Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 278, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1912 — Last Man In the Stocks. [ARTICLE]

Last Man In the Stocks.

The punishment of the stocks has been inflicted within the memory of many living men. In the Manchester Guardian of June 14, 1872, there is an account of a man enduring this form of legal torture ait Newbury. He was a rag and bone dealer of intemperate habits and was fixed in the stocks for drunk and disorderly conduct at the parish church. “Twenty-six years had elapsed since the stocks were last used,” runs the account, “and their reappearance created no little sensation and amusement, several hundreds of persons being attracted to the spot where they were fixed.” The “amusement” does not appear to have been shared by the prisoner, who was released after four hours and “seemed anything but pleased with the laughter-and derision of the crowd.”