OCR Text |
Show t. - He . Tells About Some Old-rash-ioued Stocks and Their Uses. A VETERAN "NOW A TRAMP. , " Borne Notes Regarding Matters of Interest to Everybody in General. It ww'not' till'1796'or 1707 that a hurch ws erected in Harpwsfield. It was built from contributions made by the inhabitants, each one furnishing material ma-terial of some kind, such as hewn timber, boards, shingles, etc., being so very poor t the time that few could furnish any money. The same year a place was built called stocks, and a whipping post prepared pre-pared by Isaao Pierce for the purpose of Inflicting punishment on any who had been charged with crime and found ipultyof the same by a jury. A good deal of curiosity was exhibited, especially espe-cially among the fair sex, to get a glimpse of the ordeal, and after they were completed Alexander Harper, who was fond of an innocent joke, invited bis wife to accompany him aud examine the stocks, which were so arranged that by placing the criminal's foot in and making it fast he could not escape. He therefore requested Ms wife to put her foot in, telling her that "that fool of a Pierce had made them, and they would not hold any one." She put in her foot and he tet down the block, locked the same fast and walked off amid the hearty laugh of the spectators specta-tors and her own earnest entreaties, but soon returned and released her. It was, however, regarded as a rich jotye for many years afterward. Bnt one person was ever wliipped at the post, and he won left the county. It may be remarked remark-ed in this place that three whipping posts were erected in Delaware county at about the same period the one al-' al-' ready mentioned, in Harpersfield, one on the place now owned by ex-Sheriff Thomas, but then in possession of Silas Knapp, who kept a grocery there for several years, and the other near Col. Dimmick's in Muldletown. There was bat one person whipped, as I have been able to learn, at either of the last named whipping posts. This person was one Turner, a carpenter by trade. The charge which was brought against him, and which he finally confessed, was stealing some fifty pounds of flonr belonging be-longing to Ezra Hait, from Squire Rose's mill. After sentence was passed he was fastened in the stocks, which were constructed con-structed of heavy plank, hollowed out above and below sufficiently to contain a man's legs when the planks were shut together. They were secured by a look. He was left in the stocks for a day, furnishing fur-nishing a good mark for the boys, who Showered him with rotten eggs. The next day he was taken out and fastened to the whipping post, when the remainder of his sentence, fifty lashes, way inflicted, when he was Allowed to leave the county, which he was not long in doing. Jay Gould's History of Delaware County. |