Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 05.pdf/393

 З0о

kept up all over the country. In Liverpool, according to the "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1803, it was not formally abolished until 1776; but it was falling into desuetude more than thirty years before, when such an exhi bition at Kingston-on-Thames was so novel that it could draw nearly 3,000 spectators to the scene. There is a good deal of humor in another of these queer obsolete punish ments, — the drunkard's cloak, with the invention of which the magistrates of Newcastle-on-Tyne, during Cromwell's Protectorate, are credited. It consisted of a large cask with the bottom taken out, and with a hole in the top and one on each side for the to per's head and arms; and, equipped in this greatcoat, he was led through the 'streets until the looked-for signs of contrition appeared and he promised to give up drink ing sack. Torture on a grand scale went out with Felton, the assassin of Buckingham, but torture on a small scale continued to be practised on military offenders down to the eighteenth century. The form most fre quently resorted to was that known as the wooden horse, to ride which was the punishment accorded for petty thefts, insub ordination, and so on. The wooden horse was made of planks nailed together so as to form a sharp ridge or angle about eight or nine feet long. This ridge represented the back of the horse,, and was supported by four posts or legs about five feet high, placed on a stand made movable by truckles. To complete the resemblance with the noblest animal in creation, a head and tail were added. When a soldier was sentenced, either by court-martial or by his command ing officer, to ride the horse, he was placed on the brute's back, with his hands tied behind him, and frequently enough, in order to increase the pain, muskets were fastened to his legs to weigh them down, or, as was jocularly said, to prevent the fiery, untamed, bare-backed steed from kicking him off. The gantelope, or gauntlet, was another

military and naval punishment for theft. A man had to run the gauntlet of a long file of his fellow-soldiers, each provided with a switch; and to prevent the sinner going too rapidly, and to see that no man, impelled by motives of friendliness or kindliness, failed to strike hard, a sergeant walked backwards, facing the said sinner, with a halberd pointed at the latter's breast. After a lengthy experiment this was found to be inconvenient and degrading; so recourse was had to another method, — a variety of the same species of torture. The offender was tied to four halberds, three in a triangle and a fourth across. The regiment or com pany then filed off; the cat-o'-nine-tails was placed in the hands of the first man, who gave the culprit a lash, and passed on, handing the cat to the second, who also gave a lash; and so the game went merrily on until the offence had been expiated. The picket, the last punishment of which I pro pose to speak, was generally inflicted on cavalry and artillery men, and was a singularly brutal bit of torture. A long post, near which stood a stool, was driven into the ground. The delinquent was ordered to mount the stool; his right hand was fast ened to a hook in the post by a noose, drawn up as high as it could be stretched, round his wrist; a stump, the height of the stool, with its end cut to a round and blunt point, was also driven into the earth close to the post, then the stool was taken away, and the sufferer had nothing to rest his bare feet upon but the stump, " which, though it did not usually break the skin," says Captain Grose, " put him in great torture, his only means of relief being by resting his weight on his wrist, the pain of which soon became intolerable." One can very well believe him, especially when he makes the addition that a man was not unfrequently left to stand in this position for half an hour, although the orthodox period of endurance was fifteen minutes. — Illustrated London Nnvs.