Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-08
Whipping Post Presidents.

The advocate of the whipping-post and
lash repeats his last years contentious and
citations of precedents regardless of the
light thrown upon the facts in the case
. by the developments of last years discus
sion. Maryland, with Delaware, is again
boldly cited as favoring precedent by the
Lashers. A year ago The Star, comment
ing editorially on this point. said:
Mr.. Adams, the champion of the whip
ping post. when asked what states have
whipping post laws, said
The state of Maryland passed this law
and after one conviction and punishment,
wife-beating almost disappeared from that
good state And again, After the
first conviction. the crime ceased as IL by
magic in that state
1t is the whipping post and not wife,
beating which has disappeared from the
good state of Maryland. Human nature
is much the same among the white and
colored population of Maryland as it is just
over the line In the District of Columbia.
Washington homes are no more cursed
with brutal husbands than those of Bal
timo<e, over whom the menace of the lash
has been ineffectively suspended.
I'm this mornings Baltimore American
Police Magistrate Grammar of that city is
quoted as saying, in answer to the ques-
tion whether the cases of wife-beating
brought before him were very frequent
Yes, they are very frequent, indeed And
In the same paper 1t is said of the Mary
land law that 1t has fallen into desuetude.
And OF the Baltimore whipping post, that
today this post, which formerly stood in
the southeast corner of the city jail cor
ridor is hidden from sight in some remote
recess and the courts of the city, feeling
the pulse of public sentiment, seized upon
the alternative punishment allowed by law
and give the guilty wife-beater a sentence
oil so many months in jail, instead of so
many lashes with the cat-of-nlne- tails.
1.-The courts of Maryland, responding to
aplipbfaOad riyiizpd- Christian tinpOt
have in effect repealed an Anticipated, abb
horrent and Ineffective law. Wffe-beating
continues. 1t is the whipping post which,
as if by magic, has ceased to be visible.
Nj. Adams adds: The state of Della
ware already has a whipping post. and L
regret TO say this crime (wife-beating) is
not included. l wish 1t distinctly under
stood in advocating this bill that I am not
an advocate of the whipping post as it ex-
lists in the state of Delaware
He is not in favor of the whipping post
of the only state in which the whipping
post is used. He is enthusiastic over the
whipping post of the state which has aban-
doned its use and hidden this still legal
implement of torture from the sight of
men.
''If the shameful stigma of the whipping
post is to be attached to the District of
Columbia, the people of Washington would
doubtless select the Maryland brand. A
whipping post which is never used, and
which in response to the demand of whole
some public sentiment, is concealed in
shame in some remote recess has fea-
lures which commend it to civilized and
Christian community.
The states of the world, as fast as they
have developed to a certain stage of civili-
zation have deliberately abandoned the
whipping post and lash in company with
other cruel and ineffective punishments OF
the middle ages. 1t has practically disap-
peared in the civilized world from among
the penalties for misdemeanors, and the
corrections of discipline in reformatory in
situations and. last of all, in the navy. The
world presidents are against the adoption
OF the Cato nine tails, as the American ma
tional emblem by Congress at the national
capital. as strongly they are against the
barbarous Knout, as the Russian national
emblem.
The precedents of the states of the Union
repudiate the whipping post. Those which
have in the earlier stages of their develop
ment permitted its use have either abolished
It by statute or, as in Maryland have rem
oered 1t obsolete by long disuse. The only
exception is Delaware. where the whipping
pest still fingers a discredit and reproach
to the state In the opinion of the best local
sentiment. Within the last year the faddist
revival of the whipping POST legislative
proposition has brought the claims of the
lash to consideration before many state
legislatures. and all. except Oregon, have
condemned it anew. Mr.. Adams whipping
post argument is largely based upon statis-
tics tending TO prove the wife-beating bru-
tality of Pennsylvania. Mr.. Adams own
state, and prepared in order to cause that
state to prescribe for itself Mr.. Adams
whipping post nostrum. But Pennsylvania,
like the civilized world at large and the
states Of the Union in general, will have
none of it. So Mr.. Adams asks Congress
to try Il ON the dog at the national capital