Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1894 — RELICS OF BARBARIC DAYS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RELICS OF BARBARIC DAYS.

Pocithment Meted Out to Prisoner* in a Delaware Jail. It seems scarcely credible that in this advanced age of enlightenment, when we boast o a civilization that is as nearly perfect as it can possibly be, there survive such barbarous modes of punishment as the pillory and whipping post. But if Nellie Bly, she of globe-trotting fame, is to be believed, they are very much in evidence today, and can be found in the State of Delaware. She claims to have seen eight men publicly flogged and one man stand in the pillory of the penal institutions of that State last week. The place where this inhuman torture was inflicted was the ccunty jail at New Castle, six miles from Wilming-

ton. The punishment is meted out to the prisoners in the jail yard, and the public is always welcome. The law of the State requires that the whippings shall take place between the hours of 10 and 12. The first sight that struck the visitor was an exhibition of the working of the pillory. In the middle of the yard, on a raised ulatform, it stood, in plain sight of the crowd that had assemb ed to witness the punishment inflicted. The man who was to bo Dilloried was convicted of forgery and was sentenced to spend one hour in it. Two men ascended the platform with him, and while one undid iron fastenings at the end of the pillory and lifted half the board, the other placed the man's head and handi in holes cut in the other half. Then came the whipping post. After the man in the pillory had been released from his confining position and slowly and painfully straightened himself out. the sheriff appeared, holding in his hands a terrible looking' cat-o - nine tails. He was closely followed by several men surrounding a negro, stripped to the waist. Tne negro walked to the post and held his hands for the ofti. ers to pinion them to either side with the iron biacelets. The victim was convicted of larceny apd sentenced to flve laches. The punishment was administered by the sheriff, and although no blood was drawn, the white welts on the black skin told of the work of the lash. The

second victim was also a negro and took his flogging without moving a muscle. The next man, also a negro, received ten lashes aud wriggled painfully as the whip came down on his bare back. His crime was the stealing of a pair of pants valued at fortylive cents. The first white man flogged that day was convicted of stealing a pair of shoes. This cost him ten lashes, five months' imprisonment, and his citizenship. He trembled violently as the whip swished through the air and landed on his back, leaving a heavy red mark, The next victim was an old-timer at the business, he having been flogged three times before. He, however, had net g t hardened into the painful ordeal, and writhed in agony until his slender hands slipped out from the iron bracelets. Fortunately Delaware is the only State in the Union where people are flogged, excepting Maryland, where this punishment is meted out to wifebeaters. In some parts of Delaware the whipping is done with a cowhide, which is more severe than the cat-o’-nine-tails. The number of lashes to be given, of course, varies with the enormity of the crime, sixty being the largest and five the smallest allotment. Women are not whipped, even when convicted of the same crime for which men suffer. It was formerly the custom to flog them, also, but this doubly barbaric relic of by-gone days died out about twenty-five years ago. The last woman to be"tied to the whipping post was eenvieted of murdering her husband.

GIVING A PISONER TEN LASHERS.

THE PILLORY IN NEW CASTLE (DEL.) JAIL.