FLOGGING A RUFFIAN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1167, 11 July 1884, Page 3

FLOGGING A RUFFIAN.

{Sydney Morning Herald June 21.)

Last Monday Thomas Irvine, sea cook, ■was flogged in Darlinghnrst gaol in accordance with the sentence passed upon him hy Mr District Judge Wilkinson, at the last sittings i f the Metropolitan Q iarter Sessions, for an indecent assault committed on a little girl. The culprit was fastened by means of straps around the wrists, the elbows, and the knees to a frame which rested against the wall. This frame has, in accordance with a recent Act of Parliament, replaced the triangle, on account of its greater steadiness ; whether to the advantage or disadvantage of the occupant, is a matter which must be dew led by those who have tried bote. He was stripped to the waist, his shirt being thrown across his should n. The witnesses of thefl inellation consisted of eight persons, viz The governor, Mr Read ; the medicai offi er. Dr O’Connor ; the chief warden-, Mr Lovett ; the prison dispenser,- Mr Stapleton ; a representative of the Press ; and three warders. Having inspected the arrangements, the governor inquired if all was ready ; and, being answeied in the affirmative, he forma! ydi cl.ored the sentence of the court on the man Irvine to he “ five years’ penal servitude and 23 ia«hes,” and ordered the latter part of the sentence to be forthwith carried out, whereupon the warder appointed to act as fl igellator, proceeded to divest himself of his coat and vest, and to roll up his shirt sleeves, as a preliminary. He then drew from out a mysterious looking black bag, the muchsdn-a led cat-do ninetails, which consists of the orthodox nine t hongs of knotted whip-cord, attached to a handle measuring about a foot long ; and, having careful y examined and arranged the thongs, he prepared to apply them to the hack of the unhappy man, who, during all these dreaded preparations, never once turned his bead. The operator, who is a very muscular, square-built man, and apparently selected tor his physical strength, stepped buck about a yard from the prisoner, and, afre giving the cat two or three vigorous turns above his head, sprang forward and brought down his instrument of torture with unerring aim and te rihle force on the hare hick of the culprit, whose runs oles and flesh worked convulsively and quivered under the stroke. Stepping hack tee operator re-arrange 1 his cat, and re-p-ated the blow again aid again, until 1 b-> full number hid been given ; ab.mt 20 seconds intervening between each of 'he strokes, which we e audibly checke ' off hy the chief warder The whole ration lasted six minutes exactly, dm in • inch ihe prisoner seemed t ■ suffer excruci ng pain, although he did not once cry tor eve-, groan; but the intense agonv e was suffering wi s evinced in the quir gof his fie o ami spaamolio woiking 1 his muscles Those present who were used to such scenes testifi 1 1 to the fact that he bore his pun ishnunt with remarkable fortitude, and stated, as the reason of his uttering no cry, that he had fixed his teeth firmly into one of tne cross pieces of the wooden frame to which he was hound, and by th : s means was prevented from cryiog out, ns he must have otherwise done, in spit- of himself. Immediately after the last stroke ha I fallen tne governor or lered him to be unbound, when he appeared to bo greatly exhausted besides heioo deathly nae. A revivingcordi d was administered to him, which he gulped 'town at a draught; but this seemed insufficient to satisfy his burning thirst, as he called for water, which, when ha ded to him, he swaliowe 1 greedily. Having 'examined his back, the doctor rd red him to be covered up and le to bis a-11, where hi.s wounds were messed. Irvine is a short, muscular man, about 4) years of ago. of sallow com plexiou, and unprepossessing fea ures, and this is the second time he has been convicted of an indecent assault.

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