Chapter II: Part 2

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.

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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.

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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.

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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._

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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"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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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."

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_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.

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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._

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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.

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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._

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_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.

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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:--