WHAT THE “CAT” REALLY IS.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 February 1926, Page 1

WHAT THE “CAT” REALLY IS.

During the year judges have frequently added to sentences of penal servitude a number id strokes of the “cat.” 'file reason is. of course, that it. is known that such punishment strikes fear into me hearts of criminals who have .specialised in crimes of violence. No man who has been punished with the "cat” has ever been known to run the risk of receiving a second (lose, writes Hugh Brailv in the “Daily Mail.” At one time garrotting was a common (rime, and it was only when the judges had garrotlefs Hogged that the crime lost its fascination for bttriy criminals. The instrument with which Ihe punishment used to l,e indicted was origiuallv known as the cat-o’-nine-tails and c.insisted ol nine small thongs of rope. To-day the "e:r"’ used in British prisons consists of hut one thong, one inch in diameter, attached to a wooden handle. In appearance it stmiwelmt resembles it sturdy dug whip. The history of the cnt-n’-nine-tails dates from the early days of the British Navy, and il superseded a hitch consisting of ti number of thongs. fn those far-off days il terorrised the most unruly of naval defaulters. Al>oitt half a century ago the instrument was introduced into penal establishments. Inti it, was not until ’2O years later that ihe attliorities realised that it had a strikingly deterrent effee, on the troublesome and violent convict. Then il was frequently applied to the hacks of the inmates of local as well its penal prisons, the power to punish a prisoner in this way being vested in the hands of the governor. But to-day only judges can order Hoggings.

It wfls after the war that the cat-o'-nine-lnils lost eight of its tails and assumed its present form. The fierce diameter of the punishment, is appreciated to such an extent that the greatest care is taken before tlie senenre of lashing is canned out. The convict is ordered to strip., a doctor carefully examines Ids heart and lungs, and if tlie man is considered fit a signal to the warder ends in a hasty pinioning of the arms behind the hack, fn a flash the convict is hound to a stake, and the lirsl stroke lias descended in, the presence of the doctor and the governor. All the strokes ordered are seldom given in one lashing. Five or six strokes invariably bring the criminal to a lull I'-dazed condition. Water may revivo him until ten strokes have hecn given. Then the man is removed to hospital for treatment. Tt is interesting to note that the phrase “no room to swing a cat” has no reference to the animal but is de-

rived from the fact that in the cramped quarters of many old vessels the bos’n’s mate had no room to swing the oat-o’-nine-tails.