The Wilmington morning star., 1947-06-15
brunswick County Residents Find 1t Hard To Decide
t Landmark Was Once A Whipping Post Or Horse Hitch
ct,ff Correspondent

rrHPORT, June 14.-Started
pjl Holmes Of shall0tte' refer
Brunswick's old whipping
EDS q matter of fact way,
f'' ..,nort and a great deal of
',s,wick county has been argu-
s,r several weeks over the
,,+ioa Of whether or not the
still has one of these out-of-
lion whipping posts on the court
MISE lawn at Southport.
ives seem to have the edge
JUS 45e nays. Nothing has yet de-
WEI taned that either side can claim
TsIgpN Convincing. AS in the case
10 D Do4vdjd or she didn't, it is still
'f h1d question, subject to con-
is- r.o facts Of the matter are that
NV +he huge spreading live oak
M, IN the rear of the Brunswick
l.+y +emole G justice. there is
'o1l ..r+ nine post extending about
a n''t and a half feet from the
lo Ds,od On top Of this post is a
slO~ sized old time wrought iron
al The post is some six by
E.asl inches and was originally
ssa bown. Mortified about a foot
'a- n.ore from the ground is a hole
% -he post, evidently for the pur-
' ~ ,p' Of holding a cros''ieee. On
sSoInd that is never wet or moist
T.. LONGER than a few hours at a
.n,o the post has been there many
. -.,,r. and is good for a hundred
Years more
.sst tbe post was put UP to serve
.s = whipping post, the iron ring
~, fastening the hands of the
.'o.im and that there was a cross
,;ece near the ground to which the
%,'Inrits legs could else be fasten-
~ This for the purpose of keeping
Hn, from kicking the Whipper in
the Sims, -.
The other side claims nothing of
,Aa sort. They allege that the post
vas pu+ up 10 serve as a hitchlng
ros+ for a horse, in the days when
i, borse with a buggy behind was
, common sight.
If this is So" says the other
do "how comes that there is
o~Iv one post?' If it was the
fashion to erect hitching Costs in
10 feet Of the court house, how
zones it that only one hitchlng
MIST has been surviving this past
% or more years.
One old contender against the
whipping post theory claims that
me last time he knew Of any one
being whipped by court order the
victims were young men who were
convicted Of stealing. The late
Sheriff John j. Knox Of the Ell
Pssse Community, is credited with
having administered the licking in
the court house with judge, law
ysrs and spectators looking on
md apparently enjoying the pro-
ssedings.
This contention is refuted by
o.ners with the claim that no judge
would have his court room unoIg-
riied by permitting a lash to be
laid on therein. Besides such a
|Y,oceeding, they say, would incite
riot and old-fashioned hair pull
ing contest among the spectators.
A. least among such spectators
as follow the present day court
proceedings.
The tree under which the post
stands is in itself an object of in
terest and moribund conjecture.
Several people are known to have
been hanged on it at times when
the county did not wish to 60 to
the e2,ense and trouble Of con-
Irlctlng a galloWs.
Only a few weeks ago W. A.
Reynolds, prominent resident Of
ShalIottee told the Star-NeWs that
bis great grandfather was hanged
on that tree. This hanging appears
10 have been a mistake, it was
some one else other than Bill
great grandfather who should have
been hanged. As partial proof that
mistakes can be made in hanging
and various other things, this re-
porter wrote a local story detail
Mg the incident and accidently