On a Convict Ship

1895

FROM ENGLAND TO GIBRALTAR IN COMPANY WITH 250 CRIMINALS.

How the Prisoners Were Guarded and Fed and Their Efforts at Amusements — One Intractable Convict Received Four Dozen Lashes With the Cat.

"I know something of life on a convict ship," said a retired officer of an East Indian merchantman. "I was on the Warwick, a merchantman just back from a voyage to Calcutta, when the government chartered her to carry convicts and troops from England to Gibraltar. It was a most interesting experience. We were to take convicts from three different prisons. About midnight on Dec. 22, 1869, we left the East Indian docks and dropped down the river to Gravesend, where the next afternoon we took on 100 men of the Seventy-first highlanders — by the way, they were all Irishmen — who were to act as guard for the convicts. Next tide we towed to Sheerness, near The North Foreland, where we came to an anchor and waited for the first installment of convicts sent from Chatham. They were brought alongside on a small steamer. I shall never forgot how they looked to me — I was a youngster then — in their yellow and black stripes and with the short, flat, brown arrow, which is the English government mark, stamped on their clothing. Having got them aboard, we made sail for Portsmouth, our next receiving station, where we got about a hundred more. From there we sailed to Portsmouth and took the balance of 250 from the prison there.

"We lay in Portland Roads three or four days on account of storm and then started for Gibraltar. While lying there an incident occurred which I can never forget. But first let me tell you something about the arrangement and discipline of the ship on this voyage. A staff surgeon of the royal navy was in charge of the ship, and every one was subordinate to him. He was absolutely an autocrat. We were a full rigged iron sailing vessel of 1,005 tons register, and we had now on board, with convicts, wardens, soldiers, crew and families of some of the soldiers, about 425 souls. So you can see we were pretty thick.

The sailors, who usually had quarters in the forecastle, had to give them up and live in part of the after between decks. A barricade was built across the ship at the mainmast, both between decks and on the main deck. The convicts lived between decks forward and were turned up for exercise every day before this barricade on the main deck.

"But while we lay in Portland Roads a convict named Sturgess, who was serving a 20 years' term, became intractable, and on being reproved by one of the wardens threatened the latter's life when his sentence should be served. I fancy if what followed should happen in one of your penitentiaries a howl of denunciation would go up all over the country, but British prison discipline is very rigorous, you know. Sturgess was immediately put in irons and thrust into the solitary confinement box for 24 hours and sentenced to receive four dozen at the expiration of his confinement. He was a stolid brute and did not seem to mind, remarking he had been flogged five times before and it would go hard with him if he couldn't take another dose.

It is generally the duty of the boatswain to do the flogging aboard ship, but the night watchman from Portland prison was sent off to punish this fellow. With the exception of the women, every one aboard was compelled to turn up to witness the flogging. All the convicts were ordered up before the barricade, and each one craned his neck to see the show and anxiously watched Sturgess to see if he were game. The thief's cat, with a knot in each string, was the weapon of punishment. The convict was brought up, stripped to the waist, his foot and knees lashed to two spars which were stood upright on the deck, his hands were chained, and a rope passing under the chain traced them up high above his head, and his breast was pushed against an iron grating lashed between the spars. The staff surgeon then read the accusation and sentence, and the night watchman was ordered to do his duty. I can see him now as he ran his hand among the strings of the cat and then with a quick, sharp stroke brought it down between the convict's shoulder blades. The chief warden, Donald Bain, counted the strokes, 'One, two, three,' and after each stroke the convict counted, too, and when he got to 24 he said coolly:

"'Well, there's half of them.'

"When he received the forty-eighth, without having once flinched or murmured, the other 249 convicts set up a cheer. But the staff surgeon turned on them and thundered:

"'If you do not keep silence, I'll flog every man of you.'

"About their food? It was of a better quality than that furnished either the soldiers or crew. They always got corned beef where the sailors got salt horse. Compressed vegetables and preserved potatoes were supplied them; also suet for their duff where that of the sailors was mixed with slush from the coppers. Then they had plums for their duff of a Sunday, while the sailors got none in their 'lump of lead.' The convicts got a gill of sherry every day at 11 where the soldiers got a pint of porter and the crew nothing. Many a convict told me he wished the voyage could last for years.

