The Brank, known as the “Scold’s bridle,” was an iron hood, with a ring, around the face, with a flat tongue of iron to be placed in the mouth, over the tongue. It was applied, with the “scold” or slanderer tied in a public place, where she was subjected to the ridicule of the passers-by and was generally used to correct scolds and fussy women, for many years, in both England and America. It was used on the poor unfortunates during the Salem Witchcraft craze and many an old dame in good old England was made to bridle her tongue and desist from gossiping or henpecking her husband, because of the fear of the “scold’s bridle” and the gag, used indiscriminately, in all such cases.[125]
Fortunately, with the dawn of better days, this torture system began to decline and in most civilized countries, such “crimes against criminals” are now but curious and quaint, yet oft-times terrible and fearful examples of the customs and procedure of other days.
The strange thing is that such things lasted as long as they did in a growing, increasing world of knowledge, with men who sought the truth and attempted to attain the higher ideals and who should have been imbued with the love of their fellow-man, which the sufferings and mistakes of the past had, for centuries, led them to emulate.
With the striking example in history of the horrible punishment by Crucifixion, all men now dread to think of the time when innocence and goodness could be so crucified, yet for two thousand years, in the slow evolution of the human race, other innocents and good men and women have been tortured and racked by men and women holding the superior power and authority over the masses, who through superstition and delusion, were led to endorse the cruel domination of such misused force.
When we stop and contemplate the enormity of “Man’s inhumanity to man,” as recorded in the lessons of the past, “the marvel is that man can smile, dreaming his ghostly, ghastly dream.”
The basis of such misanthropy lies in the fact that criminals have been treated as enemies, to such an extent that mankind has warred upon them and committed deeds of war, when, in point of fact, the alleged criminal, frequently was less guilty than his judges, and, if guilty, he was only a mistaken man, needing correction, but not torture or death, to teach him the better path to tread. Would that future generations might be fully emancipated from the selfish creed which calls that good, which works me weal and holds that ill, which me alone doth harm or hurt.
For our lives, like ravelled skeins, cross back and forth, connect and blend,
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Justice is the bond which keeps the interest of individuals united and without this virtue men would return to their original state of barbarity. Marquis Beccaria, on “Crimes and Punishments,” 9.
Carlyle has well said: “Cruel is the panther of the woods, the she-bear, bereaved of her whelps; but there is in man a hatred crueler than that.”
[2] Beccaria’s “Crimes and Punishments,” p. 41.
The three theories regarding lawful punishment, are, retribution, prevention and reformation. According to the first of these theories, the object of punishment is the vindication of the law upon the offender, by the infliction of such pain or penalty as his crime deserves, hence, the motto for this theory, might be properly said to be Justice. The second idea, makes prevention of further crime, the sole object, the criminal being placed where he can do no further wrong to society, and the motto of this school of legal philosophers, can therefore properly be said to be protection. The third and by far the most philanthropic doctrine of punishment regards the object of correction as the primary one to be attained and that all punishment should cease when the criminal has been reformed. The motto for the last school of philosophy, might properly be said to be Brotherly Love.
[3] Rawlinson’s “Ancient Monarchies.”
[4] Genesis, XL., 19, 22.
[5] Matthew, XIV., 8, 10.
[6] Acts, XII., 2.
[7] Revelation, XX., 4. A common punishment during the French Revolution.
[8] Genesis, XXXVIII., 24.
[9] Leviticus, XXI., 9.
[10] Leviticus, XX., 14.
[11] John’s “Babylonian Laws,” etc., Josephus; Matthew, XVIII., 6.
The Emperor Tiberius, after torturing the victims of his wrath, cast them into the sea, where they were drowned. Sueton. Tiberii, lxii; Lea, “Superstition and Force,” (3 ed.) p. 377.
In France, death by drowning was inflicted upon the incontinent, as late as the sixteenth century and it was revived again during the revolution by the infamous Carrier, at Nantes, in the eighteenth century.
Ninety priests were loaded into the gabare and sunk in the river Seine. Then a hundred and thirty-eight persons were similarly drowned, but the gabare was soon done away with and men, women and children were stripped naked and thrown into the river, in broad daylight and not even under the cover of darkness. They were tied together, feet and feet and hands and hands, and in their hideous death struggles they churned the water, for the edification of the cruel crowd, until the last poor struggler had sunk to his final rest. (See article by W. H. Davenport Adams, “Pains and Penalties,” in The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 362.)
