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Title: The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments - Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts
Author: Brooks, Henry M. (Henry Mason), 1822-1898
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments - Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts" ***
_THE OLDEN-TIME SERIES._
16mo. Per vol., 50 cents.
There appears to be, from year to year, a growing popular taste for
quaint and curious reminiscences of "Ye Olden Time," and to meet this,
Mr. Henry M. Brooks has prepared a series of interesting handbooks.
The materials have been gleaned chiefly from old newspapers of Boston
and Salem, sources not easily accessible, and while not professing to
be history, the volumes contain much material for history, so combined
and presented as to be both amusing and instructive. The titles of
some of the volumes indicate their scope and their promise of
entertainment:--
CURIOSITIES OF THE OLD LOTTERY.
DAYS OF THE SPINNING-WHEEL.
SOME STRANGE AND CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS.
QUAINT AND CURIOUS ADVERTISEMENTS.
LITERARY CURIOSITIES.
NEW-ENGLAND SUNDAY, ETC.
"It has been the good fortune of the writer to be allowed a peep at
the manuscript for this series, and he can assure the lovers of the
historical and the quaint in literature that something both valuable
and pleasant is in store for them. In the specialties treated of in
these books Mr. Brooks has been for many years a careful collector and
student, and it is gratifying to learn that the material is to be
committed to book form."--_Salem Gazette._
_For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, upon receipt of price.
Catalogues of our books mailed free._
TICKNOR & CO., BOSTON.
THE OLDEN TIME SERIES
SOME STRANGE AND CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS
_Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow
For others' good, and melt at others' woe._
POPE: Odyssey.
_But hushed be every thought that springs
From out the bitterness of things._
WORDSWORTH.
THE OLDEN TIME SERIES.
GLEANINGS CHIEFLY FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS OF BOSTON AND SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
SELECTED AND ARRANGED, WITH BRIEF COMMENTS
BY
HENRY M. BROOKS
Some Strange and Curious Punishments
"Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is
no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by
proclivity, and by delight, we all quote."--EMERSON
BOSTON
TICKNOR AND COMPANY
1886
_Copyright, 1886_,
BY TICKNOR AND COMPANY.
_All rights reserved._
University Press:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
PUNISHMENTS MENTIONED.
PAGE
ARREST of the dead 86
BACK "dress'd" 63
Banished 10
Books burned 15, 16
Bound and chained 8
Branded with a hot iron 2, 3, 43
Burned 83
CLEFT stick put on tongue 8
Confined at Castle Island 5, 48
EARS cropped 3, 10, 24
Eating one's own words 67
Executed (of frequent mention).
FINE and imprisonment (of frequent mention).
GAGGED and dipped or ducked (of frequent mention).
HUNG in chains 14, 15
IMPRISONMENT for debt 70, 71
In the bilboes 35
In the pillory (of frequent mention).
In the stocks 35
In the stocks on lecture-day 8
"KISSING the Yssrow" 44
LIMITS of the jail 70, 71
PAPER on the breast with the word _Cheat_ 33
Prisoners sold 21, 22, 47, 48, 49
Prosecution against animals 78
SENT back to England 51
Sent to Castle Island to make nails 65
Sewed up in bed-clothes and thrashed 68
TIED neck and heels and thrown into a pond 28
Tied to a gun and whipped 20
Tied to a tree and chastised 81
Tongue bored with a hot iron 20
Tread-mill 71 to 76
UPON the gallows with rope about the neck (of frequent mention).
WHIPPED at the cart's tail 1, 9
Whipping-post (of frequent mention).
SOME STRANGE AND CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS.
-------------------------
In the month of January, 1761, "Joseph Bennett, John Jenkins, Owen
McCarty, and John Wright were publickly whipt at the Cart's Tail thro'
the City of New York for petty Larceny,"--so the newspaper account
states,--"pursuant to Sentence inflicted on them by the Court of
Quarter Sessions held last Week for the Trial of Robbers," etc. In
March the same year "One Andrew Cayto received 49 Stripes at the
public Whipping Post" in Boston "for House-robbing; viz., 39 for
robbing one House, and 10 for robbing another." In 1762 "Jeremiah
Dexter, of Walpole, pursuant to Sentence, stood in the Pillory in that
Town the space of one Hour for uttering two Counterfeit Mill'd
Dollars, knowing them to be such." At Ipswich, Mass., June 16, 1763,
"one Francis Brown, for stealing a large quantity of Goods, was found
Guilty, and it being the second Conviction, he was sentenced by the
Court to sit on the Gallows an Hour with a Rope about his Neck, to be
whipt 30 Stripes, and pay treble Damages. He says he was born in
Lisbon, and has been a great Thief."
We extract the following from the "Boston Chronicle," Nov. 20, 1769:--
We hear from Worcester that on the eighth instant one Lindsay
stood in the Pillory there one hour, after which he received 30
stripes at the public whipping post, and was then branded in the
hand; his crime was forgery.
Lindsay was probably branded with the letter F, by means of a hot
iron, on the palm of his right hand; this was the custom in such
cases.
In Boston, in June, 1762, "the noted Dr. Seth Hudson and Joshua How
stood a second Time in the Pillory for the space of one Hour, and the
former received 20 and the latter 39 Stripes." In the same town in
February, 1764, "one David Powers for Stealing was sentenced to be
whip't 20 Stripes, to pay tripel Damages, being £30, and Costs. And
one John Gray, Cordwainer, for endeavouring to spread the Infection of
the Small Pox, was sentenced to pay a Fine of £6, to suffer three
months' Imprisonment, and to pay Costs." In New York in January, 1767,
"A Negro Wench was executed for stealing sundry Articles out of the
House of Mr. Forbes; and one John Douglass was burnt in the Hand for
Stealing a Copper Kettle." In the last half of the eighteenth century
it appears to have been a capital crime for negroes to steal. At
Springfield, Mass., in October, 1767, "one Elnathan Muggin was found
Guilty of passing Counterfeit Dollars, and sentenced to have his Ears
cropped," etc. On reading these quaint accounts we are led to inquire
whether the punishment for crime in "olden times" was more severe than
at the present time. Many people think it was, and justly so, and
argue that crime has consequently greatly increased of late years, on
account of the lightness of modern sentences or the uncertainty about
punishment. This may be true. Crime is said to increase with
population always. According to Mr. Buckle, it can be calculated with
a considerable degree of accuracy. We can estimate, for instance, the
probable number of murders which will take place in a year in a given
number of inhabitants. Whether this theory is true or not would
require a vast amount of study and observation to determine. We know
that population in our time crowds in cities; especially is this true
of the classes most likely to furnish criminals. Still, in spite of
this, do not most of us feel that it has of late years been rather
safer to reside in a city than in the country? Consider the numbers of
lawless and too often cruel tramps which have overrun the country
towns and villages for a few years past, making it so unsafe for women
to walk unattended in woods and highways, even in the quietest parts
of New England, where once they could go with perfect safety alone and
at all hours. No laws can be too severe against _cruel_ tramps. It has
been affirmed that people who live in cities are in reality more moral
than country people of the same class.
Is this state of things brought about by the infliction of light
sentences, or is it caused by the increase among us of a bad foreign
element? We have heard many serious and humane persons express
themselves as in favor of a restoration of the whipping-post and
stocks, really supposing that these things would lessen crime. But is
it likely that the old methods of punishment would be considered by
criminals themselves as severer than the present? Let us see what some
of the last century rogues thought about the matter. At a session of
the Supreme Judicial Court held at Salem, Mass., in December, 1788,
one James Ray was sentenced, for stealing goods from the shop of
Captain John Hathorne (a relative of Nathaniel Hawthorne), to sit upon
the gallows with a rope about his neck for an hour, to be whipped with
thirty-nine stripes, and to be confined to hard labor on Castle Island
(Boston Harbor) for three years. "It is observable of this man," the
account continues, "that he has been lately released from a two years'
service at the Castle, that during the trial he was very merry and
impudent, and continued in the same humor while his sentence was
reading, holding up his head and looking boldly at the Court, till the
three years' confinement was mentioned; when his countenance changed,
his head dropped on his breast, and he fetched a deep groan,--an
instance of how much more dreadful the idea of labor is to such
villains than that of Corporal punishment."
At a session of the Court of Oyer and Terminer held at Norristown,
Pa., for the county of Montgomery, Oct. 11, 1786, we are furnished
with a case in point. "A bill was presented against Philip Hoosnagle
for burglary, who was convicted by the traverse Jury on the clearest
testimony. He was, after a very pathetick and instructing admonition
from the bench, sentenced to five years' hard labour, under the _new_
act of Assembly. It was with some difficulty that this reprobate
was prevailed upon to make the election of labour instead of the
halter, ... a convincing proof," the report says, "that the punishments
directed by the new law are more terrifying to idle vagabonds than all
the horrors of an ignominious death."
Probably there are many more cases on record where criminals preferred
death to imprisonment. Burglary and forgery were once punished by
death. We have all noticed on the old Continental currency these
words: "Death to counterfeit this."
On the 17th June, 1791, Samuel Cook, in the eighty-fourth year of his
age, was executed at Johnstown, N.Y., for forgery. On the 6th
December, 1787, William Clarke was executed at Northampton for
burglary; the same day Charles Rose and Jonathan Bly were executed at
Lenox for robbery. On the 4th May, 1786, at Worcester, Johnson Green,
indicted for three burglaries committed in one night within the space
of about half a mile, was tried on one indictment, convicted, and
received sentence of death. The papers contain numerous similar cases.
It would be useless to enumerate them all; we give only a few in order
to show what the punishment formerly awarded to these crimes really
was. We do not, of course, know the circumstances attending all these
cases; but robbery and burglary are usually premeditated, and the
criminals are prepared to commit murder if it should be necessary for
their purpose, so that we can have no sympathy with the perpetrators.
Our sympathy ought, we think, to go to the victims.
-------------------------
OLD NEW ENGLAND.
Early in the settlement of New England, as is pretty generally known,
some of the laws and punishments were singular enough. A few extracts
from Felt's "Annals of Salem" may not be out of place here, as
illustrating our subject:--
"In 1637, Dorothy Talby, for beating her husband, is _ordered to
be bound and chained to a post_."
"In 1638, the Assistants order two Salem men to _sit in the
Stocks, on Lecture day_, for travelling on the Sabbath."
"In 1644, Mary, wife of Thomas Oliver, was sentenced _to be
publickly whipped_ for reproaching the Magistrates."
"In August, 1646, for slandering the Elders, she had a _cleft
stick put on her tongue for half an hour_." Felt says: "It is
evident that her standing out for what she considered 'woman's
rights' brought her into frequent and severe trouble. Mr.
Winthrop says that she excelled Mrs. Hutchinson in zeal and
eloquence."
She finally, in 1650, left the colony, after having caused much
trouble to the Church and the authorities.
"In 1649, women were prosecuted in Salem for scolding," and
probably in many cases whipped or ducked.
"May 15, 1672, the General Court of Massachusetts orders that
Scolds and Railers shall be gagged or set in a ducking-stool and
dipped over head and ears three times."
This treatment we should suppose would be likely to make the victims
_very pleasant_, especially in cold weather.
"May 3, 1669, Thomas Maule is ordered to be whipped for saying
that Mr. Higginson preached lies, and that his instruction was
'the doctrine of devils.'"
Josiah Southwick, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Buffum, and others, Quakers, for
making disturbances in the meeting-house, etc., were whipped at the
cart's tail through the town. Southwick, for returning after having
been banished, was whipped through the towns of Boston, Roxbury, and
Dedham. These are only a few of the cases of the punishments inflicted
upon the Quakers. Mr. Felt says in reference to the persecution of the
Quakers:
"Before any new denomination becomes consolidated, some of its
members are apt to show more zeal than discretion. No sect who are
regular and useful should have an ill name for the improprieties
committed by a few of them."