"They had their amusements too. They were not allowed to read newspapers, but once in awhile one would steal one from a warden's pocket. The warden would discover the loss, and hunting up the thief take his paper away and stick it back in his pocket. But before he had gone very far another would pick his pocket. I have seen a warden kept trotting a whole forenoon hunting up a precious old journal he had brought aboard with him. Then they often amused themselves by holding mock trials. They had judge, jury and counsel for the prosecution and defense. One night some of us got permission to go down to the main hatchway and look through the bars on one of these trials. It was one of the funniest performances I ever saw. The judge's bench was a mess table, and he wore a bunk blanket for a robe. His decisions were provocative of great mirth, and the speeches of the learned counsel were screamingly absurd. When the trial was finished, we were allowed to hand them in a little tobacco for a treat." — New York Sun.

Horsewhipped Her Husband

New York, 1895

Mrs. Margaret Walters, of Uniondale, near Rockville Centre, horsewhipped her husband on Monday for getting drunk. She ordered a saloon keeper named Duryea not to sell liquor to her husband. She went to the saloon and saw her husband, half drunk, climbing out of a window to avoid her. She caught him and thrashed him. Duryea subsequently assaulted Mrs. Walters, she says, and beat her shamefully.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 18, 1895, unknown page number.

Sears Wife's Tempter With a Red-hot Iron

1920

Angry Husband Then Plies Whip to Victim's Wounds.

SEATTLE, Washington. — Branding with a red-hot iron, administering a horse whipping and driving him from the State, was chosen by Alvin Steigerwald, widely known Washougal dairyman, as punishment for Walter Groth, an employe, whom he accused of attempting to violate the sanctity of his home, according to a statement made by the former to county officials.

Steigerwald is said to have returned to his home and found his wife in tears, sobbing out Groth's name. Steigerwald claims to have taken his shotgun and hunted Groth. He changed his mind, he said, about killing Groth and determined to brand and horsewhip him and send him out of the State.

Attorney Yates, investigating the affair, stated Steigerwald told him he paid Groth's fare out of the State and that realizing that Groth's wife and 14-day-old baby would be entirely destitute, took them under his protection and provided for them until he found their relatives in Portland, Ore.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 1.

Rival Labor Unions

1916

Copperhill, Tenn., Sept. 23. — Citizens and members of trade unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor today drove out of Copper Hill the principal leaders of a movement for strengthening organization of the Western Federation of Miners among employees of the Tennessee Copper Company and the Ducktown Sulphur, Copper and Iron Company. At the same time the companies discharged a number of employees said to be members of the Western federation.

Guy Miller of Denver, organizer for the Western federation was seized by a mob of about 200 men, taken to the outskirts of the town, whipped and ordered to leave. J. A. Jones, Miller's local assistant, was taken from his room in a hotel, marched through the streets and forced to swear he would leave town on the next train, which he did.

The western federation, it is claimed has been trying for several months to gain control of the local labor situation but is opposed by the United Mine Workers of America, who have been supported by what is said to be a majority of business men of the Tennessee Copper Field.

Mother Whips Man Courting Her Girl

1920 (*1919)

But Maid Still Vows Love For Married Suitor

Unhappy Wife and Desperate Parent Are Victims of Sordid "Eternal Triangle"

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 1. — Love of the eternal triangle brand, which sneered at the marriage vow and set at naught horsewhippings of an angry mother and which had no regard for a little new life coming into the world, brazenly bared itself in the South Side Court.

Edward L. Branham, 22 years old, a telegraph operator, stood beside his wife, who is to bear him a child. He was there to answer a charge of disturbing the peace, sworn to by Mrs. Minnie Savage. Mrs. Savage's daughter, Lois Savage, 19 years old, Who is the "other woman," stood beside her mother.

Engaged Three Years Ago

Branham and Lois Savage had been engaged three years ago. Mrs. Savage would not approve the match. They parted. Branham married.

Mrs. Savage, a small, alert woman with reddish hair, was the first to testify.

"For two years Lois and Branham have been meeting each other, in spite of his marriage. My daughter is crazy in love with a married man. I have pleaded with them both in vain.

"I became desperate and went to his office and horsewhipped him publicly there. That had no particular effect. He would send her presents, candy, flowers. He would telegraph her when she was away on visits."

Judge Edward J. Fleming turned to the girl, Lois Savage.

Wished to Marry Him, Anyway

"Judge, I love him," she said. "If he got a divorce today, I would marry him tomorrow."

"Don't you realize," Judge Fleming asked, "that he is the type who would throw you over, too?"

The girl looked up boldly.

"It would not matter."

Then the wife, Mrs. Branham, spoke calmly:

"I love my husband. That woman has been breaking up my home. My husband has been urging a divorce, but I don't wish one. Everything would be settled if it were not for that girl."

