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.
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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