Our "pious forefathers," we must confess, were too apt to be a little
hard towards those who annoyed them with their tongue and pen upon
Church doctrine and discipline or the administration of the
government. As early as 1631, one Philip Ratclif is sentenced by the
Assistants to pay £40, to be whipped, to have his ears cropped, and
to be banished. What had he done to merit such a punishment as this?
He had made "hard speeches against Salem Church, as well as the
Government." "The execution of this decision," Mr. Felt says, "was
represented in England to the great disadvantage of Massachusetts."
Jeffries was not yet on the bench in England.
In 1652 a man was fined for excess of apparel "in bootes, rebonds,
gould and silver lace."
Mr. Charles W. Palfrey contributed in 1866 to the "Salem Register" the
following interesting item on the Salem witchcraft trials:
Among the many attempts to remedy the mischiefs caused by the
witchcraft delusion, the subjoined is not without interest. About
eighteen years after the memorable year, 1692, four members, a
committee of the Legislature, were sent to Salem to hear certain
parties and receive certain petitions, and the following is the
record, in the Journal, of their Report:--
October 26, 1711. Present in Council, His Excellency Joseph
Dudley, Esqr., Governor, John Hathorne, Samuel Sewall, Jonathan
Corwin, Joseph Lynde, Penn Townsend, John Higginson, Daniel Epes,
Andrew Belcher, etc., etc.
Report of the Committee appointed, Relating to the Affair of
Witchcraft in the year 1692; viz.--
We whose Names are subscribed in Obedience to your Honours' Act at
a Court held the last of May, 1710, for our inserting the Names of
the several Persons who were condemned for Witchcraft in the year
1692, & of the Damages they sustained by their prosecution; Being
met at Salem, for the Ends aforesaid, the 13th Septem., 1710, Upon
Examination of the Records of the several Persons condemned,
Humbly offer to your Honours the Names as follows, to be inserted
for the Reversing their Attainders: Elizabeth How, George Jacob,
Mary Easty, Mary Parker, Mr. George Burroughs, Gyles Cory & Wife,
Rebecca Nurse, John Willard, Sarah Good, Martha Carrier, Samuel
Wardel, John Procter, Sarah Wild, Mary Bradbury, Abigail Falkner,
Abigail Hobbs, Ann Foster, Rebecca Eams, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Post,
Mary Lacy:
And having heard the several Demands of the Damages of the
aforesaid Persons & those in their behalf; & upon Conference have
so moderated their respective Demands that We doubt not but they
will be readily complied with by your Honours.
Which respective Demands are as follows:--
Elizabeth How, Twelve Pounds; George Jacob, Seventy nine Pounds;
Mary Easty, Twenty Pounds; Mary Parker, Eight Pounds; Mr. George
Burroughs, Fifty Pounds; Gyles Core & Martha Core his Wife, Twenty
one Pounds; Rebecca Nurse, Twenty five Pounds; John Willard,
Twenty Pounds; Sarah Good, Thirty Pounds; Martha Carrier, Seven
Pounds six shillings; Samuel Wardell & Sarah his Wife, Thirty six
Pounds fifteen shillings; John Proctor & ---- Proctor his Wife,
One Hundred and fifty Pounds; Sarah Wilde, Fourteen Pounds; Mrs.
Mary Bradbury, Twenty Pounds; Abigail Faulkner, Twenty Pounds;
Abigail Hobbs, Ten Pounds; Ann Foster, Six Pounds ten shillings;
Rebecca Eams, Ten Pounds; Dorcas Hoar, Twenty one Pounds seventeen
shillings; Mary Post Eight Pounds fourteen shillings; Mary Lacey
Eight Pounds ten shillings. The Whole amounting unto Five Hundred
& seventy eight Pounds, & twelve shillings.
(Sign'd) Jno. Appleton, Thomas Noyes, John Burrill,
Nehem'a Jewett.
Salem, Septemr. 14, 1711.
Read & Accepted in the House of Represent'ves
Signed JOHN BURRILL Speak'r
Read & Concur'd in Council
Consented to J. DUDLEY.
The following quaint memorandum of the expenses of the commission
is minuted in the report, viz.:--
_Ye Acct of gr servts_
Charges 3 days a peis ourselves & horses 4.0.0.
Entertainment at Salem Mr. Pratts 1.3.0.
Major Sewals attendans & sendg notifications
to all Concerned 1.0.0.
-------
£6.3.0.
It is a grave error into which many modern writers have been drawn,
when alluding to Salem witchcraft, to lay the responsibility of that
dire delusion entirely upon Salem people, as if they alone were to
be held accountable for the dreadful occurrences of 1692. The laws
of England in those days, all the authorities of New England, and,
with but rare exceptions, all the people everywhere throughout the
civilized world, recognized witchcraft as a fact and believed it to
be a crime. The most learned men in England and in other countries
believed fully in witchcraft. Sir Matthew Hale had given a legal
opinion on the subject; Lord Bacon believed in witchcraft; and there
are strong reasons for thinking that Shakspeare and other great men
of the time of Queen Elizabeth and still later believed in it fully.
Cotton Mather, Judge Sewall, Peter Sargent, Lieutenant-Governor
Stoughton, all belonging to Boston, were the leaders in the
proceedings against the witches of 1692.
-------------------------
HUNG IN CHAINS.
In the papers that we have examined we have not found any instances
recorded of the old English law of hanging the remains of executed
criminals in chains as having been carried into effect in our country.
But from some investigations of Mr. James E. Mauran, of Newport, R.I.,
we learn that on March 12, 1715, one Mecum of that town was executed
for murder and his body was hung in chains on Miantonomy Hill, where
the remains of an Indian were then hanging, who had been executed
Sept. 12, 1712. Mecum was a Scotchman, and lived at the head of Broad
Street. A negro was hanged in Newport in 1679, and his remains were
exposed on the same hill.
-------------------------
A BOOK ORDERED TO BE BURNED BY THE COUNCIL IN 1695.
The "Salem Observer" of Feb. 14, 1829, quotes from the Rev. Dr.
Bentley's "Diary" as follows:--
Tho's Maule, shopkeeper of Salem, is brought before the Council
to answer for his printing and publishing a pamphlet of 260
pages, entitled "Truth held forth and maintained," owns the book
but will not own all, till he sees his copy which is at New-York
with Bradford, who printed it. Saith he writt to ye Gov'r of N.
York before he could get it printed. Book is ordered to be
burnt--being stuff'd with notorious lyes and scandals, and he
recognizes to answer it next Court of Assize and gen'l gaol
delivery to be held for the County of Essex. He acknowledges that
what was written concerning the circumstance of Major Gen.
Atherton's death was a mistake (p. 112 and 113), was chiefly
insisted on against him, which I believe was a surprize to him,
he expecting to be examined in some point of religion, as should
seem by his bringing his bible under his arm.
Thomas Maule was a Quaker who lived in Essex Street, Salem, on the
spot now occupied by James B. Curwen, Esq., as a residence.
Imported books were ordered to be burned in Boston as early as 1653,
by command of the General Court; but we believe this is the first
instance of burning an American book.
-------------------------
Punishment for wearing long hair in New England. From an old Salem
paper.
PURITANICAL ZEAL. It is known that there was one of the statutes
in our ancestors' code which imposed a penalty for the wearing of
long hair. At the time Endicott was the magistrate of this town
he caused the following order to be passed:--
"John Gatshell is fyened ten shillings for building upon the
town's ground without leave; and in case he shall cutt of his
loung hair of his head in to sevill frame (fewell flame?) in the
meane time, shall have abated five shillings his fine, to be
paid in to the Towne meeting within two months from this time,
and have leave to go in his building in the meantime."
Purchas says of long hair that--
"It is an ornament to the female sex, a token of subjection, an
ensign of modesty; but modesty grows short in men as their hair
grows long, and a neat perfumed, frizled, pouldered bush hangs
but as a token,--_vini non vendibilis_, of much wine, little wit,
of men weary of manhood, of civility, of christianity, which
would faine turn (as the least doe imitate) American salvages,
infidels, barbarians, or women at the least and best."
Prynne, who wrote in 1632, considers men who nourish their hair like
women, as an abomination to the Lord, and says--
"No wonder that the wearing of long haire should make men
abominable unto God himselfe, since it was an abomination even
among heathen men. Witnesse the examples of Heliogabalus,
Sardanapalus, Nero, Sporus, Caius Caligula, and others."
He refers to the opinions of the fathers and the decrees of the Old
Councils to prove that--
"Long hair and love locks are bushes of vanity whereby the Devil
leads and holds men captive."
-------------------------
In a Boston paper, Aug. 11, 1789, we find the following ludicrous
account of the unfaithfulness of an officer in the duty of whipping
a culprit:--
On Thursday, 11 culprits received the discipline of the
post in this town. The person obtained by the High Sheriff to
inflict the punishment, from sympathetick feeling for his
brother culprits, was very tender in dealing out his strokes,
and not adding weight to them, although repeatedly ordered; the
Sheriff, to his honour, took the whip from his hand, by an
application of it to his shoulders drove him from the stage,
and with the assistance of his Deputies inflicted the
punishment of the law on all the culprits. The citizens who
were assembled, complimented the Sheriff with three cheers for
the manly, determined manner in which he executed his duty.
-------------------------
In the "Boston Courier," September, 1825, is an account of the
conviction of a common drunkard at the age of 103! It seems hardly
possible that such a case could have occurred, and in New England,
too. This item is copied from the "Salem Observer." If it is true, it
can hardly be said that the man shortened his days by the use of
liquor. They had, however, good, pure rum in those days.
POLICE COURT. Donald McDonald, a Scotchman reported to be _one
hundred and three years of age_, was brought before the court
yesterday charged with being a common drunkard, of which he had
been convicted once before. Donald stated that he had been in
various battles of the Revolution, had sailed with Paul Jones,
and was at the taking of Quebec. He was found guilty and
sentenced to the House of Correction for three months.
-------------------------
Donald M'Donald, the Scotchman, who has numbered upwards of 110
years, was sent to the House of Industry on Saturday of last
week, in a state of intoxication. He had been suffered to go at
large but four days previous, and during two of them was seen
about our streets a drunken brawler.--_Boston Patriot_, 1829.
-------------------------
NEW ENGLAND IN 1686.
John Dunton, writing from Boston in 1686 to his friends in England,
quotes some of the Province laws then in force. He says:--
For being drunk they either Whip or impose a Fine of Five
shillings; And yet, notwithstanding this Law, there are several
of them so addicted to it that they begin to doubt whether it be
a Sin or no, and seldom go to Bed without Muddy Brains.
For Cursing and Swearing they bore through the Tongue with a hot
Iron.
For kissing a woman in the Street, though but in way of Civil
Salute, Whipping or a Fine (Their way of Whipping Criminals is by
Tying them to a Gun at the Town House, and when so Ty'd whipping
them at the pleasure of the Magistrate and according to the
Nature of the Offence).
For Adultery they are put to Death, and so for Witchcraft, For
that, there are a great many Witches in this Country &c.
Scolds they gag and set them at their own Doors, for certain
hours together for all comers and goers to gaze at. Were this a
Law in England and well Executed it wou'd in a little Time prove
an Effectual Remedy to cure the Noise that is in many Women's
heads.
Stealing is punished with Restoring four-fold if able; if not,
they are sold for some years, and so are poor Debtors. I have not
heard of many Criminals of this sort. But for Lying and Cheating
they out-vye Judas and all the false other cheats in Hell. Nay,
they make a Sport of it: Looking upon Cheating as a commendable
Piece of Ingenuity, commending him that has the most skill to
commit a piece of Roguery; which in their Dialect (like those of
our Yea-and-Nay-Friends in England) they call by the genteel Name
of Out-Witting a Man and won't own it to be cheating.
After mentioning the case of a man in Boston who bought a horse of a
countryman who could not read and gave him a note payable at the "Day
of the Resurrection," etc. Dunton goes on to say: "In short, These
Bostonians enrich themselves by the ruine of Strangers, etc.... But
all these things pass under the Notion of Self-Preservation and
Christian Policy."