[12] Herbert’s Antiquities (1804), 154; Ex. vet. cod. M. S. pene’s Rog. Twysden bar. p. 108.
[13] Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 501.
[14] Archibald’s Stewart’s “Wigtoun Martyrs.”
[15] Daniel, VI., 16.
[16] Josephus, Ant. VIII., IX., 1.
[17] 2 Samuel, IV., 12.
[18] Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. i, 477; Layard’s Ninevah and Babylon, 295 note.
[19] Herodotus, iii, 159; Josephus, Ant. VI., XIV., 8.
[20] Beccaria’s “Crimes and Punishments.”
[21] 2 Chronicles, XXV., 12.
[22] 1 Chronicles, XX., 3.
[23] Exodus, XIX., 13.
[24] Exodus, XXXII., 27.
[25] 1 Samuel, XV., 33.
[26] Hasting’s Dict. Bible, vol. I., p. 527.
[27] 1 Kings, XX., 31.
[28] Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, iii, 246.
Hanging was ordained by the Laws of Ina, in England, twelve hundred years ago. (Herbert’s Antiquities, p. 153.) Until 1783 Tyburn Tree, at the west end of Oxford Road (now street), was the usual place for execution of felons by hanging, in England.
[29] Josephus, Ant. XVII., X., 9.
[30] Idem., XX., V., 2.
[31] John, XIX.
[32] Matthew, XVI., 24; Mark, VIII., 14; Luke, IX., 23.
All authorities agree that of all deaths crucifixion was the most abhorrent, not only because of the pain resulting, but also because of the shame of such a death. Cicero, in his Oration against Varres, declared that it was impossible to find a fit word to describe such an outrage as the crucifixion of a Roman citizen, yet the gentle Galilean suffered this horrible death, with perfect resignation.
[33] Cedrenus, Hist. Comp. p. 148, 259.
[34] Dions, iii. 67: Zonaras, vii, 8.
[35] Dions, ix, 40; Smith’s Dict. Gr. & Rom. Ant. By a beneficent law, the poor lady’s paramour was simply scourged to death, for his complicity in her awful crime.
[36] Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 366.
[37] Ante idem.
[38] Idem., p. 367.
[39] Fleta, p. 54; II. Pollock and Maitland’s History English Law, p. 556.
[40] Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon.; Niebuhr, ii, 313.
[41] Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 368.
[42] Ante idem.
[43] Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 496.
[44] Ante idem., p. 368.
[45] Green’s History of England.
[46] Select Pl. Cr. pl. 191; Munim. Gildh. i, 101; II. Pollock and Maitland’s History English Law, p. 511.
[47] 22 Henry VIII. c. 9. This statute was passed in 1531.
[48] IV. Reeve’s History English Law, p. 427.
[49] The Winter’s Tale, Act III., Scene II.; White’s “Law in Shakespeare,” p. 186, Sec. 146.
[50] Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 364.
As late as the sixteenth century, in England, counterfeiters were punished by being thrown into boiling water. Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 364.
[51] Llorente, ii, 147, 237.
[52] Lea’s “History of the Inquisition.”
[53] Lea’s “Superstition and Force,” (3 ed.) p. 404.
[54] Lea’s “Superstition and Force,” (3 ed.) p. 409.
[55] Ante idem. 407, 409.
[56] Llorente’s Istoria de la Inquisition; Lea’s “History of the Inquisition.”
[57] Ante idem.
[58] Lea’s “Superstition and Force,” (3 ed.) 451.
[59] Du Cange’s Questionarius.
[60] L. Tanon, Registre Crimenel de la Justice de S. Martin-des-Champs, Introd. p. 85.
[61] Ante idem.
In applying the ordinary and extraordinary question, in France, by means of the estrapado, an iron key was placed between the palms of the accused’s hands, and they were tied behind his back and, by means of a rope passed through a pulley, in the ceiling, he was raised twelve inches above the floor with a weight of one hundred and eighty pounds to his right foot. This was the “ordinary” question. In applying the “extraordinary” interrogation, the same process was used, but the accused was raised up to the ceiling, with a two hundred and fifty pound weight tied to his foot, in a running line, two or three times, with the result that he usually swooned before the ceiling was reached the last time. (Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 504.)
