MILITARY FLOGGING.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 44, 1 May 1862, Page 6 (Supplement)

MILITARY FLOGGING.

The first intimation which I received of the kind of punishment which I was to sutler, was by overhearing the corporal of the guard sav to a trumpeter, .named Charles Hunter, who seemed to bo asking leave to speak with me in the blackhole, that he could not give him leave, but lie would go out of sight, and would not see that Hunter got access to me, to do what ho was going to do. The other men on guard got an intimation that, though it was contrary to orders, they were not to see what Charley limiter did. Accordingly Charley got the key of the black hole, opened (he door, entered and took a bottle which was hidden about his clothes, and told me that it contained half-a-pint of rum, to drink it all, — I should probably have need of it at f lie pardcle, in the ridingschool. I asked what he meont;? He said some of 1 lie men in my room bail put pence together, to buy the rum for me. “Hut what do you mean by ottering me rum ? You have not seen me drink li'juor ot any kind ; what doyou want me to drink all that rum for ?” “ 1 do xiot know that you may require it, ’ he replied ; “ but I advise you to drink it. I saw old Owen (the sergeant of the baud) go across the barrack-yard a short while sii ico, to the riding-school, with the ifreea haij in his hand ; perhaps they only want to frighten you : I dare say they won t do more than tie you up ; but you know i/ic given hag means something.” “ What docs it meant X asked; “ do yon inter irom seeing it, that the eats were in it, and that 1 am to be 'flogged?” “Not (logged, per Flaps,” he replied ; “ hut they will try to frighten you. Drink this, and he p/ticl-g:’ “ Not a drop,” said I; “ if they (log me lor that charge of disobedience in the riding-school i need no ruin to sustain me ; I shall have strength enough to bear it.’’ “ Hut do; come, drink ; it is a common thing. All soldiers try to do this lor one another; 1 have known men drink a pint ol rum, and go and take their punishment like men.” “ Not a drop for me,” said I, firmly. “Hut you will require it when you can’t get it.” 1 shall not require it.” “Hut I have known men sing out dreadfully when punished ; if they had got enough of rum, it would have supported them, and they would not have out.” “Not a drop lor me, Charley Hinder; I shall not sing out, I premise you, if they cut me to pieces ; but if they do lay a lash on my back, they will hear of it again. Take away that rum ; I shall not drink it ; no, nor the half of it; nor a drop of it: 1 shall not touch it.” Charley replied to this, “ Well, there’s no use losing it; if you won’t drink it, 1 know who will.” He took some of it himself, and gave (ho remainder to one of the men on guard standing close by, and who had promised not to see what was done. w =* * # # $s * I proceeded at once to unbutton, and take off my regimental jacket. The sergeant of the band, with great alacrity, came to assist. 1 said, in an under-tone, that 1 would take my things olf myself. One of the orderlies took my jacket and cap another my stock, and laid them on Hie form ; I handed my shirt to the sergeant, wiio fastened it round my middle. One of the orderlies took a rope with a noose on it, and running the noose upon the wrist of my right arm, put the other end through a ring, which was fastened in the wall, at the distance of several yards from the upright ladder. Another orderly took another rope with a noose, and fastened it in like maimer upon my left wrist, drew the other end of it through a ring at the distance of several yards on the opposite o? the ladder. They then drew, each his rope until my arms wci-c stretched outward, and my breast and face were brought closely and tightly against the ladder. Two other soldiers came with two other ropes with nooses. They lifted my rightfool, and put one ot the nooses over my foot, and ran it up tightly upon my ancle; and then lifted my 101 l foot, and ran the noose of (ho other rone tightly upon my left ancle. They each put his rope through a ring in (he wall, near the ground and brought the ends round the upright ladder, and each of my legs, several times, until it was bound so fast that I could not move. The regimental sergeant-major, who stood behind, with a book and pencil to count each lash, and write its number, gave the command, “ Harrier Simpson, you will do your duty.” The manner of doing that duty is to swing the “cat” twice round the head, give a stroke, draw the. tails of the -eat through (ho fingers of the left liand, to viil mem ot skin, or tlesh. or blood; again swing the instrument twice round the head slowly, and come on, and so forth. Simpson took the “eat” as ordered ; at least T believe so ; I did not see him, but 1 felt an ns--1 ouuuiiig seusation between the shoulders, under