It would hardly be fair to quote all this from Dunton's letters unless
we added what he says of Boston in another place; namely, "And though
the Generality are what I have described them, yet is there as sincere
a Pious and truly Religious People among them as is any where in the
Whole World to be found."
-------------------------
It seems to have been quite common at one time to sell prisoners. At
the Supreme Judicial Court in Salem, in November, 1787, "Elizabeth
Leathe of Lynn, for harbouring thieves and receiving stolen goods, was
convicted and sentenced to be whipped twenty stripes and to be sold
for six months." Also at a session of the same Court, held in Boston
in September, 1791, six persons were convicted of theft and sentenced
to be whipped and pay costs, or to be sold for periods of from six
months to four years. At this same Court one Seth Johnson appears to
have received what seems to us a rather severe sentence, although of
course we do not know all the circumstances of the case. He was
convicted of theft on three indictments and was sentenced to be "whipt
65 stripes and confined to hard labor for nine years." The Court at
Salem, before referred to, passed on one Catharine Derby a very heavy
sentence for stealing from Captain Hathorne's shop. It was, "To sit
upon the gallows one hour with a rope about her neck, to be whipped 20
stripes, pay £14 to Capt. Hathorne, and costs of prosecution." This is
almost as bad as the old saying, "being hung and paying forty
shillings."
This practice of selling convicts was nothing more or less than making
slaves of them,--for a limited period, of course; but perhaps it was
in many instances a punishment more to be desired by the victims than
being confined in prison, especially if they were well treated. The
prisons in those days had not "modern conveniences," and probably in
some cases were hardly decent. The condition of the jail in Portsmouth,
N.H., in February, 1789, is thus described by a prisoner who made his
escape from there by digging through the chimney. His account is
interesting in this connection. The paper from which we take it says:
"But for fear his quitting his lodgings in so abrupt a manner might
lay him open to censure, he wrote the following on the wall:--
"The reason of my going is because I have _no fire_ to comfort
myself with, and very _little_ provision. So I am sure, if I was
to _stay_ any longer I should perish to death. Look at that bed
there! Do you think it fit for any person to lie on?
"If you are well, I am well;
Mend the chimney, and all's well!
"To the gentlemen and officers of Portsmouth from your humble
servant,
"WILLIAM FALL.
"N.B. I am very sorry that I did not think of this before, for if
I had, your people should not have had the pleasure of seeing me
take the lashes."
The whipping-post and stocks were discontinued in Massachusetts early
in the present century. On the 15th of January, 1801, one Hawkins
stood an hour in the pillory in Court Street (now Washington Street),
Salem, and had his ear cropped for the crime of forgery, pursuant to
the sentence of the Supreme Court.
It would be easy to multiply cases showing the old methods of dealing
with criminals; but we think we have cited enough for our readers to
be able to form some judgment as to the desirability of reviving the
old and degrading systems, even if it could be done. It does seem
sometimes that there are brutes in the shape of men whose cruelty,
especially in the case of crimes against women, makes them deserving
of the worst punishment that could be inflicted for the protection of
society; but for the general run of such comparatively light offences
as petty larceny, etc., beating and branding with hot irons must be
considered barbarous in the extreme, and more after the manner of
savages than Christians. We always thought that the beating of
scholars--a practice once very common in schools--for such trifling
offences as whispering and looking off the book, was a gross outrage,
and the parent knowing and allowing it was in our opinion as guilty
as the schoolmaster. Of course we will not deny that teachers
did, then as now, have a great deal to put up with from saucy,
"good-for-nothing" boys, to whom the rod could not well be spared;
but we do not allude to such cases. We knew a master whose delight,
apparently, was pounding and beating _little_ boys,--he did not touch
the large ones. And yet he was generally considered a first-rate
teacher. Parents upheld him in anything he chose to do with the boys,
and if they complained at home, they were told that it must have been
their fault to be punished at all. This man every morning took the
Bible in one hand and his rattan in the other and walked backward and
forward on the floor in front of the desks while the boys read aloud,
each boy reading two or three verses; and woe be to any boy who made a
mistake, such as mispronouncing a word! Although he might never have
been instructed as to its pronunciation, he was at once pounded on the
head or rapped over the knuckles. Of course he never forgot that
particular word. And this teacher was called only "strict"! If ever a
man deserved the pillory, it was that teacher.
Possibly some of our readers may think that there is another side to
this story; for the benefit of such we give some lines from the "Salem
Gazette," Feb. 6, 1824.
_From the Connecticut Centinel._
THE SCHOOLMASTER'S SOLILOQUY.
To whip, or not to whip?--that is the question.
Whether 'tis easier in the mind to suffer
The deaf'ning clamor of some fifty urchins,
Or take birch and ferule 'gainst the rebels,
And by opposing end it? To whip--to flog--
Each day, and by a whip to say we end
The whispering, shuffling, and ceaseless buzzing
Which a school is heir to--'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To whip, to flog,
To whip, and not reform--aye, there's the rub.
For by severity what ills may come,
When we've dismissed and to our lodging gone,
Must give us pain. There's the respect
That makes the patience of a teacher's life.
For who would bear the thousand plagues of a school,--
The girlish giggle, the tyro's awkwardness,
The pigmy pedant's vanity, the mischief,
The sneer, the laugh, the pouting insolence,
With all the hum-drum clatter of a school,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare hickory? Who would willing bear
To groan and sweat under a noisy life,
But that the dread of something after school
(That hour of rumor, from whose slanderous tongue
Few Tutors e'er are free) puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear _these_ lesser ills,
Than fly to _those_ of greater magnitude.
Thus error does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied over with undue clemency,
And pedagogues of great pith and spirit,
With this regard their _firmness_ turn away,
And lose the name of _government_.
-------------------------
We here record a curious affair which took place in the State of
Georgia in the year 1811. At the Superior Court at Milledgeville a
Mrs. Palmer, who, the account states, "seems to have been rather glib
of the tongue, was indicted, tried, convicted, and, in pursuance of
the sentence of the Court, was punished by being publicly ducked in
the Oconee River for--_scolding_." This, we are told, was the first
instance of the kind that had ever occurred in that State, and
"numerous spectators attended the execution of the sentence." A paper
copying this account says that the "crime is old, but the punishment
is new," and that "in the good old days of our Ancestors, when an
unfortunate woman was accused of Witchcraft she was tied neck and
heels and thrown into a pond of Water: if she drowned, it was agreed
that she was no witch; if she swam, she was immediately tied to a
stake and burnt alive. But who ever heard that our _pious_ ancestors
_ducked_ women for scolding?" This writer is much mistaken; for it is
well known that in England (and perhaps in this country in early
times) the "ducking-stool" was resorted to for punishing "scolds."
This was before the days of "women's rights," for there is no record
of any man having been punished in this way.
It is said that the ducking-stool was used in Virginia at one time.
Thomas Hartley writes from there to Governor Endicott of Massachusetts
in 1634, giving an account of the punishing a woman "who by the
violence of her tongue had made her house and neighborhood
uncomfortable." She was ducked five times before she repented; "then
cried piteously, 'Let me go! let me go! by God's help I'll sin so no
more.' They then drew back y^e Machine, untied y^e Ropes, and let her
walk home in her wetted Clothes a hopefully penitent woman." In the
"American Historical Record," vol. i., will be found a very
interesting account of this singular affair, with an engraving of the
"ducking-stool." Bishop Meade, in his "Old Churches," etc., says there
was a law in Virginia against scolds and slanderers, and gives an
instance of a woman ordered to be ducked three times from a vessel
lying in James River. There must have been very severe practices in
Virginia in the early days, according to Bishop Meade. We refer
persons especially interested in this subject to Hone's "Day Book and
Table Book," or Chambers's "Book of Days," both English publications,
for a full account of the ducking-stool and scold's bridle, formerly
used in England for the punishment of scolding women. It is not
pleasant to think that such a shameful practice was ever resorted to,
but it appears to be well authenticated. We cannot, however, read
English history, or any other history, without finding a vast number
of disagreeable facts which we are obliged to believe. Some things,
too, have occurred in our own country that we should like to forget.
All over the country we are nowadays troubled with "strikes." Such
"irregularities" must have been treated in a different spirit half a
century ago from what they are now. In these days the "strikers"
attempt to dictate terms, and in some cases succeed; although as a
general thing they get the worst of the struggle. The method of
dealing with such matters fifty years ago is briefly set forth in the
"Salem Observer," March 29, 1829. It says: "_Turn-out in New York._
There has been a turn-out for higher wages among the laborers in the
city of New York. _Several of the ring-leaders have been arrested and
ordered to give heavy bonds for their appearance at Court._" In
September, 1827, some sailors struck in Boston for higher wages,
formed a procession, and marched through the city, making considerable
noise with their cheers, etc. They issued the following proclamation,
which was read by the leader now and then, and responded to with loud
cheers: "Attention! We, the blue Jackets now in the city of Boston,
agree that we will not ship for less than $15 a month, and that we
will punish any one who shall ship for less in such way as we think
proper, and strip the vessel [which he ships in]. What say you?" At
the Common they were met by a militia company, who charged upon them;
some men of both sides were knocked down, but no lives were lost or
blood shed. In the afternoon the sailors were out again with drum and
fife. The paper from which we obtain this information says that they
probably would not get any advance, as it is assured by a shipper that
he found no difficulty in procuring crews at the customary wages.
Probably it was not intended that the military should do more than
endeavor to keep order.
-------------------------
It is rather surprising that there should have been no conviction for
felony in the County of Essex from 1692, when the witches were tried,
until 1771,--a period of seventy-nine years. It would so appear,
however, from the following extract from the "Essex Gazette," Nov. 12,
1771:--
Last Wednesday Morning the Trial of Bryan Sheehen for committing
a Rape on the Body of Mrs. Abial Hollowell, Wife of Mr. Benjamin
Hollowell, of Marblehead, in September last, came on before the
Superior Court of Judicature, at the Court-House in this Town.
The Trial lasted from between nine and ten o'Clock A.M. till
three in the Afternoon, when the Jury withdrew, and in about one
Hour brought in their Verdict, GUILTY. Mrs. Hollowell's Testimony
against the Prisoner was fully corroborated by the Physician who
attended her, and by the People who were in the House, at and
after the Perpetration of the Crime; by which the Guilt and
Barbarity of the Prisoner was so fully demonstrated, that the
Verdict of the Jury has given universal Satisfaction.
This Bryan Sheehen (who has not yet received his Sentence) is the
first Person, as far as we can learn, that has been convicted of
Felony, in this large County, since the memorable Year 1692,
commonly called _Witch-Time_.
-------------------------
From the "Boston Post-Boy," February, 1763.
BOSTON, JANUARY 31.
At the Superiour Court held at Charlestown last Week, Samuel
Bacon of Bedford, and Meriam Fitch, Wife of Benjamin Fitch of
said Bedford, were convicted of being notorious Cheats, and of
having by Fraud, Craft and Deceit, possess'd themselves of
Fifteen Hundred Johannes, the property of a third Person; were
Sentenced to be each of them set in the Pillory one Hour, with a
Paper on each of their Breasts with the Words a CHEAT wrote in
Capitals thereon, to suffer three Months Imprisonment, and to be
bound to their good Behaviour for one Year, and to pay Costs.
-------------------------
From the "Massachusetts Gazette," May 1, 1786.
On Saturday evening the 22d ult. eight of the prisoners, confined
at the Castle, broke from their confinement, and made their
escape to the main. The day following five of them were taken in
a barn at Dorchester, and immediately re-conducted to the Castle.
The ensuing night the three others were apprehended at Sharon,
near Stoughton, and were also sent back to their place of
confinement.
Richard Squire and John Matthews, the pirates, and Stephen
Burroughs, a _noted_ clerical character, were among the prisoners
who made their escape from the Castle, as mentioned above. And on
Saturday last, we are informed, the eight culprits shared among
them the benefit of a distribution of 700 lashes.
