Part 11 (2/2)
Hog-stealing seems to have ranked next to murder as an offence, and to have been punished almost as severely--perhaps on Shylock's principle, that they took life who took the means of livelihood; and the hog in the early days was the chief wealth and maintenance of the settler.
Superst.i.tion, as well as cruelty, played its part in the old criminal processes. The blood-ordeal long survived, and the belief was general that a corpse would bleed beneath the murderer's touch. On one occasion, when a serving-woman in Maryland had died under suspicious circ.u.mstances, her fellow-servants were summoned one by one to lay hands on the corpse; but as no blood appeared beneath their touch, the jury declared the woman's death to be the act of G.o.d.
On the whole, the inhabitants of the Southern Colonies, excepting always the negroes, were singularly free from superst.i.tion. The witchcraft delusion, which played such havoc in New England, never obtained a foothold in the Cavalier Colonies. Grace Sherwood was, it is true, accused in Princess Anne County of being a witch, and sentenced to the test of sinking or floating when thrown into the water; but her case stands out quite alone in the annals of Virginia, whereas the same county records show several suits against accusers as defamers of character. Here we find ”Jn{o} Byrd and Anne his wife suing Jn{o} Pites” in an action of Defamation; their pet.i.tion sets forth ”that the Defend{t} had falsely & Scandalously Defamed them, saying they had rid him along the sea-side & home to his own house, by which kind of Discourse they were Reported & rendered as if they were witches, or in league with the Devill, praying 100 sterl. Damage with cost. The Deft. for answer acknowledgeth that to his thoughts, apprehension or best knowledge they did serve him soe.” The jury found for the defendant, but brought no action against the witches who did serve him so.
In lower Norfolk County the defamer did not escape so easily, for ”Whereas Ann G.o.dby, the Wife of Tho. G.o.dby hath contrary to an ord{r} of y{e} Court bearing date in May 1655, concerning some slanders & scandalls cast upon women under y{e} notion of witches, hath contemptuously acted in abusing & Taking y{e} good name & Credit of nic{o} Robinson's wife, terming her a witche, as by severall deposicons appeares. It is therefore ord{d} that y{e} s{d} Tho. Goodby shall pay three hundred pounds of Tob{o} & Caske fine for her contempt of y{e} menconed order (being y{e} first time) & also pay & defray y{e} cost of sute together w{th} y{e} Witnesses' charges at twenty pounds tob{o} p day.”
Maryland, too, may boast of an unstained record, and of a vigorous warfare against the persecution. An old record tells how John Was.h.i.+ngton, Esquire, of Westmoreland County, in Virginia, having made complaint against Edward Prescott, merchant, ”Accusin s{d} Prescott of ffelony under the Governm{t} of this Province (_i. e._ Maryland) Alleaging how that hee, the s{d} Prescott, hanged a Witch on his s.h.i.+p as hee was outward bound from England hither the last yeare. Uppon w{ch} complaynt of the s{d} Was.h.i.+ngton, the Gov{r} caused the s{d} Edward Prescott to bee arrested.”
Prescott admitted that one Elizabeth Richardson was hanged on his s.h.i.+p, outward bound from England, but claimed that John Greene, being the master of the vessel, was responsible, and not he. ”Whereupon (standing upon his Justificaon) Proclamacaon was made by the Sheriffe in these very words. O yes, &c. Edward Prescott Prisoner at the Bar uppon suspition of ffelony stand uppon his acquittall. If any person can give evidence against him, lett him come in, for the Prisoner otherwise will be acquitt. And noe one appearing, the Prisoner is acquitted by the Board.” Yet, though there is not a single conviction of witchcraft to stain the legal records of Maryland, her statute-book in 1639 declared sorcery, blasphemy and idolatry punishable with death; accessories before the fact to be treated as princ.i.p.als. The accusation of blasphemy or idolatry was always a serious one, and the more so on account of its vagueness. Scant proof was required, and the punishment was severe.
