear-cut and
convincing-was made more than twenty
years ago by foremost student of penal
systems, who, during the agitation which
resulted In the temporary revival of the
whipping post as an institution In Mary
land, wrote as follows:
x x
"Under the designation cruel punish
ments' are included all such penalties as
are designed to infict direct physical suf-
fering, accompanied by circumstance of
ignominy. OF this form the whipping post
is an example. The infection of such penal
ties is on the theory of retaliation and is
improper and vicious for this reason. The
legitimate province of all laws relating to
uenaIffas for crime ts runishmenf sirnnJy