Year: 1869

two or three weeks the people of this antedilu-
Wan hamlet have been blessed with two unpre-
ccdonted sensations. A fire broke out in the
centre of the town, and when it was all over
few brcltayers and carpenters were summoned
from Wilmington TO repair the damages The
presence of morta r-bed and brick-pile was
Grst-class sensation, unknown, 1 fear, in the eX
perience of "the oldest inhabitant." Therefore
New Castle was unduly excited, and the nine
days to which such wonders are limited by the
old proverb have been prolonged to double the
traditional period


Justice Re-cnthrOn0d.


But if the antediluvians had been disturbed by
the sound of the trowel and the hammer alone,
the circumstance would not have warranted u
journey all the way from Philadelphia to chro-
nice. The County Jail Commissioners about two
weeks ago sat in inquisition upon the old whip
ping-post, and in their judgment it was pro-
nounced both unsghtly and unsafe Time had
dealt harshly with it. The precise day on which
its grim tmbers first obstructed the rays of the
sun has been so long swallowed up in the nav
of the past, that it is scarcely worth while to be
particular about it except for the benefit of the
antiquarians who should make pilgrimage to
this spot in a body, certain of being amply re-
warded for their pains. The ordinary readers
curiosity doubtless, will be amply
satisfied with the announcement that the
old post had laughed common decency and hui
manity to scorn in the days when half-naked
women were manaclcd to it, and their sense of
shame lost sight of in the more poignant agony
which thrilled their bodies at each descent of
the leathern thong; in the days when the women
who had given birth to sons of Delaware were
lifted high up in the air and bent at right
angle, in order that their necks and wrists might
be thrust through apertures not much larger
than knot hole; in the days when both men
and women, while thus tortured in the name of
the outraged law were defled and humiliated
by the contact of dead cats and added eggs. All
these things were of semi-annual occurrence not
many years ago, and the old shrine on which
such offerings to justice were placed had been,
again and again, thus polluted.


1t was not for the reason that such items have
been eXpurgated from the liturgy of Delaware,
and that an altar which had been thus polluted
was unworthy of the offerings of less barba-
rous people, that the Jail Commissioners decreed
its demolition but simply because its timbers
were rotten its nails rusty its joints creaky its
tout ensemble discrcditable. In accordance with
their decree, the old post was rooted up, and
now lies prone upon the earth in the prison
yard, whence it is being carried chip by chip





such high esteem by the early Church. In its
place a new post has been erected, "a substan-
tal, as serviceable as uncOuth, as awe-inspiring,
as repulsive to the spirit of the age and country
as was the old post in the days of its own new
ness.


The New Shrine COnsecrated.


To-day the antediluvians have been in high
feather because of the ceremonies attendant
upon the conservation of the new shrine. The
| semi-annual session of the Criminal Court of
| New Castle county opened on Monday, and
inside of three days an unusual quantity of work
was laid out by it for the high priest and his
assistants The juries appeared to realize the
importance of the approaching ceremonies, and
to relish the opportunity afforded them of rem
dering the whole affair entirely creditable and
one long to be remembered. So they convicted
almost every person that was placed in the prison
| er dock, and the judges, with as laudable a
zeal, were unsparing in their sentences The
| result of the three days work was the selection
! of ten yictims-hve of them white and five
black-among whom were distributed three
hours in the pillory, lS0 lashes, thirteen years
Imprisonment, and over $170O in fines. With
all these resources to fall back upon, Delaware
would indeed have suffered disgrace i'll its own
| historical eyes if the conservation ceremonies
I nau NOT pIONcu all ullqutllllOu SuSSSoS'


''The Gates Aiar."


| The services were appointed to commence at
ten o'clock and long before that hour the ante
diluyians were out in force, awaiting the open
ing of the prison gates. The crowd numbered a
round two hundred being about equally made
ND of whites and blacks, with the element of
youth. as customary, in the preponderance. The
shabby urchins who made up so large potion
of the assemblage were in great glee, and by
their scuiiling and hooting, and swearing, and
general liveiness of disposition, showed con-
clusiyely to the few strangers present that they
were fully prepared to receive and cherish an
inspiration of respect for the law and of terror
for the machinery by which infractions upon it
were punished.


| The Pulpit and the Whippina-pOst,


Among those awaiting the opening of the gates
was the Rev. Charles ID. Shaw, the pastor of the
Central Presbyterian Church ut Wilmington.
This earnest Christian gentleman--who, blythe
way, is not a product of the State but came
originally from Philadelphia never witnessed
the most impressive ceremony in the creed of
Delaware and was present to-day for that especial
purpose. Two weeks ago he arose in his pulpit
in Wilmington, and in unexaggerated terms de-
picted the cruelties practised in the city prison,
| thoroughly arousing many of those who were
his listeners 10 the necessity of nauguratng re-
| form in that respect. 1t is said that the cells
in this establishment unfit to be tenanted by
refractory and ill-natured pigs, but the present
II Il 10