Mrs. Branham told of Lois Savage visiting her home and asking Mrs. Branham to give up her husband. The girl went to Branham's room, the wife said, took a picture of him from the wall, kissed and caressed it and took it with her when she left.

"Is that all true?" Judge Fleming asked Branham.

Wife Refused Him a Divorce

"Yes," Branham admitted. "I kept company with her even after I was married. I desire a divorce, but my wife refuses it."

"Your fine is $500," the court told Branham. "I'll parole you if you leave the girl alone. If not, jail for you."

Then Judge Fleming turned to Mrs. Savage.

"As for that daughter of yours," he said, "a whipping would be a good thing for her, too."

Branham was paroled when he promised, after court adjourned, to cease association with Lois. The girl, weeping, was led from the courtroom by her mother and brother. Outside the building she attempted to return to the courtroom.

"Please," she said, "let me tell Edward good-by — for the last time! Please!"

She started to take a diamond ring from her finger, then said:

"No, I'll keep it to remember him!"

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 3. *Note: These events took place in 1919, like maybe November. The Blade seems to put a current dateline on everything, the date they were putting the story in the newspaper.

Crack of the Whip

1902

It is Rapidly Becoming a Sound of the Past

"That crabbed old German, Schopenhauer, who said the crack of the whip was like a drink from the bad place, would have found but little to complain of if he had postponed his passing for a while," said a thoughtful man, "for the whip is getting to be an awfully scarce article in this age. I suppose the whip will finally pass out of existence altogether unless it is put to a new use. Of course, the small riding whip, the kind which jockeys use in urging the horses they ride, will be used as long as horseflesh is used, either in the realm of sport or in the more serious affairs of life. But the kind of whip the old German had in mind was of a larger, longer and older type, the kind the ox-driver uses even now in some of the more remote sections of the world. Whips of this kind generally swing easily on the end of a long handle.

"Frequently the handle is eight or ten feet long and is made of hickory or some wood that is supple enough to bend in the green state. The whip itself, which is generally a four and six-plat rawhide, is from ten to fifteen feet in length, with a seagrass cracker on the end, tightly twisted and knotted at spaces an inch apart. It is this article that makes the noise of which the old German pessimist complained, and a whip of this kind in the hand of an expert can be popped until it sounds like the crack of doom. In a quiet forest where timbermen carry on their work this noise is even fiercer than it is in the cities. Teamsters in cities still use the old whip to some extent, but it is gradually going out, and the sharp crack of the seagrass is rarely heard. Speaking of whips, I am reminded of the marvelous accuracy some men acquire in the use of whips. I suppose the Esquimau has reached a higher standard of proficiency in this respect than any other class of men. I have seen boys of this race pop a silver half-dime at a distance of twenty feet every time they swung a whip. They can simply hit anything they want to hit as long as it is within the reach of the whip. But here in the South I have witnessed some rather notable performances in this respect. Up in Arkansas I have seen ox-cart drivers crack off a snake's head at a distance of twenty feet, and they could do it whenever it pleased them to do it. But these old whips are going out, and I suppose when electricity comes into more general use the crack of the whip will be an unknown sound." — New Orleans Times-Democrat.

Dogwood's Many Uses

1896

Dogwood wands make excellent whipstocks, and are used in some of the best whips. They are cut sometimes by coachmen in the suburbs and sent to town to be dressed and made up into whips. The stocks made of this wood are notable for their ornamental knobs at regular intervals, being the truncated and rounded branches. These are imitated in some other whipstocks, but the imitation is a cause of weakness. The dogwood stocks are extremely tough and elastic, being comparable in elasticity with whalebone.

The wood is used also for butchers' skewers, and some philologists conjecture that the first syllable of the name is a corruption of "dag," meaning a spine or dagger. Dogwood, as being peculiarly free from silex, is used by watchmakers and opticians in cleaning watches and lenses. The bitter bark of the dogwood is used also as a substitute for the Peruvian quinine tree.

Dogwood is notably of slow growth, and in all thickly populated regions the tree is recklessly despoiled for the sake of its blossoms, so that the supply of the wood for commercial purposes is not large. — New York Sun.

Taught Daughters To Rob, Is Charge

1920

Mother of Girls, 8 and 10, Is Alleged "Fagin"

Children Arrested for Shoplifting

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Indianapolis' most unusual shoplifting case came to light with the arrest of Mrs. Bella Goldfarb, 38, and the detention of her two oldest children, Minnie, 10, and Lillie, 8.

Mrs. Goldfarb is charged with child neglect, while the two little girls are confined in the juvenile home.

