Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-24
WHIPPING POST MAINTAINS
ITS HOLD IN DELAWARE
Plory Has Been Eliminated But the Lash is Applied to
Certain Offenders to This Doy--Origin of Corporal
Punishment and How 1t Has Held Up Against Opposi-
tion.. Curious Difference in the Methods Employed.

colony In 1899. when Francis Love-
lace was Governor. he sentenced one
konigsmarke, known as the Long
Finn to be severely whipped and to
be stigmatizcd with the letter X brand
ed upon his breast, for being rebel
and opposing the Governors authority.
In addition, he was ordered to be sold
as a slave To the Barbadoes
Established by Law.
Other whipping sentences are men,.
toned in the records, but they seem
TO have been imposed at the pleasure of
the colonial authorities, until i1f7, when
the General Assembly of the Counties
of New Castle, Kent and sussex upon
the Delaware and the Province of Penn
sylvanian passed "An Act for the ad-
vancement of justice and the more GER
tain administration thereof" by which
murder and several other crimes were
ito he punished the same as provided
by the laws of England" As the Of
fenses enumerated were at that time
punished in the mother country by the
post and pillory. il is conceded that the
enactment of this law marks the legal
introduction of corporal punishment in
Delaware.
A former requirement of the law was
the wearing of a "convicts jacket
Z coat having the letter IT. one inch
wide and four inches long. made of red
flannel, sewed on the baek--for six
months after release from prison. This
provision was repealed only within the
past fifty years, after it had long been
obsolete from non-enforcement, not
withstanding its unfailing imposition
by the courts.
Up to about seventy years ago the
punishment of the post and pillory was
administered impartially to men and
! women alike. Then the courts became
so reluctant to sentencing women 10 the
corporal infliction that the law was
amended SO as to exclude them from
it's operations. Previous TO the civil
/ War. Negroes were sentenced TO the
lash for ordinary offenSes by the
Mayors Court in Wilmington. and the
sentences were carried into effect by
the high constable, a tree In the City
Hall yard being used as a whipping
post. Now they are amenable only as
are other offenders.
/ IL is considered probable. judging by
some ancient illustrations, that the pill
lory originally used was a fixture by IT,
/ self, built so as TO confine the head
! arms and feet of the victim while seated
upon the ground or upon a low platform
as old prints show Hudibras and
/ Rodolpho undergoing this painful
| punishment. In later years the pos
and pillory were constructed as ons
| fixture The post was about twenty
I feet high, with strong platform sci
around it. about half way up. Upon
/ this platform the piliory culprits stood
with their necks and arms confined IN
I a yoke. which iraversed the post at 0
, convenient elevation. The lower see.
ton OF the post was used Tor the whip
pings. and Was provided with a pair 81
nanacles. one on each side. in which tbs
prisoners hands are fastened while the
punishment is being inflicted. When
the County Workhouse. where the whip
pings in New Castle county are conduc-
ted. was built, the post and piliory Were
made separate. the latter comprising
nothing but the yoke, set across ar
angle in the jaii yard walls, tse prison
ers standing upon the ground. Now
Of course, it is not in existence.
Different Whipping Methods.
/ A curious feature Of the administra.
tion of the whipping punishment il
+ the kind or instrument used, respec-
lively, in the three counties Of the State
The Law is indefinite as TO the detail,
-.