A PRISONER FLOGGED IN DUNEDIN GAOL.

Evening Star, Issue 3040, 15 November 1872, Page 2

A PRISONER FLOGGED IN DUNEDIN GAOL.

The first case of flogging in connection with gaol discipline which has occurred in in the Dunedin (ioal for some years past— Burgess, of West Coast notoriety, and a roan named Hayes having been the last persons Hogged, and that occurred in September', 18(35 -took place this forenoon in the presence of the Provincial Surgeon, the Governor of the Gaol, and several of the officers. The man who was Hogged is John Wardens, alias Gallagher, who, iu September, 1869, was sentenced by Mr Justice Ward to fifteen years’ penal servitude for a murderous assault on a storekeeper at Marewhenua named Graig and his wife. Warden’s gaol offences were—insubordination iu July, 1870, for which he was reprimanded ; disobedience of orders iu April, 1871, for which he got seven days’ solitary; insubordination in February, 1872, for which he was reprimanded ; July, disobedience of orders, two days’ solitary, and refusing to work, two days’ additional solitary ; August, disobedience of orders iu chapel, four days’ solitary; September, for having a piece of freestone concealed in his mattrass, reprimanded j and disobedience of orders, sewn days’ solitary, during which he refused to partake of food; and lastly, maligning, for which, along with other bad cases of insubordination, he wag sentenced by two of the visiting justices to receive twelve

lashes. The punishment was meted out ir the vStockade, where the prisoner was fastenee to a wooden triangle, his hands beiig strapped to tile upper part of it, his feet tc the lower part. A leather band was passed round his neck to prevent the blows from £ylih)g op that part of his body, tin c'ovcriiig being removed from his Rack when the flogging commenced.' 'Thp instrument used was the “cat,’* which, we may mention, consists of a thick straight wooden handle, about a foot and a half long, to which is attached nine thongs of strong whipcord, two feet or more in length, each thong being twisted and knotted at various points, indicating at once that it is an instrument which will do its work thoroughly, and will leave a good account behind The operator, lately arrived in the Colony, and formerly attached to H.M.S. The Koyal Sovereign, stood about two feet distant from the prisoner whom he was to flog, partly to avoid hurting the man's face or head with the 1 sh, and partly to get a better purchase for each stroke. Then testing the correctness of the reach by laying the “ cat ” gently on the culprit's back, the signal was given; the flagellator swung the “cat” twice round his head to give the blow impetus, and with the third 6, long steady “swishing” stroke, the lash of the cat came flown upon Warden’s bare back, taking a slanting direction from shoulder to waist, every stroke being deliberately and firmly given. The strokes were repeated regularly in the same manner, and between each blow the flagellator drew his fingers through the tails of the oat. to untwist and let them hang freely. The marks became apparent across the shoulders after the first stroke, but blood did not flaw. The effect upon the prisoner as regards pain was undoubted, for after the first cut he began to moan and twisted about a good deal during its infliction, and at each succeeding lash there was an involuntary shrinking of the muscles on the right shoulder, and the convulsive twitching JBcreasefl in intensity

up to the final stroke. The sight was any* thing but a pleasant one to the spectators, but if the prisoners in the Gaol could have been witnesses of the terrible and degrading punishment, who can tell what a restraining effect it would have had on their evil pasSIOBB.