[62] Lea’s “Superstition and Force,” (3 ed.) 441, 442.
[63] Registrae Criminel de Chatelet de Paris, 1, 36.
[64] Ante idem., p. 36.
[65] Register Criminal du Chatelet de Paris, 201, 209.
[66] Idem., p. 322.
[67] Lalanne, Recueil des anciennes Lois Francaisse, tome xx, pp. 284, etc.
[68] Ante idem.
[69] Article by W. H. Davenport Adams, in Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 506, entitled “Pains and Penalties.”
[70] History of Jean D’Auton; Holinshed’s History.
[71] Holinshed; Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 371.
[72] Ante idem.
[73] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 372.
[74] Ante idem.
[75] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 370.
[76] Exodus, XXI., 24; 2 Kings, XXV., 7; Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon.
[77] 2 Samuel, IV., 12; Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. iii, 7.
[78] Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. iii, 194.
[79] 2 Samuel, X., 4.
[80] Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. i, 478; iii, 246; Herodotus, IV., 64.
[81] Samuel, VIII., 2; XII., 31; Stanley’s History Jew. Ch.
[82] Leviticus, XIX., 20. 2 Corinthians, XI., 24; Josephus, Ant. IV., VIII., 21.
[83] Lea’s “Superstition and Force,” (3 ed.) 375.
[84] Exodus, XXI., 24; Leviticus, XXIV. 20.
[85] John’s “Babylonian Laws,” etc.; Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon.
[86] Esther, VII., 8.
[87] Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. Josephus, Ant.
[88] John’s “Babylonian Laws,” etc.
[89] Herbert’s Antiquities, p. 153; Michelet.
[90] Flor. Wigorn, Annals, Ann. 1098.
[91] Fox’s Martyrology, lib. IV., fol. 229.
[92] Herbert’s Antiquities (1804), p. 154.
[93] Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 495.
[94] Ante idem.
[95] Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, 373.
[96] Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. ii, 194.
[97] Hastings Dict. of Bible, i, p. 523.
[98] Isaiah, XLIV., 5.
[99] Leviticus, XIX., 28.
[100] 21 Victoria, c. 9, sec. 35.
Branding was used by the American Colonists and in New England was a common punishment for Quakers, who were branded with red hot iron, on the shoulder, with a letter “H” for Heretic. (Alice Morse Earle’s “Curious Punishments of By-Gone Days,” pp. 138, 148.)
[101] “In those days, also saw I Jews, that had married wives, of Ashdol, of Ammon, and of Moah.... And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear, by God, saying Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.” Nehemiah, XIII., 23, 25.
[102] Isaiah, L., 6.
[103] 2 Mac. VII., 7.
[104] Ancient Monarchies, i, 478; Layard’s Ninevah and Babylon.
[105] Rawlinson’s Ancient Monarchies, iii, 246; Herodotus, iv, 64, v, 25.
[106] John’s “Babylonian Laws,” etc.
[107] Herodotus, ante.
[108] Gibbon’s Rome.
[109] Agathiu’s “Life of Justinian.”
[110] Bertrandy’s “Un Eveque Supplicie.”
[111] Martin’s “Les Vies des Saints.”
[112] Segur’s Memoirs and Anecdotes.
[113] Judges, VIII., 7.
[114] Judges, VIII., 16.
[115] 1 Kings, XII., 11.
[116] 2 Samuel, VIII., 2.
[117] 2 Samuel, XII., 31.
[118] “Curious Punishments of By-Gone Days,” by Alice Morse Earle, p. 5.
[119] “Curious Punishments of By-Gone Days,” by Alice Morse Earle, pp. 17, 20.
[120] Ante idem., p. 25.
[121] Ante idem., p. 28.
[122] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 373; Alice Morse Earle’s “Curious Punishments of By-Gone Days,” pp. 29, 43.
[123] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46, p. 499.
[124] Act III., Scene II. For many other references to this instrument of torture, by Shakespeare, see note, to section 82, in White’s “Law in Shakespeare,” pp. 116, 118.
[125] Alice Morse Earle’s “Curious Punishments of By-Gone Days,” pp. 96, 105.