A Virginia article of war enacted that swearing or drunkenness among the soldiery, at the third offense be punished by riding the wooden-horse for an hour, with a musket tied to each foot, and by asking forgiveness at the next meeting for prayer and preaching. This sentence requiring the offender to ask forgiveness is very common in the pages of the statute books as a sequel to the infliction of punishment. Punishment was still disciplinary. Society was a pedagogue and the criminal a naughty school-boy, who must go down on his knees in a proper state of humility before he can be pardoned.
After Bacon's Rebellion, the rebels were sentenced to go through this form of begging forgiveness with a halter round the neck, as a symbol of the right of the Governor to hang them all if he saw fit. One William Potts, being of a haughty spirit, or perhaps possessed of a grim sense of humor, wore round his neck instead of the hempen halter, ”a Manchester binding,”
otherwise a piece of tape. But the jest, if jest it were, was not apparently appreciated by the authorities, for it appears that the Sheriff was straightway deputed to see ”that said Potts performe the Law.” On the whole, the ”said Potts” must have thought himself fortunate, for trifling with magistrates was sternly dealt with in his day, and _answering back_ by no means tolerated.
From the times of Dale onward, a great many statutes were enacted, designed to silence women's tongues. An old Virginia law runs: ”Whereas oftentimes many brabling women often slander and scandalize their neighbors, for which their poore husbands are often brought into chargeable and vexatious suits and cast in great damages,” it is enacted that all women found guilty of the above offence be sentenced to ducking.
The punishment was undoubtedly successful for the time--that is, while the criminal was underwater; but it is hard to believe that bad tempers or gossiping habits were permanently cured by the ducking-stool. This curious implement of discipline may still be seen in the old prints. It consists of a chair bound to the end of a long board, which, when released on the land side, plunged the occupant of the chair under water as many times as the magistrate or ”her poore husband” required.
Near the court-house, in every town, stood a ducking-stool, a whipping-post, a pillory, and a pair of stocks. In the pillory the criminal stood on a raised platform, with his hands and head thrust through a board on the level with his shoulders, in helpless ignominy. At Queenstown a man found guilty of selling short measure was compelled to stand thus for hours, with the word _cheat_ written on his back, while the populace pelted him with stones and eggs. The stocks, while equally ignominious, were somewhat more comfortable, since the malefactor was seated on a bench with his hands and feet pinioned by the jointed planks before him. These were mild forms of punishment. For serious offences, far harsher methods were adopted. Ears were cropped from bleeding heads, hands and feet were cut off, or the offender was sentenced to whipping at the cart's tail, whereupon he was tied to the back of a cart, slowly driven through the town, and thus flogged, as he went, by the common executioner.
A not unusual punishment was branding the cheek, forehead, or shoulder with the first letter of the crime committed--as R., for running away; P., for perjury, or S. L., for Seditious Libel. Indeed, the man who escaped with his life from the hands of colonial justice, might count himself fortunate, though he were condemned to go through the remainder of his existence minus a hand, a foot, or an ear; or to have the ignominy of his sentence written on his face for all to read; for sterner punishment than any of these was possible.
Death itself was meted out not infrequently, and the barbarities of drawing and quartering in some instances, fortunately rare, added horror to punishment, and the statistics we find quite calmly set down make the blood run cold.
At a Court held for Goochland County the ninth day of October Anno Domi MDCCx.x.xIII for laying the County levey.
Present:
John ffleming, Daniel Sfoner, Tarlton ffleming, George Payne, William Cabbell, James Skelton, Gent. Justices.
Goochland County Dr. Tobacco.
To Thomas Walker & Joseph Dabbs sub-sherifs for a mistake in the levey in 1732 10
To Do. for going to Williamsburg for a Comission of Oyer & Terminer to try Champion, Lucy, Valentine, Sampson, Harry & George, Negros 90 miles going at 2lb and 90 miles returning at 2lb p. mile 360
To Do. for sumoning the Justices and attending the Court for the tryal of the said Negros. 200
To Do. for Executing Champion & Valentine, 250lb each 500
To Do. for providing Tarr, burying the trunk, cutting out the quarters a Pott, Carts & horses carrying and setting up the heads & quarters of the two Negros at the places mentioned by order of Court 2000
And this was in our own country, only a century and a half ago!
<script>