The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-11-21
CURIOUS FORMS OF OLD
TIME PUNISHMENT
Used by Our Ancestors. They Are
Abandoned Now, Happily for the
Country.

1t IS one OF the greatest Denencen-
ces OF modern times, which are SO
abused by modern women, that all the
curious little customs of punishment
used by our ancestors have been
gradually abandoned
| And not for men only. Women
have cause as great TO offer prayers
OF thankfulness that their lives are
laid in the goth century instead OF
| the 18th: and the laments some of
them have been uttering about the
! prompt and effective punishment of
| 100 years ago would change to
shrieks of terror II the whole, joyous
rounds were restored to legal favor
The pleasing prospect OF bakers
caught cheating, OF butchers who sell
bad meat or poultry, of fishermongers
who vend doubtful seas bass. all
parading In the direction of the p,
! lie pillory with their tainted foods
hung around their necks and indig-
nant housewives pelting them with
rotten apples. may be cheering to
think Of But II Is we'll to remember
that women have stood in the pillory;
and also that there was such a variety
of stools of repentance, expressly de-
signed for their sex use, that tortue
was q mild word with which to de-
scribe them.
The good old days are very much
better dead, especially for woman's
sake.
We think of England habitually as
the home of these horrors But her
colonies were daughters by no means
unworthy, and the scarlet letter, for
the woman who would now have the
nerve to sue for damages, was then
among the mildest of rebukes for los
ing decent reputation. And 1t was
this country that most famously used
1t.
The most familiar feminine pun
ishment of the olden times was the
branks; and when any woman nova
days is told that she had better bride
her tongue, the expression comes
prtty close to the reality they used
to put on her In England, about the
time the Mayf1ower immigrants were
getting organized over here. In the
middle of the 18th century. Ralph
Gardner of Chirton. Gent, dedicated
his book on evils In the coal trade to
Cromwell. as lord protector; and he
printed the deposition of John Willis
of Ipswich. who
Upon his oath said, that he, and
this deponant, was in Newcastle six
months ago, and there saw one Ann
Bridlestone drove through the street
by an officer of the same corporation
holding a rope in his hand. the other
end fastened to an engine called the
branks, which is like a crown. 1t be-
ing of iron, which was musled over
the head and face. with a great gag
or tongue of iron, forced into her
mouth; and that is the punishment
which the Magistrates do infiict up
on Gliding or scolding women; and
he hath often seen the like done to
others"
The Pilgrim Fathers, while they
brought over many other such harsh
punishments, and applied them as
harshly. left the branks at home.
They used a cleft stick for their COM
mon .scolds; and that, clipped on the
tongue, silenced them as effectually
although there's no record of the stick
being much more merciful.
The drunkard's cloak, an open bar
rel. reversed to let the culprit walk
freely, and with apertures above for
head and arms. was last used in the
Union army in 1862. when it served as
punishment drill for delinquent SOL
der In all English history It was re-
garded as & mans punishment, but
originally, in Holland, it appeared in
the form of butter churn, and 1t was
applied publicly to women who pre-
fered to have two husbands instead
of one.
The ducking stool was prominently
the penalty for scolding women and
for those whose reputation offended
decency. The one at Ipswich, fire.
quently made use of. Is still preserved
In the local museum. Unless managed
with the utmost care these duckings
were liable to mean death instead of
mere discomfort and public disgrace.
The ducking stool at Nottingham was
destroyed in 1871 because the mayor
when he placed an immoral woman
In it, left her to the mercy of the mob,
which ducked the helpless creature to
| death. Nowadays the lady simply
| gets divorce, several columns In the
newspaper. a star engagement on the
stage and a rich husband Times have
| vastly improved.
The American colonists were strong
on ducking stools. They were to pass
resolutions every week demanding the
erection of stools, plain and fancy;
they regarded them as town orna-
ments. But when they got them 1t
L