On Monday evening last, a person, in passing from the Long-Wharf
to Dock-Square, was assaulted and knocked down, by a single
villain, who robbed him of a box, containing a coat, two
waistcoats, a pair of corduroy breeches, a piece of calico, in
which was wrapped up three watches, and a letter containing
money.
On Thursday last, at noon, seven fellows received the discipline
of the post, in this town.
-------------------------
Curious list of punishments in the early days of New England. From
"Salem Gazette," May 4, 1784.
_The following (taken from a Boston paper of last week) is a
collection of a few of the many curious punishments, inflicted
for a variety of offences, among the old records of this
Commonwealth._
Between 1630 and 1650.
Sir _Richard Saltonstale_ fined four bushels of malt for his
absence from court.
_William Almy_ fined for taking away Mr. Glover's canoe without
leave.
_Josias Plastoree_ shall (for stealing four baskets of corn from
the Indians) return them eight baskets again, be fined 5l. and
hereafter to be called by the name of _Josias_, and not _Mr._ as
formerly he used to be.
_Joyce Bradwick_ shall give unto Alexander Beeks, 20s. for
promising him marriage without her friends' consent, and now
refusing to perform the same.
_William James_, for incontinency, was sentenced to be set in the
bilboes at Boston and Salem, and bound in 20l.
_Thomas Petet, for suspicion_ of slander, idleness and
stubbornness, is to be severely whipt and kept in hold.
_John Smith_, of Medford, for swearing, _being penitent_, was set
in bilboes.
_Richard Turner_, for being notoriously drunk, was fined 2l.
_John Hoggs_, for swearing _God's foot_, cursing his servant,
wishing "a pox of God take you," was fined 5l.
_Richard Ibrook_, for tempting two or more maids to uncleanness,
was fined 5l. to the country, and 20s. a piece to the two maids.
_Thomas Makepeace_, because of his novel disposition, was
informed we were weary of him, unless he reformed.
_Edward Palmer_, for his extortion, taking 33s. 7d. for the plank
and woodwork of Boston stocks, is fined 5l. and censured to be
set an hour in the stocks.
_John White_ is bound in 10l. to be of good behaviour, and not to
come into the company of Bull's wife alone.
_Thomas Lechford_ acknowledging he had _overset_ himself and is
sorry for it, promising to attend his calling, and not to meddle
with controversies, was dismissed.
_Sarah Hales_ was censured _for her miscarriage_ to be carried to
the gallows with a rope about her neck, and to sit upon the
ladder, the rope end flung over the gallows, and after to be
banished.
-------------------------
Wholesale sentences of death in London, in 1820.
At the October session of the Old Bailey, London, sentence of
death was passed on thirty-seven persons, four of whom were
females. Four were condemned for passing counterfeit notes,
eleven for highway robberies, two for burglary, 11 for stealing
in dwelling houses, 1 for horse-stealing, 2 for sacrilege, &c.
-------------------------
From the "Salem Mercury," July 28, 1788.
_The following_ EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE _is extracted from the_
EUROPEAN MAGAZINE _for_ 1787.
SAMUEL BURT, convicted of forgery a few sessions since, was put
to the bar, and informed that his Majesty, in his royal clemency,
had been graciously pleased to extend his mercy to him on
condition that he should be transported during his natural life.
The prisoner bowed respectfully to the Court, and immediately
addressed the Recorder with his "most humble and unfeigned
thanks, for the kindness and humanity of the Recorder, the
Sheriffs, and other gentlemen who had interested themselves in
his favour, and who had so effectually represented his unhappy
case to the throne, that his Majesty, whose humanity could only
be equalled by his love of virtue, had extended his mercy; but
however flattering the prospect of preserving life might be to a
man in a different situation; yet that he, now he was sunk and
degraded in society, was totally insensible of the blessing. Life
was no longer an object with him, as it was utterly impossible
that he could be joined in union with the person who was dearer
to him than life itself. Under such circumstances, although he
was truly sensible of his Majesty's goodness and clemency, yet he
must positively decline the terms offered him; preferring death
to the prolongation of a life which could not be otherwise than
truly miserable." The whole Court was astonished at his address;
and after consultation, Mr. Recorder remanded the prisoner back
to the jail, to be brought up again the first day of next
session.
-------------------------
The pillory appears to have been in use in Boston as lately as 1803;
for we find in the "Chronicle" of that city that in March of that year
Robert Pierpont, owner, and H.R. Story, master, of the brigantine
"Hannah," for the crime of sinking the vessel at sea, and thus
defrauding the underwriters (among whom were Joseph Taylor, Peter C.
Brooks, Thomas Amory, David Greene, and Benjamin Bussey), were
convicted before the Supreme Judicial Court, and the following
sentence imposed: "That they should stand one hour in the Pillory in
State Street on two several days, be confined in Prison for the term
of two years, and pay Costs of Prosecution." Considering the magnitude
of the crime, this was a light sentence. An underwriter in the
"Chronicle" says: "It is a transaction exceeding in infamy all that
has hitherto appeared in the commerce of our country."
-------------------------
Wholesale execution of pirates in Newport, R.I., in July, 1723.
CAPTURE OF PIRATES.
This year (1723) two Pirate sloops, called the Ranger and the
Fortune, committed many piracies on the American Coast, having
captured and sunk several vessels.--On the 6th of June, they
captured a Virginia sloop, which they plundered and let go, who
soon after fell in with his Majesty's Ship Grey Hound, Capt.
Solgard, of 20 guns, who on being informed of the piracy,
immediately went in pursuit of the Pirates, and on the 10th came
up with them about 14 leagues south from the east end of Long
Island. They mistaking her for a Merchant ship, immediately gave
chase and commenced firing under the black flag.--The Grey Hound
succeeded in capturing the Ranger, one of the sloops, after
having 7 men wounded, but the other Pirate escaped. The Grey
Hound and her prize arrived in the harbor of Newport, and the
Pirates, 36 in number, were committed for trial.
_Trial of the Pirates._
A Court of Admiralty, for the trial of Pirates, was held at
Newport on the 10th, 11th and 12th of July. The Hon. William
Dummer, Lt. Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of
Massachusetts Bay, President of the Court.
The thirty-six Pirates taken by Capt. Solgard, were tried, when
Charles Harris, who acted as captain, and 25 of his men, were
found guilty, and sentenced to suffer death, and 10 men were
acquitted on the ground of having been forced into their service.
_Execution of the Pirates._
On Friday the 19th of July, the 26 Pirates were taken to a place
in Newport, called Bull's Point, (now Gravelly Point,) within the
flux and reflux of the sea, and there hanged. The following are
their names:--Charles Harris, Thomas Linnicar, Daniel Hyde,
Stephen Mundon, Abraham Lacy, Edward Lawson, John Tomkins,
Francis Laughton, John Fisgerald, Wm. Studfield, Owen Rice, Wm.
Read, Wm. Blades, Tho's Hagget, Peter Cues, Wm. Jones, Edward
Eaton, John Brown, James Sprinkly, Joseph Sound, Charles Church,
John Waters, Tho's Powell, Joseph Libbey, Thomas Hazel, John
Bright.
The Pirates were all young men, most of them were natives of
England, Wm. Blades was from Rhode Island and Thomas Powell from
Wethersfield, (Conn.); after the execution, their bodies were
taken to the north end of Goat Island, and buried on the shore,
between high and low water mark.
As this was the most extensive execution of Pirates that ever
took place at one time in the Colonies, it was attended by a vast
multitude from every part of New England.
From the _Salem Observer_, Nov. 11, 1843.
-------------------------
Description of "Villains" in the "Boston Post-Boy," Dec. 12, 1763.
Tuesday last a Gang of Villains were apprehended at a House in
Roxbury, and brought to Town & committed to Goal, they have been
concerned in the late Robberies here, and 'tis suspected in some
of those towards Pennsylvania, for which Reason it will be proper
to advertise their Names, with some Description of them, which
are as follows, viz.
_William Robinson_, a tall slim fellow, about 5 Feet 7 inches
high, wears a blue Surtout Coat with metal Buttons, and his Hat
commonly flopt before, and an old laced Waistcoat, has short
curled black Hair; when he speaks he seems jaw-fallen and very
effeminate, is about 35 Years of Age, walks much like a
Foot-pad, and has a comely Woman with him whom he calls his
Wife.----_John Cassady_, a middling siz'd Fellow much
pock-broken, square-shoulder'd, wears a Wig upon the yellow
cast, and has a very guilty Countenance, is about 40 Years of
Age, and calls himself a Shoe-maker.--_John Willson_, a short
young Fellow, about 21 Years of Age, wears a blue Surtout Coat,
and short black Hair, of a pale Countenance, and calls himself a
Sail-maker.--_George Sears_, a well-set Fellow, with a comely
Face, black Hair twisted with a black Ribbon, and says he serv'd
3 Years to an Attorney in England.
-------------------------
In the "Essex Gazette," Nov. 12, 1771, is the following news from
England:--
A Correspondent expresses great Surprise and indignation at the
Disproportion of Punishments in this Country. He says he read in
a News paper that two Men were hanged together last Month in
Kent, one of whom had committed a barbarous Murder on his Wife,
and the other had stolen three Shillings and Sixpence. In the
same Paper there followed immediately another Paragraph, that a
Woman had been only whipped for stealing little Children and
burning their Eyes out.
At this day we believe it is the custom of the English authorities to
treat all prisoners alike, whatever the charges against them may be.
It seems as if they were desirous of degrading men as much as
possible. Mr. John Boyle O'Reilly, a poet and gentleman of culture,
who was unfortunately a political prisoner, was chained to a
wife-murderer. And this the English call "justice,"--as if there could
be no difference in offences!
-------------------------
Severe punishment used to be inflicted for the crime of passing
counterfeit coin. The "Essex Gazette," April 23, 1771, under news from
Newport, April 15, says,--
William Carlisle was convicted of passing counterfeit Dollars,
and sentenced to stand One Hour in the Pillory, on Little-Rest
Hill, next Friday, to have _both Ears_ cropped, to be branded on
_both Cheeks_ with the Letter R, to pay a Fine of One hundred
Dollars and Cost of Prosecution, and to stand committed till
Sentence performed.
The letter R probably meant "rogue." The same account states that--
"Last Wednesday Evening one Mr. ----, of this Town (Newport), was
catched by a Number of Persons in Disguise, placed on an old
Horse, and paraded through the principal Streets for about an
Hour as a _Warning_ to all bad Husbands."
-------------------------
In the "Massachusetts Gazette," Sept. 8, 1786, we find an account of
the Dutch mode of executions.
NEW-JERSEY.
ELIZABETH-TOWN, _Aug. 16_. The little influence which our present
mode of executing criminals has in deterring others from the
commission of the same crimes, arises from a want of solemnity
and terrifick circumstances on such occasions. It is not the mere
loss of life which has so much a tendency to affect the
spectator, as the dreadful apparatus, the awful preliminaries,
which ought to attend publick executions; whose justifiable
purposes is the prevention of crimes, and not the inflicting
torment on the criminal. A variety of particulars might be
adopted respecting the dress of the condemned, the solemnity of
the procession to the place of execution, and the apparatus
there, to throw horrour on the scene without in reality giving
the unhappy victim a more painful exit. The Dutch have a mode of
execution which is well calculated to inspire terror, without
putting the sufferer to extraordinary pain. The criminal is
placed on a scaffold, opposite to the gigantick figure of a
woman, with arms extended, filled with spikes, or long sharpened
nails, and a dagger pointed from her breast, she is gradually
moved towards him by machinery for the purpose, till he gets
within her embrace, when her arms encircle him, and the dagger is
pressed through his heart. This is vulgarly called among them,
kissing the Yssrow, or woman, and excites more terror in the
breasts of the populace than any other mode of punishment.
-------------------------
Inhabitants of Boston severely punished (on paper) in April, 1774, for
_destruction of the tea_.
