Sierra County CA Archives History - Books .....Punishment By The Lash 1882
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com January 20, 2006, 10:19 pm

Book Title: Illustrated History Of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

PUNISHMENT BY THE LASH.

   The infliction of stripes upon the human body as a punishment for lesser
crimes than murder, horse-stealing, or highway robbery was early practiced in
California. Not only were the stinging thongs wielded by the merciless mob, but
the regularly organized courts, in accordance with law, countenanced the
whipping of criminals in certain cases, and gave the castigation themselves,
through their executive officials. In Sierra county cases of legal whipping are
exceedingly rare, and but two or three occur to us as we write. The first
instance of the whipping kind happening in Sierra county was in the year 1850,
at Downieville. A poor, destitute man was caught in the act of stealing a small
article from a store. He was immediately secured, and a crowd quickly gathered
around. The first cries were to "hang him," but a suggestion from somebody that
he be whipped averted the fatal stroke, and he was taken by his captors to a
tree close to town, to which he was tied, with his back bared to the waist. A
burly sailor produced an ugly-looking raw-hide, which was applied to the
writhing flesh of the victim with an energy that the occasion hardly demanded.
The terrible lash rose and fell with even stroke until the regulation number of
thirty-nine stripes had been administered, when the master of ceremonies raised
his hand and said, "Enough." The ropes were untied that bound the wretched man,
and he was ordered to put on his clothes. He was asked:

   "Have you any money?"

   "No."

   "Any more clothes?"

   "No."

   An ounce of gold-dust was weighed out and given to him, accompanied by the
instruction that if he were seen in town that night at ten o'clock he would be
hanged. Without reply the man arranged his clothes, took his ounce of gold, and
a few minutes after disappeared over the hill.

   At the town of Eureka a similar case occurred in the latter part of June,
1852. Francis Boyd had been proven guilty of stealing barley from a neighbor. He
was given a dozen lashes by the enraged citizens, and only thirty minutes to
leave the town, which brief space of time enabled him to put a considerable
distance between himself and his captors. Time was precious in that instance.

   Goodyear's bar was the scene of a whipping affair in 1853, but it was done
upon the order of the justice of the peace, Charles Stanwood. A tall,
pock-marked Chinaman had been detected in the act of robbing the money-drawer of
a butcher-shop of a small amount of stray silver. John D. Scellen, the
constable, made the arrest in due form, and Justice Stanwood proceeded to try
the case. The Chinaman was easily found guilty, and the punishment devised was
fifteen lashes, to be laid on by the constable. This judgment was made, not so
much for the benefit of the prisoner, as to annoy Mr. Scellen, who was a
gentleman, and would much rather have been freed from such an unpleasant duty.
But the order of the court was imperative, and though the tender-hearted officer
tried to evade its performance, he was finally forced to comply. The man was
tied to a post in front of the St. Charles hotel, and got his whipping, but
Scellen laid on the blows as lightly as possible, giving the Chinaman about as
severe a lashing as the stage Uncle Tom gets from his master in the theatrical
performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

   The whipping of the innocent young man in 1854, at Downieville, for the
alleged robbery of sluice-boxes, is related in the remarks on the hanging of
Harlow. At Cox's bar, in 1852, a different kind of punishment was given a man
for sluice-robbing. He was tied to a tree, with a large board hung around his
neck, on which was traced in bold characters the word "thief." All who passed
along the road from Downieville to Goodyear'son that day stopped to jeer at the
unlucky sign-board. When the shades of night had fallen he was released and
given the customary warning.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sierra/history/1882/illustra/punishme294ms.txt

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