inst them. The
whipping-post in Kent County is situated in the yard of the
jail, and is about six feet in height and three feet in
circumference; the prisoner is fastened to it by means of
bracelets, or arms, on the wrist; and the sheriff executes the
sentence of the law by baring the convict to the waist, and on
the bare back lashing him twenty, forty, or sixty times,
according to the sentence. But the blood does not run in streams
from the prisoner's back, nor is he thrown into a barrel of
brine, and salt sprinkled over the lashes. On the contrary, I
have seen them laugh, and coolly remark that 'it's good
exercise, and gives us an appetite.' But there are others who
raise the devil's own row with their yells and horrible cries of
pain. The whipping is public, and is witnessed each time by
large numbers of people who come from miles around to see the
culprit disgraced.

"A public whipping occurred not very long ago, and the day was
very stormy, yet there were fully three hundred spectators on
the ground to witness this wholesome punishment! A person who
has been lashed at the whipping-post cannot vote again in this
state; thus, most of the criminals who are whipped leave the
state in order to regain their citizenship. The newspapers can
blow until they are tired about this 'horrible, barbaric, and
unchristian punishment,' but if their own states would adopt
this form of punishment, they would find crime continually on
the decrease. What is imprisonment for a few months or years? It
is soon over with; and then they are again let out upon the
community, to beg, borrow, and steal. But to be publicly whipped
is an everlasting disgrace, and deters men from committing
wrong. Women are whipped in the same manner, and they take it
very hard; but, to my recollection, there has not been a female
prisoner for some time. I did not intend to comment so long upon
the whipping-posts in the state of Delaware.

"The pillory next claims our attention. This is a long piece of
board that runs through the whipping-post at the top, and has
holes [as per engraving] for the neck and arms to rest in a very
constrained position. The prisoner is compelled to stand on his
toes for an hour with his neck and arms in the holes, and if he
sinks from exhaustion, as it sometimes happens, the neck is