A CURIOUS HISTORICAL ITEM. In a recent English Chronological
work, under the article of "Tea," we found the following brief
notice of the American Revolution: "Tea destroyed at Boston by
the inhabitants, 1773, in abhorrence of English Taxes; for which
they were severely punished by the English Parliament, in April,
1774."
_Salem Observer_, April 28, 1827.
-------------------------
Sentences of death for robbery, May 6, 1788.
The Mulatto who, some time since, robbed Mr. Bacon, on the
Cambridge road, was, at the late term of the Supreme Court at
Concord, convicted of the crime, and had sentence of death
pronounced against him.
Thursday next is the day appointed for the execution of the two
Taylors, for the robbery of Mr. Cunningham, on Boston-Neck.
-------------------------
Captain Phillips, of the British army, whipped in New York in 1784.
PHILADELPHIA, February 4, 1784.
On Saturday last, was whipped at the cart's tail, for robbery,
one of George the Third's pretty subjects. This fellow, who now
goes by the name of Captain Phillips, under his good friend Sir
Harry Clinton, learned such a knack of thieving while he
commanded a whale-boat along this coast, under his good master,
that now, having lost his protection, he and a number more of
those lads called Loyalists are swarming amongst us, and have set
up business in a small way; and though many of them may not
choose to steal themselves, yet, by harbouring and encouraging
others, may do much mischief to the good inhabitants of these
states.
_Salem Gazette._
-------------------------
Sentences at the Supreme Court.
BOSTON, March 22, 1784.
At the Supreme Judicial Court, lately held here, the following
persons were arraigned, viz.
_Thomas Hastings_, indicted for selling corrupt swine's flesh,
was found guilty.--He was sentenced to pay a fine of twelve
pounds for the use of the Commonwealth, recognize himself as
principal in the sum of thirty pounds, with sufficient surety or
sureties in the like sum, for his keeping the peace and being of
good behaviour for the term of one year, pay costs of
prosecution, and stand committed till sentence be performed.
_John Boyd_, for stealing, pled guilty:--sentenced to pay to the
person injured, treble the value of the goods stolen, receive 20
stripes at the public whipping post, sit on the gallows one hour
with a rope about his neck, pay costs of prosecution, and stand
committed till sentence be performed.--He was, upon another
indictment for theft, sentenced to pay treble damages, whipped 15
stripes, and pay costs of prosecution.--Upon declaring himself
unable to pay damages, he was for the first offence sentenced to
be sold for 9 months, and for the second, 2 months.
_Lewis Humphries_, for stealing, pled guilty:--sentenced to pay
treble damages, receive 20 stripes, sit on the gallows one hour
with a rope about his neck, pay costs of prosecution, and stand
committed till sentence be performed.--Upon declaring himself
unable to pay damages, was sentenced to be sold for the term of 5
years.
_William Padley_, for an assault upon his wife, with an intent to
kill her, was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to sit on the
gallows one hour, there to receive 30 stripes, pay costs of
prosecution, and stand committed till sentence be performed.
-------------------------
Sentences by the Supreme Judicial Court at Salem, Nov. 18, 1786.
At the Supreme Judicial Court, holden in this town, for the
county of Essex, which adjourned on Thursday last, several
persons, criminally indicted, were convicted and severally
sentenced. Isaac Coombs, an Indian, was found guilty, at last
June term, at Ipswich, of murdering his wife; at which time a
motion was made to the Court, in arrest of judgment, on which the
Court suspended giving judgment thereon until this term; but the
said motion being overruled, the Court gave judgment of death
against him.
Besides the sentence of the Indian, as above, _Thomas Kendry_,
for breaking into the store of Israel Bartlet, and stealing
sundry goods, was sentenced, on his confession, to pay said
Bartlet £33-9-6, to sit on the gallows one hour with a rope about
his neck, to be whipped 30 stripes, and confined to hard labour
on Castle-island two years.
_Thomas Atwood_ & _John Ransum_, for breaking open the store of
Knott Pedrick, and stealing dry fish, were each sentenced to pay
said Pedrick £40-5-0, to sit one hour on the gallows, be whipped
36 stripes, and confined to labour on Castle-island 3 years.
_John Smith_, for stealing goods from Abner Perkins, was
sentenced to pay said Perkins £18-4-0, and be whipped 25 stripes.
The same _John Smith_, for breaking open a sloop, and stealing
goods of John Brooks, was sentenced to pay said Brooks £16-8-0,
to sit one hour on the gallows, be whipped 30 stripes, and
confined 18 months on Castle-island.
_John Scudder_, for stealing from Eli Gale, was sentenced to pay
said Gale £5-2-0, or if unable to pay, to be disposed of by him,
in service, to any person, for 2 months.
_Joseph Ballard_, for stealing a horse from Thomas Dodge, was
sentenced to pay £30, be whipped 20 stripes, pay costs, &c. and,
if unable to pay, that said Dodge may dispose of him in service
to any person for two years.
_Calvin Newhall_ was indicted for assaulting Deborah Sarker, a
negro woman, with intent to commit a rape upon her. He pleaded
not guilty; and the jury found him guilty of the assault, but
whether with an intent to ravish they could not agree; whereupon
the Attorney General would no further prosecute for said intent
to ravish; and the Court ordered that said Calvin should be
whipped 10 stripes, and recognize in £60, with sufficient surety
in a like sum, to be of good behaviour for 3 months, and pay
costs.
-------------------------
Punishment in 1644 for criticising the preacher and the music, and for
sleeping in "meeting."
The Hon. Wm. D. Northend, in a very interesting and valuable address
before the Essex Bar Association, Dec. 8, 1885, mentions the following
among other cases taken from the Essex County Court Records:--
"In 1644 William Hewes and John his son, for terming such as sing
in the congregation fools, and William Hewes also for charging
Reverend Mr. Corbitt with falsehood in his doctrine, were ordered
to pay a fine of fifty shillings each, and to make humble
confession in a public meeting at Lynn."
William Hewes and his son were probably only criticising the music and
the preaching in the "meeting-house." If people nowadays were fined
for similar offences, the county would grow so rich that there would
be no necessity for the present heavy tax.
"In 1643 Roger Scott, for repeated sleeping in meeting on the
Lord's Day, and for striking the person who waked him, was, at
Salem, sentenced to be severely whipped."
It must be borne in mind that people in those days were not allowed to
stay at home on the Lord's Day and do their sleeping there. Staying at
home on Sunday is a modern innovation.
From the Massachusetts Colony Records, quoted by Mr. Northend, we
learn that in March, 1761, Sir Christopher Gardner, who had passed
much of his time "with roystering Morton of Merry Mount," and who was
living with a lady he called his cousin, upon receipt by the Governor
of information of two wives in England "whom he has carelessly left
behind," after a long pursuit was captured and sent back to England.
It would seem, then, that there must have been, judging from this
example, in "high places" some "indiscretions" and "unpleasant"
gossip early in our history.
Mr. Northend finds that at "the same date one Nich. Knopp, for
pretending to cure scurvy by water of no value, which he sold at a
very dear rate, was ordered to pay a fine of five pounds or be
whipped, and made liable to an action by any person to whom he had
sold the water."
How would such a decree work in our day, if applied to the makers or
venders of all the "water of no value" which is advertised on the
fences and barns alongside of our railroads and highways?
Mr. Northend, speaking of the severity of the early laws, says:--
"The criminal laws were taken principally from the Mosaic code;
and although many of them at the present day seem harsh and
cruel, yet as a whole they were very much milder than the
criminal laws of England at the time, and the number of capital
offences was greatly reduced."
-------------------------
CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS IN SCHOOLS.
In some of the old schools in Salem (no doubt it was the same in other
places) the teachers whose business it was to teach youths the "three
R's,"--Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic,--were too apt to be occupied,
as we have been told, in scolding, devising or practising some mode of
punishment. We remember hearing of a school where the master kept a
long cane pole (something like a fishing-rod) which he used for the
purpose of reaching boys who needed correction; on account of the
length of the pole he was enabled to do business without leaving his
seat. It was never suspected at the time how lazy this master was.
Another teacher kept for use as a punishment a common walnut, which
when occasion required he first put into the mouth of a colored boy,
and after it had remained there for five minutes or so, it was taken
out and put into the mouth of the white boy, who was thus to be
punished by holding it in _his_ mouth for a certain length of time.
This same teacher had a round smooth stone, weighing perhaps ten or
fifteen pounds, which very small boys were required to hold in their
arms for some time, and stand up straight before the whole school.
These with a good rattan and a cowhide furnished this master's
equipment for teaching.
There was another master who had what he called "the mansion of
misery," which was simply a line drawn with chalk on the floor in
front of his desk, where for trifling offences such as whispering,
etc., scholars were required to "toe the mark," standing perfectly
still and upright for a long time. This was often to a little boy
painful enough. This master had a stock of cowhides and rattans
besides.
Another teacher, a woman, had the floor of the school-room kept very
clean; consequently no boys were allowed to come in at all with heavy
boots, and the other children in wet weather were compelled to remove
their boots and shoes and put on slippers before entrance. If any of
the scholars were too small to take off and put on their own boots
they were punished by being "blindfolded" and stood upon a cricket in
the middle of the floor. Apparently the worst offence scholars could
be guilty of was to bring in mud or wet upon the polished floor of the
school-room. At this school one very small boy who wore high boots,
but who was unable to take them off without assistance, having been
punished for his "stubbornness," was taken away from the school by his
parents, who resented such an act of injustice and oppression. The
"school-marm," however, said she would rather lose all her scholars
than have any mud or wet upon her floor.
These cases are simply curious. It may be doubted whether we can in
this country show anything so bad as the record furnished by Dickens
in describing some of the schools of England.
-------------------------
THE BRANK.
An instrument of punishment formerly much used in England, but never,
we think, introduced into this country, called the "brank," or "scold's
bridle," or "gossip's bridle," is thus described by Mr. L. Jewitt,
F.S.A., in Mr. William Andrews's "Book of Oddities,"--a very
interesting and instructive book recently published in London:--
"It consisted of a kind of crown or framework of iron, which was
locked upon the head, and was armed in front with a gag, a plate,
or a sharp cutting knife or point, which was placed in the poor
woman's mouth so as to prevent her moving her tongue, or it was
so placed that if she moved it or attempted to speak, the tongue
was cut in a most frightful manner. With this cage upon her head,
and with the gag firmly pressed and locked against her tongue,
the miserable creature, whose sole offence, perhaps, was that she
had raised her voice in defence of her social rights against a
brutal and besotted husband, or had spoken honest truth of some
one high in office in the town, was paraded through the streets,
led by a chain held in the hand of the bellman, the beadle, or
the constable, or, chained to the pillory, the whipping-post, or
market-cross, was subjected to every conceivable insult and
degradation, without even the power left her of asking for mercy
or of promising amendment for the future; and when the punishment
was over, she was turned out from the town hall (or other place
where the brutal punishment had been inflicted), maimed,
disfigured, faint, and degraded, to be the subject of comment and
jeering amongst her neighbors, and to be reviled by her
persecutors."
Mr. Andrews adds that the use of the brank was not sanctioned by law,
but was altogether illegal; and he concludes his remarks on the
subject by saying that "to everybody it must be a matter of deep
regret that the instrument should ever have been used at all."
Dr. Henry Heginbotham, of Stockport, England, says in speaking of the
brank preserved in that town: "There is no evidence of its having been
actually used for many years; but there is testimony to the fact that
within the last forty years the brank was brought to a termagant
market-woman, who was effectually silenced by its threatened
application."
It is hard for those of us who live in New England to-day to believe
that such cruelties were ever practised in a Christian land; but the
evidence is too conclusive to admit of doubt. Mr. Andrews, in the book
referred to, gives engravings of a dozen or more different kinds of
branks and bridles which can now be seen in England and Scotland. At
Congleton, Cheshire, a woman for scolding and abusing the town
officers had the "town bridle" put upon her, and was led through every
street in the town, as lately as the year 1824.
