| VOLUME IV, No. 1. | JANUARY, 1914 | |
THE DELINQUENT | ||
| (FORMERLY THE REVIEW) A MONTHLY PERIODICAL, PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL PRISONERS’ AID ASSOCIATION AT 135 EAST 15th STREET, NEW YORK CITY. | ||
| THIS COPY TEN CENTS. | ONE DOLLAR A YEAR | |
T. F. Garver, President. Wm. M. R. French, Vice President. O. F. Lewis, Secretary, Treasurer and Editor The Delinquent. Edward Fielding, Chairman Ex. Committee. | F. Emory Lyon, Member Ex. Committee. W. G. McLaren, Member Ex. Committee. A. H. Votaw, Member Ex. Committee. | E. A. Fredenhagen, Member Ex. Committee. Joseph P. Byers, Member Ex. Committee. R. B. McCord, Member Ex. Committee. |
WHY DELAWARE USE THE WHIPPING POST*
By Charles R. Miller, Governor of Delaware
[Delaware has received in recent months national attention because a member of Congress asked in Congresswhether the use of the whipping post in Delaware cannot be declared contrary to the provisions of the nationalconstitution. To flog prisoners seems to most people a relic of barbarism. Is it justified? Do you agree with theGovernor of Delaware?]
Delaware has whipped criminals ofcertain types since 1656, and will continueto whip them until the statutes underwhich corporal punishment is indictedshall be repealed.
Congress cannot, and certainly willnot, interfere in the exercise of properauthority under the law, and as thewhipping post is an integral part of thecriminal law of Delaware every lawofficer must consent to its use regardlessof any personal views he may have in thematter. Hysterical women, weak men,bullies, cranks and blackguards in allparts of the country have written to medemanding that I set aside the law andprohibit whippings for crime in Delaware.These good souls give no heed tothe fact that the whippings are quite aslegal in Delaware as imprisonment.Their demands amount to anarchy, sofar as law enforcement goes. They cry,“Down with the law!” without knowingwhereof they speak.
I want every criminal, every sharperand every moral leper to know that if hecomes to Delaware and violates the lawhe will not only serve a long term in ournone too comfortable jails, but that hewill be whipped in public on his bareback before he enters his cell. I wishthis fact could be spread to the uttermostcorners of the country.
Delaware wants no undesirable citizen.This State offers nothing but the whipand the workhouse for the gunmen,white slavers, panders, highwaymen andcommon thieves which people the underworldof some of our larger cities andwho seem to get a certain amount of applausefor their more daring performancesfrom the same type of people whodemand that I shall set aside a fundamentallaw of my State and defy thedecrees of our High Court.