Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-08-03

BITS OF HISTORY.
BY A. w. Macy.

Ridinq the Stano.


Riding the Stang.
In the north of England 1t was for
merly the custom to punish wife beat
ing. hen pecking and other fralities
incident to married life. by a peculiar
process known as riding the stang"
IL was so called because the leader
was borne on a stang" the north
country word for a chair fastened on
two poles. In southern England the
process is called rough music The
offender was called upon by a COM
pahy or men. women n children and
treated to a loud and boisterous sere-
made, the instruments being cows
horns, flre shovels, tongs, frying pans.
pot lids used as cymbals. tin pals and
other implements and utensils capable
OF producing loud and discordant
noises. Along with the din the sere-
nader would keep up a constant hoot-
ing and yelling. and make many jeer-
ing remarks to the culprit. III n APP
~pllcatiOn was not sufficient. the per-
Torrance would be repeated: some
times in tiagrant cases. every evening
Tor a week. This form of punishment
IS known to have been melted out to
wife heaters as late as 1862. and there
Is some ground for believing the GUS
tom still survives among the lower
vlasses in some parts of England. In
This country newly welded couples are
sometimes treated to Il serenade some
what resembling the above ceremony,
'ut 1t is always good natursd and does
2ot carry the idea of punishment. We
'all it "charivarl,' pronounced 'shiv-
Gree"
President Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet
When Andrew jackson was president
he had a small cOterie of men about
him. mostly editors and office holders.
with whom he frequently consulted in
nrtVqfn ThaV 11CI1o11I- onr,l <l-o
White House by II rear door, in order
to keep their visits secret and on this
account they We're called ~Jackson's
Kitchen cabinet jackson was ac-
cused of allowing these me- to do his
thinking for him. He often did things
try by surprise. and it was said that in
arriving at decisions he was influenced
far more by his Kitchen cabinet" than
by his regular cabinet members. The
names of his Kitchen cabinet were:
William b. Lewis. second auditor Of the
treasury; Isaac Hill. second comptrol-
Ter of the treasury; Amos Kendall,
fourth auditor of the treasury: Duff
Green. editor OF the United States Tel
egraph. and Francis p. Blair. sr., ed
itor of the Globe. Not much is known
OF Lewis. Hill was afterward United
States senator from New Hampshire.
Green was a prominent journalist and
afterward turned against Jackson and
became his bitter enemy. Blair came
TO be a prominent mar in public af-
fairs. Kendall was the ablest man Of
them all. and afterward became post
master general. He died in 1872.
The Battle of the Kegs.
At one time during the war Of the
revolution some e~nterprising patriots
of B~ordentown. N. j.. liked up a few
torpedoes in the shape of kegs, and
sent them floating down the river.
They We're filled with gunpowder, and
SO arranged mechanically that rub
bling against another object they
would explode. 1t was hoped that one
of them might come in contact with
one of the British ships lying at
anchor at Philadelphia. and blow her
This hope was not realized, but
they succeeded In soaring the British
i'm and around Philadelphia within an
inch of their lives. One of the kegs"
rubbed against a block of floating Ice
and exploded. creating wild consterna-
ton among the British. For "a hours
thereafter they fired at every object
seen moving on the bosom of the river.
This afforded great amusement to the
Americans. II Judge Francis Hopkin-
son. n of the signers of the Declara-
ton of independence. wrote a ballad
about the affair. in which he poked
much fun at the British. The closing
SSoAiH0 e q u
Such feats they did perform that day
Against those wicked kegs. sir.
That years to ONE if they get home.
They'll make their boasts and brags.
sir"
Punishment by the Pillory.
The pillory was used as a means of
punishment for many hundreds Of
years in European countries. 1t usual
~ consisted of a wooden frame erect
ed on a stool. with holes and moving
boards for the admission Of the head
and hands. 1t vas formerly used to
punish those convicted of practicing
rauds or hams of any kind. The Of
lenders head and hands were inclosed
in the frame. which must have been
a decidedly uncomfortable position. and
all who passed hat way We're at liberty
70 mock and jeer him all they wished.
1t was a fine opportunity to get even"
with ones enemy. Later on the pill
tory came to be used for the punish
ment of political and religious Offend
ers. and muc gross injustice was done
In this way. Sometimes those who
were thus mad to suffer for their
opinions gloried in it. looking upon it
as persecution for righteousness sake'.
In cases of this kind the friends of tho
condemned person would gather around
him and give him their sympathy. The
tillory was abolished in England by
set Of parliament. June 30, 1887.
A Brotherhood Of Fools.
One would suppose that an organi-
cation calling itself The Order OF
Fools would be entirely devoted to
frivolous things. but such was not the
case with the society of that name
founded by Adolphus. Count Of Cleves.
in 1891. 1t was formed for humane
and charitable purposes. and the men,
~@~~lt., 1ny ~r-~1,