It is said that Chaucer wrote these lines:
"But for my daughter Julian,
I would she were well bolted with a Bridle,
That leaves her work to play the clack,
And lets her wheel stand idle;
For it serves not for she-ministers,
Farriers nor Furriers,
Cobblers nor Button-makers,
To descant on the Bible."
Mr. Andrews has confined his account of curious punishments mainly to
England and Scotland. Our Puritan ancestors must, we think, have seen
some of the instruments of torture here described, and perhaps some of
our great-great, etc., grandmothers may have been "ducked" or
"silenced by a brank" many years before the sailing of the "Mayflower"
or the "Lyon" or the "Angel Gabriel."
-------------------------
It was once the custom in New England for a sermon to be preached
before the prisoner upon the day of his execution. In the
"Massachusetts Gazette," Dec. 26, 1786, is the following notice:--
SALEM, _Dec._ 23. Thursday last, being the day appointed for the
execution of Isaac Coombs, an Indian, with whose crime and
sentence the publick have before been made acquainted, the
unfortunate criminal was in the forenoon conducted to the
Tabernacle, where a Sermon, which we are told was well adapted to
the melancholy occasion, was preached by the Rev. Mr. Spalding,
from Luke xviii. 13,--"God be merciful to me a sinner!" After
which he was returned to the prison. Between the hours of 2 and 3
in the afternoon, he was guarded to the place of execution by a
company of 40 volunteers (consisting principally of the members
of the Artillery Company lately formed in this town, and
commanded by Captain Zadock Buffinton) under the direction of the
proper civil officers. The Rev. Mr. Hopkins prayed at the
gallows; and at 3 o'clock the cart was led off, and the unhappy
sufferer made the expiation which the law required for his horrid
and unnatural crime.
His behaviour, through the whole, was firm, but decent, penitent
and devotional.
This is the only execution which has taken place in the county of
Essex for near 15 years, and but the second since about the close
of the last century. The concourse of people was consequently
great; and the general decorum which was observed, evinced their
sympathy for a suffering individual of the species.
The conduct of the military corps was highly applauded.
On the way to execution the following paper was delivered to
the Rev. Mr. BENTLEY, by one of the officers, with a request
from _Isaac_, that he would read it publickly at the place of
execution, at the time he should signify to him; accordingly,
when the sheriff told the criminal his time was expired, as the
last thing, he made the motion, and it was read to the people.
As it is so contradictory to the declaration he made before of
himself, we have printed it _verbatim_ as it is written, to avoid
the charge of any alteration.
"I Who has ben Called by the name of Isaac Cumbs Being Now
Called to the place of Execution in the 39th year of my age, I
Declare I was born at South hampton Long Island and am a Native
of the said South hampton and my Right Name is John Peters and
Leaving the said South hampton about 14 years ago, and comeing
to St. Mertains Vineyard am Ben a traveller Eversince till I
have Now arrived to this unhappy Place of Execution My advice
is to all Spectators to Refrain from lying Stealing and all
suchlike things But in particular Not to Break the Sabbath of
the Lord or Game at Cerds or get Drunk as I have Don. this is
My advice and more in particular to mixt coulard people and
youths of Every Kind. May the Blessing of god Desend upon you
all Amen."
In the "Essex Gazette," Jan. 15, 1771, is an advertisement of a poem
upon an execution.
_To be sold at the Printing-Office_, Salem.
A POEM on the Execution of
_William Shaw_, at _Springfield_, December 13, 1770, for the
Murder of _Edward East_, in _Springfield_ Gaol.
We have seen an account of an execution where a sermon was preached at
the prisoner's request.
-------------------------
BOSTON COMMON AS A PLACE OF EXECUTION.
Boston Common was formerly often used for such a purpose. Quakers were
hanged there in the middle of the seventeenth century, and we find in
the "Salem Mercury" for Tuesday, Nov. 27, 1787, that the previous
Thursday one John Sheehan was executed for burglary in this noted
locality. Sheehan was a native of Cork in Ireland. With its cows and
its executions, the Common must have presented a somewhat different
appearance in those days from what it does at this time.
British convicts shipped to America in 1788.
Last week arrived at Fisher's Island, the brig Nancy, belonging
to this port, Capt. Robert W---- (a half-pay British officer)
master, and landed his cargo, consisting of 140 convicts, taken
out of the British jails. Capt. W. it is said, received 5l.
sterling a head from government for this job; and, we hear, he is
distributing them about the country. Stand to it, houses, stores,
&c., these gentry are acquainted with the business. Quere,
whether a suit of T---- and F---- should not be provided for
Capt. W. as a suitable compliment for this piece of service done
his country?
_Salem Mercury_, July 15, 1788.
-------------------------
From the "Salem Gazette," 1784.
_July_ 30. During the long reign of Queen Elizabeth, it does not
appear on record, that forty persons suffered death for crimes
against the community, treason only excepted.
-------------------------
BOSTON, September 16, 1784.
At the Supreme Court held here on Thursday last, Direck Grout was
tried for Burglary, and found guilty: sentence has not yet been
passed upon him.
The following prisoners were also tried last week for various
thefts, found guilty, and received sentence, viz.
Cornelius Arie, to be whipt 25 stripes, and set one hour on the
gallows.
Thomas Joice, to be whipt 25 stripes, and branded.
William Scott, to be whipt 25 stripes, and set one hour on the
gallows.
John Goodbread, and Edward Cooper, 15 stripes each.
James Campbell, to be whipt 30 stripes, and set one hour on the
gallows.
Michael Tool, to be whipt 20 stripes.
Three notorious villains yet remain to be tried for burglary, and
several others for theft.
-------------------------
BOSTON, September 27.
Thursday last ten notorious villains received publick whipping,
after which three of them were escorted, with halters round their
necks, to the gallows, on which they sat one hour. They are again
committed for costs, &c.
-------------------------
"Massachusetts Gazette," 1786.
Johnson Green was executed, on Thursday last, at Worcester, for
burglary. A greater thief and burglar was perhaps never hanged in
this country.
From "Massachusetts Centinel," Oct. 6, 1786.
BACKS "DRESS'D."
HARTFORD, October 2.
On Wednesday last, David Stillman, John Hawley and Thomas Gibbs
were committed to jail in this city, for counterfeiting and
passing publick securities; and on Thursday last, Jonathan
Densmore, of East-Hartford, was committed for stealing a horse.
Stillman and Hawley belong to the county of Hampshire, state of
Massachusetts. They are now in a fair way to have their
grievances (and backs) dress'd and re-dress'd.
-------------------------
From "Massachusetts Gazette," May 15, 1786.
NEW-YORK, May 6.
_Extract of a letter from Washington_ (North-Carolina), _March_
27.
"On Thursday last made his appearance in this town, a certain
John Hamlen, who, in the late war, left the state of Maryland,
and joined the enemies of America. After joining them, he
fitted out a galley, and cruised in the Delaware and Chesapeak,
where he was very successful in capturing a number of American
vessels. He was very fond of exercising every species of
cruelty on those unhappy people who fell into his hands; among
other things, he took great delight in cutting off the ears of
some, and noses of others. Unluckily for him he was known by
some honest Jack Tars, belonging to vessels in this harbour,
who, in the time of the war, had been made prisoners by him;
these honest fellows very kindly furnished him with a coat of
_Tar_ and _Feathers_; and that he might not in a short time
forget them, they took off one of his _ears_; they then kindly
shewed him the way out of town, without doing him any further
injury.--It is supposed he will bend his course for Newbern,
and endeavour to take a passage in some vessel bound to the
northern states."
-------------------------
FROM THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE.
_A GEORGIA SHREW._
"Why, sirs, I trust I may have leave to speak,
And speak I will; I am no child, no babe:
Your betters have endur'd me say my mind;
And if you cannot, best you stop your ears."
The Grand Jury of Burke have presented Mary Cammell as a common
scold and disturber of the peaceable inhabitants of that
county.[1] We do not know the _penalty_, or if there be any
attached to the offence of _scolding:_ but for the information of
our Burke neighbours, we would inform them that the late lamented
and distinguished Judge Early decided, some years since, when a
modern _Xantippe_ was brought before him, that she should undergo
the _punishment_ of _lustration_, by immersion three several
times in the _Oconee_. Accordingly she was confined to the tail
of a cart, and, accompanied by the hooting of the mob, conducted
to the river, where she was publickly ducked, in conformity with
the sentence of the court. Should this punishment be awarded Mary
Cammell, we hope, however, it may be attended with a more
salutary effect than in the case we have just alluded to--the
unruly subject of which, each time as she arose from the watery
element, impiously exclaimed, with a ludicrous gravity of
countenance, "glory to G--d."
_Boston Palladium_, 1819.
[1] She must have been an extraordinary scold to have disturbed
a large county, where the houses are perhaps a half mile
apart.
-------------------------
Criminals after a whipping sent to the Castle to make nails. From
"Salem Mercury," Nov. 25, 1786.
Four convicts, doomed by the Superiour Court, at their late
session here, to the useful branch of nail making at the Castle,
yesterday morning took their departure hence, to enter on their
new employment, having, with others, previously received the
discipline of the post.
-------------------------
A REVEREND FORGER.
The "Providence Gazette" is our authority for the following obituary
notice:--
Died in March, 1805, in Wayne County, N.C., Rev. Thomas Hines, an
itinerant preacher. A Newbern paper says: "In the saddle-bags of
this servant of God and Mammon were found his Bible and a
complete apparatus for the stamping and milling of Dollars."
-------------------------
_THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT_
Was held at Ipswich on Tuesday last. At this Court the noted
Josiah Abbot was found guilty of knowingly passing a forged and
altered State Note, and was sentenced to pay a fine of 40l. in 20
days; if not then paid, to be set in the pillory.--[_The penalty
of such an offence against the United States is_ DEATH.]
The same person was found guilty of a fraud, in stealing a
summons, after it had been left by an officer, by reason of which
he recovered a judgment by default, and was sentenced to pay a
fine of 15l. in 20 days; if not then paid, to be whipped.
_Salem Gazette_, June 25, 1793.
-------------------------
In a paper of 1819 is mentioned the singular case of a man literally
condemned "to eat his own words."
_INCREDIBLE PUNISHMENT._
"A great book is a great evil," said an ancient writer,--an axiom
which an unfortunate Russian author felt to his cost. "Whilst I
was at Moscow," says a pleasant traveller, "a quarto volume was
published in favor of the liberties of the people,--a singular
subject when we consider the place where the book was printed. In
this work the iniquitous venality of the public functionaries,
and even the conduct of the sovereign, was scrutinized and
censured with great freedom. Such a book, and in such a country,
naturally attracted general notice, and the offender was taken
into custody. After being tried in a very summary way, his
production was determined to be a libel, and the writer was
condemned to _eat his own words_. The singularity of such a
sentence induced me to see it put into execution. A scaffold was
erected in one of the most public streets of the city; the
imperial provost, the magistrates, the physicians and surgeons of
the Czar attended; the book was separated from its binding, the
margin cut off, and every leaf rolled up like a lottery ticket
when taken out of the wheel at Guildhall. The author was then
served with them leaf by leaf by the provost, who put them into
his mouth, to the no small diversion of the spectators; he was
obliged to swallow this unpalatable food on pain of the
knout,--in Russia more dreadful than death. As soon as the
medical gentlemen were of opinion that he had received into his
stomach as much at the time as was consistent with his safety,
the transgressor was sent back to prison, and the business
resumed the two following days. After three very hearty but
unpleasant meals, I am convinced by ocular proof that every leaf
of the book was actually swallowed." _Lon. Pa._ _Boston
Palladium._
-------------------------
Here is a clever mode of punishing a wife-beater without the aid of
counsel:--
A woman in New-York, who had been beaten by her husband, finding
him fast asleep, sewed him up in the bed-clothes, and in that
situation thrashed him soundly.
