The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 69 pages of information about The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5.

The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 69 pages of information about The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5.
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
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The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.