The woman was taken into custody after Minnie and Lillie were arrested in Pettis Dry Goods store. When questioned by woman Police Sergeant Clara Burnside and operatives of the Quigley-Hyland detective bureau, it is claimed they said their mother whipped them if they failed to bring home loot after a visit to the stores.

Police Find Stolen Goods

Investigation of the Goldfarb home, the detectives and Sergeant Burnside claim, reveals many articles supposed to have been taken from downtown stores.

Operatives of the Quigley-Hyland bureau picked up the two little girls in the Pettis store. After questioning, their case proved so interesting that Detective Martin Hyland visited the Goldfarb home with his operatives. The children then denied that their mother whipped them when they failed to bring home articles.

When they were found each child carried a bag. The children were taken in charge when Minnie, it is alleged, placed in her bag a piece of ribbon she had taken from a counter. In the bag were other articles. Lillie's bag contained a cap valued at $4,75 which, it is charged, was taken from the Pettis store, and a number of small dresses said to have come from another store.

At the home it is claimed there were many articles said to have been taken from different establishments. A number of pieces of silverware and boudoir caps were among these articles.

Mother Made Girls Thieves

Mrs. Goldfarb was not arrested at that time because she has three other small children. She was ordered to appear at police headquarters. When Sergeant Burnside brought the two children before her they again admitted that they were instructed to steal.

"Mamma whips us if we don't bring home something," one of them is alleged to have said.

Mrs. Goldfarb will appear in juvenile court soon. No charges have been preferred against the children, Sergeant Burnside being loath to arrest them because of their tender years.

Mrs. Goldfarb said her husband works as a shoemaker in Dayton, Ohio. She said he sent her from $20 to $30 weekly.

Cigar Dealer Flogged by Angry Woman

1901

Cigar Dealer and Alleged Gambling House Keeper Publicly Horsewhipped At St. Joseph

St Joseph, Mich., Jan. 31. — The public horsewhipping of an alleged gambling-house keeper by an angry wife furnished no end of excitement at Buchanan yesterday, and placed that village well up in the rank with Kansas towns that have felt the rigorous moralizing efforts of Mrs. Nation.

The victim of the chastisement was "Skette" Rough, keeper of what purports to be a candy and cigar store, but which wives who have felt a shortening of their allowances on their husband's pay days say houses a voracious "kitty."

The Michigan disciple of strenuous reform methods is Mrs. J. Voorhees, and she had at her back half the feminine part of the population of the village. Not the least of Rough's torment were the gibes and jeers of these women, all of whom seemed to think they had a score to settle and a duty to perform, and put as much feeling in their tongue lashings as did Mrs. Voorhees in hers with the thong.

In addition several hundred spectators crowded about and howled with delight as the infuriated woman belabored the back of the cigar dealer. Twice he attempted to break away, but did not succeed until the woman had broken her whip in several places over his body.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, IA, Feb. 1, 1901, p. 3.

Pilloried and Flogged, Some of the Gruesome Details

1878

Pilloried and Flogged

A recent dispatch from Wilmington, Delaware, says: This morning, at a few minutes past ten o'clock, in a cold, drizzling easterly rain storm, the first of the culprits to be flogged as a punishment for felony in this county at Newcastle was marched into the jail yard, attended by the warden and sheriff.

Mounting a rickety old ladder, two prisoners were promptly pilloried. For an hour they stood there in the face of the few spectators who ensconced themselves in corners of the jail yard to be sheltered from the rain which pelted pitilessly upon the victims of the pillory. At the expiration of an hour they were released. One retired.

The other, William Barry, a hardened criminal, by the way, who boasted that he had been in thirty-six different jails in the country, was strapped to the whipping post, stripped bare to the waist, and received quite a severe flogging. He felt the punishment severely, and looked imploringly at the sheriff as the lash descended twenty times on his bare back.

A lad named McGuire, evidently of delicate organization, was next stripped and tied to the post. He was very anxious and frightened. The sheriff dealt mercifully with him, and the twenty lashes did not much more than well redden his back.

The next was Monk Austin, who was convicted of a petty larceny, and although he shivered and was much affected by the cold rain on his naked skin, he bore his punishment with nonchalance.

A young fellow named Kiefly, the companion of Austin, stepped up to the post, threw his coat off jauntily and received his twenty lashes with indifference.

The next three were colored men; one convicted for larceny, the other two for felonious assault. They each received the usual twenty lashes and wriggled and roared under the infliction.

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The name of the potato bug, in Germany, is Pffischtendiriwechtenlawbedenachtoschooptenschafflichtheit. This is what makes it so hard to kill them.