my nock, which went to my toe nails in one direction, my finger nails in another, and stnng me to the heart, as if a knife had gone through my body. The sergeant-major called in a loud voice, “ One.” I felt as if it would bo kind of Simpson not to strike mu on the same place again. Ho came on a second time a few inches lower, and then I thought the former stroke -was sweet and agreeable compared with that one. The sergeant-major counted “ two.” The “ cat ” was swung twice round the farriers’ head again, and he came on somewhere about the right shoulder blade, and the loud voice of the reckoner said “ three” The shoulder blade was as sensitive as any other part of the bod} - , and when he came again on the left shoulder, and the voice cried “ four ” I felt my flesh quiver in every nerve, from the scalp of my head to 1113- toe nails. The time between each stroke seemed so long as to be agonising, and yet the next came too soon. It was lower down, and felt to bo severest. The word “Jive” made me betake myself to mental arithmetic ; this, thought I, is only the fortieth part, of what I am to get. “ Six ” followed, so on, up to “twenty-jive.” The sergeant-major then said “Halt!” Simpson stood back, and a young trumpeter, who had nqt flogged before, took his cat and began. He had practised often at a stable post, or a sack of sawdust, and could handle the instrument as scientifically as any one. He gave me some dreadful cuts about the ribs, first on one side and then on the other. Some one bade him hit higher up, I do not know whom. He then gave them upon the blistered and swollen places, where Simpson had been practising. The pain in my lungs was now more severe, I thought, than on my back. I felt as if I would burst, in the internal parts of 1113' body - . I could have cried out; and, I doubt not, would have taken less barm from the punishment had thaijirhniexs, which phrenologists say'is strongly developed, in my cranium, permitted mo to break nyy resolution. I had resolved that 1 woidd die, before I woidd utter a complaint or a groan. I detected myself once giving something like a groan, and to prevent its utterance again, 1 put my longue between my teeth, held it there, ami bit if almost in two pieces. What with the blood from 1113- tongue, and my lips, which I had also bitten, and the blood from my lungs or some other internal part ruptured by the writhing agony, 1 was almost choked, and became black in the face. The hospital-sergeant, seeing this, brought the basin of water, and put it to my lips ; 1 indignantly withdrew my head from it, and the revulsion or change of feeling, somewhat relieved me. It now became Simpson’s second turn to give twenty-five. Only fifty' had been inflicted, and the time since they began was like a long period of life : I felt as if I bad lived all the t ime of in v real life in pain and torture, and that (ho lime whoa existence had a pleasure in it was a dream, long, long gone by. Simpson got up among (he old sores the strokes were not so sharp as at first ; they were like blows of heavy weights, but move painful Ilian (he fresh ones. It was now that he—probably more inclined to remember that he was mv friend than a farrier—was commanded in a loud voice, in these words, formerly quoted, “ Farrier Simpson, do your duty.” Ho travelled downwards, and came on heavier than before, but, as I thought slower. It seemed a weary slowness for the ser-geant-major, to bo only counting the fifteenth and sixteenth of the third twenty-five. I (hen uttered the only words which I spoke during the whole time, namely, “ Como quicker on, (-Jimpson, and let i( be done ; you are very slow.” The poor fellow was slow, from aversion to the task ; I do not know if he gave the strokes more quickly ; they all seemed to last too long. When the other youngster had reached, or nearly, his second twenty, I felt as if I could yield, and beg forgiveness : but the next moment the coward (bought was rebuked within me, and banished. “ ISbt from them,” said I, mentally, “ shall I be”' forgiveness,” but I prayed to God to put it into their minds to stop, and pardon 1110 (he remainder. When this five-and-twenty was completed, which made a hundred, the commanding officer said, “Stop! take him down, he is a young soldier.” I was then unbound. One of the wet towels was spread upon my back, mv jacket la3’ loosely over the towel, and I was led to the hospital between two men. There, a cloth dipped in a lotion of some kind, we put over mv skin, and I was laid down on my back. It soon became so stiff, that to rise seemed as impossible as to rise with the weight of a ton fastened to me. I felt as if dragged down by tons of heaviness. When fresh lotions wore pul. to my back, (wo orderlies came, one on each side, and lifted mo by the arms. The only remark I made about the punishment, was on entering the ward where I was to lie. Some of the patients expressed sympathy for mo ; and 1 said, “ This shall be heard of vet; I shall make it as public over England as newspapers can make it.” I said no more ; but (bo patients wore carried to (ho Court of Inquiry, fifty miles, to prove Hint I had “ used throats ” 011 entering the hospital. Yon will remember (he crime for which I was tried, which referred to the riding-school, and that onl\ T . Here is Major Wyndham’s own statement of what he said to the regiment, as soon as I was removed:— “ As far as I can recollect, 1 said— ‘ Men you are hero assembled; I have a circumstance to mention to .yon, relating (o ns all.’ 1 think, I said— ‘ I have discovered, at last, (he man who wrote the letter.’ I think 1 said— ‘ I am happy for it, because the odium cannot fall on any other person.’ I think I went on to say —‘ 1 regretted it very much, and 1 am sorry to see anybody write in the newspapers, or publish a libel 011 the regiment, and particularly so young a soldier as the man just punished.’ ” • • « « *' * * I then wont on to sa3 - , that I had been written (o on the subject of the state of the regiment, as much had been said about the political unions, and our having joined them ; and 1 wrote back in return, that you would ever find the Greys steady’ and firm like rocks ; and I remember bringing back to (heir recollections, two winters ago, when I bad them in London, when wo were up three nights in the riding-school ; 1 brought back to their recollection a circumstance that was asked me there

and I Raid, the Greys would bo ever linn and would do their duty,” and so forth. The report of soldiers who took special notice of what the major said, some of whom 1 summoned to the inquiry, was that the major began with the words : “ Men, I am happy to inform you that I have found out the writer of the letter, and you have just seen him punished.” After the major’s own statement, it was not deemed desirable to'subject these witnesses to the hazard of giving evidence in my behalf. lie had admitted nearly all which I sought to prove. I may here add the testimony which Major Wyndham bore, both to my general character and riding qualities, before the Court of Inquiry : “He had not been complained of-before this circumstance. He had been well spoken of before this.” And again : “ I always hoard from the ridingmaster that he was doing verv well.” And again, to the court ; “Had you seen him ride before the 28th ?” “ Several times.” “ What did you Hunk of his riding r” “ I think he rides very well for a man of his figure, for the short lime he had been learning.” —Autobiography a JVorkiuy 21 an.