CAT-O’-NINE-TAILS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4936, 8 February 1926, Page 3

CAT-O’-NINE-TAILS.

WHAT IT REALLY IS. During the past year judges in England have frequently added to sentences of penal servitude a number of strokes of the “cat.” The reason fe', of course, that it is know.n that such punishment • strikes fear into the hearts pf criminals wlm have specialised in crimes of violence. No rman who has been punished with the cat has ever been known to run the risk of receiving a second dose Hugh Brady in the "Daily Mail”).

At one time garrotting was a commoner crime, and it was only when the judges had garrotters flogged that the crime lost its fascination for burly criminals. The instrument with which the punishment used to be inflicted was originally known as the cat-o’-nine-tails and consisted of nine thongjs- of rope. To-day the "cat” used in British prisons consists of but one thong one inch in diameter attached tp l a wooden handle. In appearance it somewhat resembles a sturdy dog whip.

The history of the cat-o‘-nine-tails dates from the early days of foe British Navy, and it superseded a birch consisting pf a. number o£ thongs. In those far-off days it terrorised the most unruly of naval defaulters. ■

About half a century ago the instrument was introdu ed into penal establishments, but it was not until 20 years later that the authorities 'realised that it had a strikingly deterrent effect on the troublesome and violent convict. Then it was frequently applied to the backs of the inmates of local as well as penal prisons, the power to punish a prisoner in this, way beifag vested in the hands of the governor. But to-day only judges can order flogging. It was after the war that; the cat-o’-nihe-tailo' lost eight of its foils and assumed its present form. The fierce character of the punishment is appreciated to such an extent that the greatest care is taken before the sentence of lashing is carried out. The convict is ordered to strip, a doctor carefully examines his heart and lungs, and if the man is considered fit a signal to the warder ends iti a hasty pinioning of the arms behind the back. In a flash the convict is bound to a stake, and the first stroke has 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 half-dazed condition. Water may revive him until ten strokes have been given. Then the man is removed to hospital for treatment. It is interesting to note -that the phrase "no room to swing a cat” has no reference to the animal, but "is derived from the fact that in the cramped quarters of many old vessels the bos’n’s mate had no room to swing the cat-o’-nine-tails.