Evening star., 1912-11-03

Z a -
: This was regarded sas a curious relic of
the barbaric past, but the Britons who
smiled at it might have been reminded
that although the stocks. like the pillory
and the ducling stool. long have been
done away with, lot of p,nlishments
survive in England and are meteds out
right along which are every bit as me-
dieval.
The most ludicrous of these exist in the
two services-the army and navy-which
We're renowned in the past for the cru
elites practiced in them in the name OF
justice. "kee-hauling' as carried out in
his majestys navy used. of course, to
amount to execution by drowning. while
IN the army running the gantlet' was
a popular way of Furnishing troublesome
soldiers. Perhaps the British borrowed it
from our American Indians: anyhow Ii
was done in the army exactly as the
redskins used to do it-a regiment beins
divided into two lines and the offender
being marched between. getting one cut
with switch from each man as he
passed. go rs.
The public today has almost fo-gottea
that such punishments existed, yet il is
only about a fortnight since Winston
Churchill, who. as first lord of the, ati-
mralty. is ruler of the kings navee. -alid
who. Of course. Is the son Of Mrs. COl.a-
wallis West. finally abolished the child
ish. yet maddening punishment which,
had been known and Ioathed for genera
tons I'm the fleet as 10 A. II was called
this on account of its number in tie
regulations. and generally was inflicted
for INSTRUMENTATION the man FINISHED ,e-
ing treated like a naughty boy syho Is
stood in the corner. lie bad. in fact.a
to stand al attention from : o'clock to
10 each evening. facing tho ships side
aft, his only distraction being to watch
the flies on the paint. the phrase
went He had to eat all his meals alone
ON the upper deck. Instead of resting
between watches he had to polish brass
work, and besides this his grog was
stopped and he was prohibited from
smoking.
Winston Churchill never did a more
popular thing than when he abolished
10 A. but the British tars hope he
will go farther and wipe out lot of
other ridiculous penalties that still are
inflicted i'm the navy. If, for example.
man is detected in the horrible offense
Of washing clothes on any night but the
one specially set apart for this purpose.
the punishment is extraordinary one.
He has to put the wet garment on
boathook and carry 1t around the upper
deck until it is dry. Another queer pun
ishment is inflicted for carelessness in
leaving any part of a sailors personal
belongings out of his bag. Ii he does so.
the article is confiscated by the man i'm
charge of the deck and put in what is
called the "scran bag" At the end of the
week this is opened, and the guilty
man must buy back the article at the
price of piece of soap.
Here is another queer punishment
which never has been removed from the
statute book. If you are motoring or
driving in England. beware lest you run
over anybody. for if you do so, and cause
their death. your motor-car or carriage
can be confiscated by the crown. Even
human being In this country can be
taken from its owner. This law is known
as deodand.
The strangest punishment which still
survives under modern law in England is
that of .outlaysry." Only "A few years
ago-in 1906 to be exact-a lawyer.
charged with forging a check was .'out.
lawed" in the Glasgow high court By
this sentence the person of the accused
is declared forfeit He cannot bear testi-
mony in court nor sue nor defend an
action. He cannot act on a jury nor vote
at an election nor act as tutor or guar
dian 10 another person. If any one robs
him he has no redress. If any one killed
him. il seems rather doubtful if that
person could be hanged.
Besides all this. IL the OUTLAW fails
to surrender himself TO the authorities al,
stated times, and remains for year and
a day i'm the condition of rebel, his
whole estate and its profits are forfeit To