_Salem Observer_, April 24, 1827.
-------------------------
Conviction of a common scold, Sept. 11, 1821; sentence not reported.
_Common Scold_.--Catharine Fields was indicted and convicted for
being a common scold. The trial was excessively amusing, from the
variety of testimony and the diversified manner in which this
Xantippe pursued her virulent propensities. "Ruder than March
wind, she blew a hurricane;" and it was given in evidence that
after having scolded the family individually, the bipeds and
quadrupeds, the neighbours, hogs, poultry, and geese, she would
throw the window open at night to scold the watchmen. Her
countenance was an index to her temper,--sharp, peaked, sallow,
and small eyes. To be sentenced on Saturday week.--_Nat. Adv._
-------------------------
_Women Gossips_.--Among the many ordinances promulgated at St. Helena
in 1709, we find the following:--
Whereas several idle, gossiping women make it their business to
go from house [to house] about the island, inventing and
spreading false and scandalous reports of the good people
thereof, and thereby sow discord and debate among neighbors, and
often between men and their wives, to the great grief and trouble
of all good and quiet people, and to the utter extinguishing of
all friendship, amity, and good neighborhood: for the punishment
and suppression whereof, and to the intent that all strife may be
ended, charity revived, and friendship continued,--we do order
that, if any woman, from henceforward, shall be convicted of tale
bearing, mischief making, scolding, drunkenness, or any other
notorious vice, that they shall be punished by ducking, or
whipping, or such other punishment as their crimes or
transgressions shall deserve, or as the Governor and Council
shall think fit.
_Essex Register_, 1820.
-------------------------
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.
The following scrap from a Boston paper of 1819 has reference to an
old method which creditors frequently resorted to in dealing with
troublesome, and no doubt oftentimes unfortunate, debtors.
_CHRISTMAS DAY._
On this most glorious "Day of Days" there are in gaol for debt,
in this town, the following persons, viz.:
1 Head of a Family for 9 94
1 -- do. -- -- 8 12-1/2
1 -- do. -- -- 14 00
1 -- do. -- -- 9 61
1 -- do. -- -- 11 68
1 -- do. -- -- 27 00
1 -- do. -- -- 7 75
1 -- do. for schooling } 11 25
his children, }
1 -- do. discharged 1 88!!!
-----
Who among the opulent is willing to restore a _Father_ to his
Family and Christmas Fire Side?
-------------------------
Sometimes debtors were not actually imprisoned, but were confined to
what was called the "limits of the jail;" that is, certain streets
within a specified distance of the jail. The writer distinctly
remembers, when a boy, of having a man pointed out to him, of whom it
was said he had refused to pay his debts, and so was only allowed to
go at large "within the limits of the jail."
The law under which persons were imprisoned for debt was abolished in
Massachusetts many years ago.
-------------------------
Somewhere about the year 1822 the tread-mill was introduced into
England. It was recommended by the "Society for the Improvement of
Prison Discipline." It was the invention of Mr. Cubitt, of Ipswich, in
England, and probably at that time or soon after it was used in this
country. Some years since there was one, as we are informed, at the
Massachusetts State prison at Charlestown.
_The Tread-Mill_.--We publish to-day an interesting description
of the Tread-Mill, (a new invented Machine to enforce industry in
Prisons,) accompanied by a Plate representing the same, for the
use of which we are indebted to the politeness of the editor of
the Gazette. The introduction of these Mills into the English
prisons is said to have produced much good, and the experiment is
about to be tried in this country. The corporation of the city of
New-York are building one in the yard of their Penitentiary. One
of the late London papers announces the singular fact that on the
12th of September, at the Town-hall, Southwark, there was no
charge, either of felony, misdemeanor, or assault, within the
extensive district, of five parishes, from the night before.
Crimes of all descriptions had lessened very much; and this
decrease, it is said, is owing entirely to the heavy and tedious
labor upon the prisoners at the mill. Orders had been given for
the erection of several more in England.
_Salem Register_, 1822.
-------------------------
Description of the Tread Mill
_Recommended by the Society for the Improvement of Prison
Discipline._
The annexed engraving exhibits a party of prisoners in the act of
working one of the tread wheels of the Discipline Mill invented
by Mr. Cubitt, of Ipswich, and recently erected at the House of
Correction for the county of Surrey, situated at Brixton. The
view is taken from a corner of one of the ten airing yards of the
prison, all of which radiate from the Governor's house in the
centre, so that from the window of his room _he commands a
complete view into all the yards_. A building behind the tread
wheel shed is the mill house, containing the necessary machinery
for grinding corn and dressing the flour, also rooms for storing
it, &c. On the right side of this building a pipe passes up to
the roof, on which is a large cast iron reservoir, capable of
holding some thousand gallons of water, for the use of the
prison. This reservoir is filled by means of forcing pump
machinery below, connected with the principal axis which works
the machinery of the mill; this axis or shaft passes under the
pavement of the several yards, and working by means of universal
joints, at every turn communicates with the tread wheel of each
class.
The wheel, which is represented in the centre of the engraving,
is exactly similar to a common water wheel; the treadboards upon
its circumference are, however, of considerable length, so as to
allow sufficient standing room for a row of from ten to twenty
persons upon the wheel. Their weight, the first moving power of
the machine, produces the greatest effect when applied upon the
circumference of the wheel at or near the level of its axle; to
secure therefore this mechanical advantage, a screen of boards is
fixed up in an inclined position above the wood, in order to
prevent the prisoners from climbing or stepping up higher than
the level required. A hand rail is fixed upon this screen, by
holding which they retain their upright position upon the
revolving wheel, the nearest side of which is exposed to view in
the plate, in order to represent its cylindrical form much more
distinctly than could otherwise have been done. In the original,
however, both sides are closely boarded up, so that the prisoners
have no access to the interior of the wheel, and all risk of
injury whatever is prevented.
By means of steps the gang of prisoners ascend at one end, and
when the requisite number range themselves upon the wheel, it
commences its revolutions. The effort, then, to every individual
is simply that of ascending an endless flight of steps, their
combined weight acting upon every successive stepping board
precisely as a stream of water upon the float boards of a water
wheel.
During this operation each prisoner gradually advances from the
end at which he mounted towards the opposite end of the wheel,
from whence the last man taking his turn descends for rest,
another prisoner immediately mounting as before to fill up the
number required, without stopping the machine. The interval of
rest may then be portioned to each man by regulating the number
of those required to work the wheel with the whole number of the
gang; thus if twenty-four are obliged to be upon the wheel, it
will give to each man intervals of rest amounting to twelve
minutes in every hour of labor. Again, by varying the number of
men upon the wheel, or the work inside the mill, so as to
increase or diminish its velocity, the degree of hard labor or
exercise for the prisoners may also be regulated. At Brixton, the
diameter of the wheel being five feet, and revolving twice in a
minute, the space stepped over by each man is 2193 feet.
From the _Salem Register_.
-------------------------
TRAVELLING ON SUNDAY. At the session of the U. States Circuit
Court at New-Haven (Conn.) last week came on the trial of _Foster
vs. Huntington_. This was a prosecution instituted by _Dr.
Foster_, of New-York, against _Deacon Eliphalet Huntington_, a
Constable of Lebanon (Conn.), for arresting plaintiff's wife on
Sunday, the 10th of July, 1831, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
and detained her at an inn until sun-down, and then released
her on condition of appearing the next morning to answer for
violating the Sabbath. Mrs. Foster was travelling from New York
City to her father's in Lebanon for her health, and had arrived
at East Haddam on the morning of Sunday, and took the regular
conveyance connected with the steamboat, and had arrived near the
meeting-house in Lebanon at the time she was stopped, and was in
sight of her father's (Dr. Sweet) house, when arrested.
The action was for false imprisonment, and it was contended by
the plaintiffs,--1st, That Mrs. Foster was travelling from
necessity and charity, and so within the exception of the
statute. 2d, That the defendant could not justify himself as
Constable unless he carried the person apprehended under the
Sabbath law before a Justice. 3d, That as Constable he had no
power to detain, and that he did not disclose his authority as
Constable to arrest. And 4th, that the Sabbath law and its
provisions are unconstitutional.
Judge Thompson charged the jury that the words "necessity and
charity" in our statute mean not physical necessity, but moral
fitness and propriety, and that it was incumbent on Mrs. Foster
to show that there was some necessity of this kind operating on
her when she left New York--she knowing that her regular route
would require travelling on Sunday; but that a Constable when he
arrests, must carry the prisoner, under the law, before a
Justice, and then he has done his duty; and as the defendant had
not done it in this case, he was liable. The Judge further
expressed a decided opinion that the law was constitutional, and
that before he could say a law was otherwise which had been
acquiesced in so long, he should require the strongest reasons to
be shown. As to what constituted an arrest, the Judge remarked
that force was not required, or a touching, but it must be a
detention professed to be done by authority and an exercise of
authority; which, he observed, was clearly proved in the present
case. The damages should give at least the actual injury and
something as smart money, if there was any bad motive. This the
Judge said did not appear, but the officer seemed to be impressed
with a desire to discharge his duty.
The jury returned a verdict of 125 dollars damages and costs for
the plaintiffs.--_New-Haven Reg._
[This was a case tried under the statute of Connecticut against
the right of unnecessary travelling on the Sabbath. The result
appears to be very remarkable. In the first place, we consider
the Law itself to be clearly unconstitutional, and we have never
had the slightest doubt that if the question ever goes to
Washington, the Supreme Court will declare it unconstitutional,
and reverse the decision of the Connecticut Court.--_Boston
Centinel._]
_Salem Observer_, May 4, 1833.
-------------------------
The ridiculous practice here recorded does not appear to have gained a
foothold in America. It would have been, to say the least, less
harmful in its effects than the hanging of witches or the whipping of
Quakers.
PROSECUTIONS AGAINST ANIMALS. The second number of the American
Jurist, just published, contains a curious article relating to
the prosecutions formerly instituted against animals, and for
whom counsel was sometimes assigned by the Court, in the same
manner as is now done in cases of capital felony. The first case
mentioned is a prosecution of some rats in the Bishopric of
Autun, in France. They had become so mischievous that a bill in
due form was filed against the rats, and a summons issued for
their appearance before the Court. The Judge, unwilling to take
advantage of their default, appointed an advocate to plead for
them, and he managed their cause so adroitly that by means of
this prosecution he obtained an elevation to the highest honor of
his profession. In another case counsel was appointed to defend
some caterpillars who had drawn upon themselves the vengeance of
the law; but the ingenious arguments of their advocate availed
nothing, and the caterpillars fell under the censure of a
spiritual Court, who ordered adjuration, prayers, and sprinkling
of holy water.
_Salem Observer_, May 9, 1829.
A very full and interesting account of this subject can be found in a
recent number of the "Popular Science Monthly."
-------------------------
Arrest in Connecticut for teaching colored children.
CONNECTICUT BARBARISM. We have been permitted to read a letter
from Miss Prudence Crandall, who is actually confined in jail in
the town of Brooklyn, Conn., for teaching colored misses to read
and write!
The letter from Miss Crandall is dated "BROOKLYN JAIL, CLOSE
CONFINEMENT, June 28, 1833." Miss Crandall simply relates that
she was arrested on the 27th, with her sister, by Mr. Cady, the
Sheriff of the County, and examined before Justice Rufus Adams.
Miss Crandall was found _guilty_ of teaching blacks to read, and
was thereupon bound over, in the sum of $150, to appear at the
Superior Court holden at Brooklyn on the second Tuesday of August
next.
Miss Crandall was sent to the county jail and put into the cell
which had been occupied by Watkins the murderer. At the close of
her letter she says, "If all the prisoners are as happy as I am,
I can assure you they do not bear much mental suffering."
The friends of Miss Crandall were preparing to give the bond
necessary for her release.
_Salem Observer_, July 6, 1833.
-------------------------
Innholders prosecuted as lately as 1824 for the crime of entertaining
on the Lord's Day.
