Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1859 — Punishment for Crime in North Carolina. [ARTICLE]

Punishment for Crime in North Carolina.

A correspondent of tihe New Haven Register gives us some insight into the manner in which criminals and delinquents are punished in the “Old North State.” He writes: “The administration of Justice in North Carolina is much less mild than manyof her sister States. Havingjno‘State prison,’the old punishments of the; English common law arc still inflicted; such as branding, whipping,cropping the earb, &c. “On a- beautiful Muy morning, I strolled ■ into the temple wherb the goddess o‘ the sword and the scales, and the bandaged eyes,, is supposed to preside. In one of the pass- ■ ages 1 encoun’cred the High Sheriff* ot the ! county, carrying a tinker’s furnace in one ■ hand, and what seemed to me a soldering! iron in the other. On inquiring whose -gude I wife’s* pans he was going to mend, he in-I formed me that he was about to brand a man ; who had just been convicted of bigamy. A curiosity which I was ashan cd of but could not resist, led me into the court room. I found it crowded. “in a few minutes the Judge entered, and taking his seat upon the Bench, with his hat on, (judges here sit jeovered.) ordered the crier to open the court. Tlrat important functionary then ste ped to an open window, put out his head, ‘O yjes’ed three times,and the ‘Honorable, the Superior Court,’ was; opened in due form. The prisoner was then j breught..in by the sheriff'and two assistants, whereupon hrs Counsel moved for a new’ tri.al, on the ground that the defendant had been unable to procure the! attendance of all his! witnfsse . His honojr inquired if he could give the requisite security. On being answered in the negative his honor sail, ‘then let the sentence of tile Court be~ executed forthwith. ’ The sheriff and bis assistant then blindfolded the prisoner, tied his hands, .and bound his head firmly to the bar. “Taking the branding iron hot from the ’furnace, the sheriff'applied it red koi to the .cheek of the bigamist,!burning a plain letter 111, an inch and a half long, and nearly half an inch deep. The prisoner was then reairinded to jail, where his head ai.d hands •were introduced into the pillory, and ‘forty! stripes save one' were applied to his bear I back, after which he Was discharged. ‘‘Every jail in North Carolina is provided with a whipping post, stocks and pillory. Murder, rape, arson, burglary, and all the higher crimes and misdemeanors, are pun- ! ished with death; manslaughter by branding the letter 51 in the right hand. The convict’s hand is bound to the' bar, ami the branding iron held upon the'palm until he can say ' -‘God save the State 1 ’ three times. Theft! and minor offenses by whipping, standing in the pillory, or sitting in the stocks.”