The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1913-12-11
Record of Strange Punishments
and Stranger Crimes.
Review Of New ana Old World Codes
German "Ducking Stool" Among
Stranaest-Rot for Witches
and Scolds.

A little while ago juvenile offender
was sentenced by the presiding judge
in an American court of law to six
Saturday afternoons in bed. He was
thus deprived of his weekly holiday,
and several Of the newspapers that
chronicled the incident gravely in
quired whittier our modern ideas of
justice were leading us. Those who
are inclined to agree with the news
p@pers, however, and denOunce the
sentence as tending to make a mock
cry of justice, will do we'll to bear i'll
mind that not only in America is 1t
| becoming the fashion to make the
| penalty At the crime. Original forms
of punishment are no longer the ex'
ception, but the very curious rule.
In one of the towns of northern Ger
many the ancient "ducking stool has
been revived. But whereas. our an
cestors employed the ducking stool for
witches and scolding women. the pres
ent revival is employed to cure ha-
bitual intoxication. A chair is fasten'
ed to the end of long pole balanced
over the edge of the water tank. The
drunkard is tied into the chair, the
/ pole is tipped up and he receives
| complete sousing.
| A man in one of the gold producing
states of America was recently
charged with violent assault upon his
wife, and was obliged to pay the pen.
atty in a manner that must have
severely discouraged that particular
species of offense. The sentence oil
the court was that he should be inn
prisoned for one month, during which
period he was to be taken from his
| cell every morning and tied to post
| in the leading thoroughfare. Here he
was to stand for two hours exposed tc
the public gaze, bearing around his
neck large placard inscribed in bold
letters with the words, Wife Beaten.
! Every morning the wretched culprit
stood in the public street surrounded
by a crowd of women and children
who appeared to take peculiar pleas
ure in discussing the unfortunate
mans home life and his character.
and expressing sympathy with his
wife. 1t was bitter penance, remind
ing one of the old British institution
the stocks. !.
In another American city a man
who was arrested for street fighting
was offered the choice of a month in
| Jail or a f1ogging. He chose the latter
and was f1ogged by the court official
| from the prison gates to his home,
bowling pietously, to the great happi
ness of a mob of onlookers.
| Strange as such pu nishments appear
| there are countries which can boast
of stranger crimes. In certain 81
lesian towns a lady wearing train is
liable to arrest, the penalties being
graded according to length of the
train and the bstinacy of the offend
er. The law has been passed in the
interests of health, the danger that
infectious diseases may be commune
Gated through the medium of trailing
skirts being we'll Known.
A tradesman in a small German
town who, at a public meeting, recent
/ ly disturbed the audience by inces-
SAINT sneezing was arrested, and 1t
was only with difficulty that he proved
| to the magistrate he had not purposely
committed this breach of the peace"
A sudden sneeze is liable, it is true
to staftle nervous people in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the sneezer. But
it has been reserved to the German
intellect to discover anything criminal
in it, just as it has been reserved to
Great Britain to prosecute men and
| women for sleeping out O. nights.
If you call man liar in certain
American states you are liable to pros
ecution 1t is merely a misdemeano1
in some districts, punishable by fine
of % cents, but in Texas the offensive
use of the word is followed by fine
of $25, and Georgia you are likely to
be punished by fine of $1,000 or i'm
prisonment for year, or both!