_John F. Trueman_ and _Almoran Holmes_, licensed Innholders,
convicted on several indictments for entertaining two inhabitants
of Boston on the Lord's Day, they not being travellers,
strangers, or lodgers, were sentenced according to the act of
1796, each to pay a fine of $6 66 and costs of prosecution.
_Boston Telegraph._
-------------------------
LUDICROUS PUNISHMENT. In the first volume of the "Library of
American Biography, conducted by Jared Sparks," the following
incident in the life of Ethan Allen shows the character of the
government in Vermont in 1774, when the inhabitants were
resisting the claims of New-York to jurisdiction over their
territory. A Committee of Safety was the highest judicatory, and
Allen was Col. Commandant of the territory. If any person
presumed to act under the authority of the State of N. York, he
was immediately arraigned and judgement pronounced against him,
in the presence of many persons, by which he was sentenced to be
tied to a tree and chastised "with the twigs of the wilderness"
on his naked back, to the number of two hundred stripes, and
immediately expelled from the district, and threatened with death
if he should return, unless specially permitted by the
convention.
"In the midst of these signs, the mode of punishment was
sometimes rather ludicrous than severe. In the town of Arlington
lived a doctor who openly professed himself a partizan of
New-York, and was accustomed to speak disrespectfully of the
Convention and Committees, espousing the cause of the New-York
Claimants, and advising people to purchase lands under their
title. He was admonished by his neighbors, and made to understand
that this tone of conversation was not acceptable, and was
requested to change it, or at least to show his prudence by
remaining silent. Far from operating any reform--these hints only
stirred up the ire of the courageous doctor, who forthwith armed
himself with pistols and other weapons of defence, proclaiming
his sentiments more boldly than ever, setting opposition at
defiance, and threatening to try the full effects of his personal
powers and implements of warfare on any man who should have the
temerity to approach him with an unfriendly design. Such a boast
was likely to call up the martial spirits of his opponents, who
accordingly came upon the doctor at an unguarded moment and
obliged him to surrender at discretion. He was then transferred
to the Green Mountain Tavern, in Bennington, where he was
arraigned before the Committee, who, not satisfied with his
defence, sentenced him to a novel punishment, which they ordered
to be put in immediate execution.
"Before the door of this tavern, which served the double purpose
of a court-house and an inn, stood a sign-post twenty-five feet
high, the top of which was adorned with the skin of a Catamount,
stuffed to the size of life, with its head turned towards
New-York, and its jaws distended, showing large naked teeth, and
grinning terror to all who should approach from that quarter. It
was the judgment of the court that the contumacious doctor should
be tied in a chair and drawn up by a rope to the Catamount, where
he was to remain suspended two hours--which punishment was
inflicted in the presence of a numerous assemblage of people,
much to their satisfaction and merriment. The doctor was then let
down and permitted to depart to his own house."
_Salem Observer_, April 12, 1834.
-------------------------
From the "Essex Register," Feb. 19, 1820.
Burning of a Negro in Georgia.
From the Augusta (Geo.) Chronicle, Feb. 1.
_Execution_.--On Friday last two negro men, named Ephraim and
Sam, were executed in conformity to their sentence for the
murder of their master, Mr. Thomas Hancock, of Edgefield
District, South Carolina; Sam was burnt, and Ephraim hung, and
his head severed from his body and publicly exposed. The
circumstances attending the crime for which these miserable
beings have suffered, were of a nature so aggravated as
imperiously demanded the terrible punishment which has been
inflicted upon them.
The burning of malefactors is a punishment only resorted to
when absolute necessity demands a signal example. It must be a
horrid and appalling sight to see a human being consigned to
the flames. Let even Fancy picture the scene,--the pile, the
stake, the victim! The mind sickens, and sinks under the
oppression of its own feelings. What then must be the dread
reality! From some of the spectators we learn that it was a
scene which transfixed in breathless horror almost every one
who witnessed it. As the flames approached him, the piercing
shrieks of the unfortunate victim struck upon the heart with a
fearful, painful vibration; but when the devouring element
seized upon his body, all was hushed. Yet the cry of agony
still thrilled in the ear, and an involuntary and sympathetic
shudder ran thro' the crowd. We hope that this awful
dispensation of justice may be attended with such salutary
effects as to forever preclude the necessity of its repetition.
COMMUNICATION.
If any Massachusetts man can read the above without shuddering,
and experiencing alternate emotions of horror and indignation,
his heart must be harder than a millstone and colder than the ice
of the poles. We know not the particular circumstances of the
crime for which this poor wretch suffered, but as far as we can
learn from the public prints, it was for the murder of his
Master. The probability is there was some provocation; for such
dire deeds are not perpetrated without a strong and powerful
impulse. It is however of no consequence; no matter what was his
crime, such a punishment was abominable, and could not be
inflicted, even if the laws permitted it, in our State. If that
monster who committed the Stoneham murder in cold blood, impelled
solely by avarice, had not put an end to his own life, but had
awaited his conviction, had been sentenced to such a punishment,
although he would have merited, perhaps more than any other
offender who has appeared in our times, the greatest sufferings,
yet such a sentence could not be carried into effect. The people
would have risen at once, animated by one sentiment, and without
the least previous concert have prevented it. Every man in the
Commonwealth, waiving all distinctions of condition or age, would
have been seen, without consulting his neighbour or considering
consequences, putting a new flint in his musket and girding on
his sword. Thank God! our feelings and love of order and
obedience to proper authority can never be put to such a trial;
for the moment we became free, and created our own political
institutions, we made it a fundamental article of our Constitution
of Government that "no magistrate or court of law shall inflict
cruel or unusual punishment." In Georgia such a punishment would
not be inflicted upon a white man for any crime; and in the name
of Heaven, who deserves the greatest punishment for offences,--the
white man, who is instructed in the principles of religion and
morality, and is therefore justly accountable for his actions, or
the negro, who is kept by the policy of the laws and the power of
public opinion in a state of absolute ignorance of his duties,
lest he should obtain a knowledge of his rights? D.
-------------------------
Singular account from the "Salem Gazette," April 13, 1824.
ARREST OF THE DEAD.
The United States Gazette says:--
"While the papers from the south and the west are bringing back
to us the report from Mr. Degrand's paper of the attachment of a
dead body in Boston, the Eastern papers are bringing us
assurances of the total illegality of any such act, and a
contradiction of some of the important parts of Mr. Degrand's
tale of horror. At the time of the first appearance of this story
in our city, a gentleman of information assured the public
through the medium of our columns that any such act was unlawful.
The Salem Gazette appears to think that no act of the kind was
ever lawful in Massachusetts. The Boston Courier states that in
Feb., 1812, the legislature of Massachusetts passed a law making
it highly penal for any civil officer to take the body of any
deceased person, and the writer who furnishes this information
says that 'he never heard that any such act of barbarism was ever
attempted in that Commonwealth,' but that the law was enacted to
guard against the possibility of such an occurrence, by a mistake
in the application of the terms, 'we command you to take the body
of A.B.' &c.
"This writer undoubtedly knows better than we both the laws and
customs of his own state. But we have some recollections of an
event of this nature transpiring in the southeastern part of
Massachusetts. If we have not forgotten the events (or remembered
some that never took place), a Sheriff in Barnstable county, we
think in Brewster or Dennis, attached the body of a deceased
debtor on its way to the grave, about the year 1811. A
circumstance that fixes this event the more firmly in our mind is
that it transpired about _this_ season of the year, the time of
the gubernatorial election in that State, and was used as a
subject of reproach to one of the political parties; and we
incline to believe that this act, or, if it never took place, the
report of it (for it _was_ talked of), gave rise to the law
mentioned in the Courier.
"It is proper, in concluding these remarks, to state that to
attach a dead body in Massachusetts is now _against_ the law; and
if the act ever took place which is detailed by Mr. Degrand, it
was done by the advice of an _ignorant_ attorney."
We are enabled to give an accurate statement of the event to which
the editor of the U.S. Gazette above alludes; we copy it from a
publication made at the time:--
"On the 20th October, 1811, Capt. Chillingsworth Foster, jun.,
Æt. about 41 years, departed this life; on the same day
Benjamin Bangs, Esq., of Harwich, with one Mr. Scotto Berry, of
the same place, called at the house of the deceased for payment
of a sum of about one hundred and thirty dollars, due said
Bangs, and requested the father of the deceased to give him his
security, said Bangs well knowing the parent to be in low
circumstances, and about seventy-five years old, and the mother
about the same age. The father refused to comply, stating
his inability to answer so great a demand without suffering
immediate distress. The said Bangs then declared that if he did
not comply, it was in his power to arrest the body of the
deceased. The father still refused, and Bangs left the house;
and a most distressed one it was, this being the last son out
of three, left these aged parents, the other two being lost at
sea, or died.
"The Monday following was appointed to have the deceased
buried, when Col. Jonathan Snow appeared as Sheriff, with a
writ to serve on the body. Here the melancholy scene commenced,
a part of the relations being assembled, with the aged parents
convulsed in sorrow; no one can paint their feelings but those
who have children and are denied them the right of Christian
burial. The usual ceremonies on such occasions were however
performed, and an appropriate prayer was delivered by the Rev.
John Simpkins, and the funeral procession formed and proceeded
with the corpse about one and a half mile, and very near to the
spot of the grave, when the said Sheriff arrested the coffin,
without any service on the body, and it was set down in the
middle of the highway nearly abreast of said Bangs' dwelling
house, and forbid proceeding any further. A large company who
followed, with the mourners, soon after retired, and left the
officer in charge of the body. After lying in this situation
for some time, one of the Grand Jurors ordered it out of the
high road; this was complied with by the Sheriff, by placing it
under the window of the said Bangs, and about sunset still
further removed it into Bangs' dwelling-house. By this inhuman
proceeding the aged parents were deprived of seeing their last
and only son buried, as were the widow of the deceased and five
children. So distressing a scene never was witnessed in this
place, and perhaps not in the most barbarous nations. Between
seven and eight of the clock, the same evening, the body was
buried by a few individuals, and by the consent of said
Benjamin Bangs, Esq., after he had inflicted all the wounds he
could on the feelings of the poor grey-headed parents and their
relations."
The barbarity and illegality of this conduct of B. Bangs, Esq.
(an influential democrat of that day), were viewed with
indignation from all quarters. The statute of Feb., 1812, on this
subject was not passed to render _illegal_ the arrest of a dead
body of a debtor, for that was _always_ illegal, but its object
was to fix the punishment, instead of leaving it to the
discretion of the Courts. Many undoubtedly recollect the instance
at Portland several years before, in which a debtor who was on
the limits was suddenly taken sick and carried out of the limits,
where he died. It was then decided to be the law that the
debtor's bond was not broken unless his body was out of the
limits by his own agency and will.
So disinterring dead bodies of men was always a misdemeanor, but
in 1815 a law was passed by our General Court to fix the
penalties.
-------------------------
The case of Stephen Merrill Clark is remembered by many people in Salem
and its vicinity.
_Supreme Judicial Court._
At the present term of this Court in Salem, Andrew Dunlap,
John Foster, and Solomon Whipple, Esqrs. were admitted
Counsellors, and Asa W. Wildes, Esq. an attorney of said Court.
_Capital Trial_.--On Tuesday Stephen Merrill Clark, a lad about
15 years of age, was indicted for the crime of ARSON alleged to
have been committed in Newburyport, was arraigned the same day,
and pleaded _not guilty_. The day for his trial is not yet
fixed.--The Court assigned him Leverett Saltonstall and John G.
King, Esquires, for his counsel on his trial.
_Salem Observer_, Nov. 4, 1820.
Clark was subsequently convicted of the crime for which he was tried,
and executed upon Salem Neck in 1821. He had made a confession of his
guilt; but considering his youth, and the circumstances of his having
been instigated by others, as was believed, to the commission of the
crime, many humane people thought there should have been some
mitigation of the punishment.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments - Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts" ***
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