Year: 1874

! eCCSHfp N""NfT~'~ WV
THE WHIPPING POST IN DELAWARE.


The sheriff appeared. He is a tall, broad
shouldered man, with an iron face, and a
thieftaker's eye. Duties that are disagreeable
to officers of his grade are usually intrusted
to minor men, but, in this case, no one had
been found willing to be substitute he him
self was compelled to administer the punish
ment. He wore square uniform cap, with
broad visor, and in his hand he carried the
whip.


This whip consisted of yellow stock thirty
inches long; to this were attached the nine
leathern thongs that tradition declares effica-
cious they were about as thick as Il pencil,
and they were as long as the stock.


The people gazed upon this implement with
curiosity and the sheriff, while waiting,
placed some tobacco in his mouth, and he
chewed it as those do that are laboring under
great inward excitement. Outwardly he was
calm and serious. He threw several glances
upon the people, but he had nothing appa-
rently to fear.


Presently the first victim was led forth by
the turnkey. He was the young man that
had been fixed in the pillory. His sentence
had consisted of three methods Of punishment:
the prison, the pillory, and the lash. He
had endured the pains Of one, was about to
endure the pains ola second, and then would
be ready to begin his period of incarceration.
He must have begun to think that his whls-
tie had cost him dear.


He approached the place where he was ex-
pected to stand with great alacrity, whipping
off his coat as he came The upper part of
his body was bare. He carefully folded his
Jacket, and thrust it into the braces of the
platform above his head. Then he faced the
post, placed his wrists in iron loops that were
provided for the purpose, some six feet from
the ground and then stood ready.


/ The sheriff stepped back a pace or two,
swung out his whip in the faces of the people,
and made them fall back. They retired with
great precipitation, stumbling over one anoth-
er in their eagerness to escape Thus, the
prisoner and the executioner stood alone in
the centre Of a ring.


The turnkey read the name of the culprit,
and stated the number of lashes that he was
to receive The number was ten. He then
passed to the other side and stood ready to
count.


The first blow was then given. The sheriff
trailed the whip behind him, and then brought
it slowly forward with his forearm. The
lashes followed the stock, and fell upon the
prisoners back almost as one. He finched
Slightly and only slightly. The blow was not
forcible one; indeed, so lacking in strength
was it, that the people thought it merely
preliminary given to warn the victim to pre-
pare himself against the terrors to come.


But the second was just like it; so was The
third and the fourth. The lookers-on ex-
pressed great displeasure.


This was child's play! This was the worst
sort of foolery There were no shrieks
There was no blood No, not even a scoring
of the flesh At the tenth blow, and when
the sheriff dropped his arm by his side, there
was general litter.


The prisoners back was flushed, and no
more. Had he worked in a sunny corn6eld
half dozen hours, his flesh would have re-
ceived deeper discoloration. Had some one
smiled on the sherifF's daughter, she would
have blushed finer red than that.


In fact, the lightness of the punishment
was q serious inconvenience to the prisoner
himself 1t was impossible for him to show
endurance when it was clear there was nothing
to endure


By his manner he invited admiration for
his fortitude, but all the ease of his carriage,
as he left the whipping.post and returned to
the jail, went for naught. The deepest pain
that he received was, no doubt, derived from
the failure of an opportunity to show himself
to be hero.
Now, there can beno manner of doubt that
the purpose Of the Delaware statute was fully
and satisfactorily accomplished by the use of
the punishment described. The statistics
show that very few people are whipped Sec
ond time, and, as castigation is imperatvely
made part of punishment for certain classes
of crime, it is right to say, therefore, that very
few persons commit the same crime twice
within the jurisdiction of Delaware courts.
The attribute of this method of treating Grim.
inals that produces the effect, is the exposure
of the prisoner before the public under hu-
initiating circumstances The actual bodily
pain endured is unimportant, and does not
act in any case as detriment 1t is his ex-
hibition before a heterogeneous multitude that
constitutes the real suffering of the culprit


In brief, the Delaware statutes seek to sup
press and abolish crime by fixing an lndelll-
BILE stain upon all who commit sins against
the laws-Appleton's Journal.