A Terrible Punishment.

Manawatu Herald, 3 September 1898, Page 2

A Terrible Punishment.

♦ INFLICTED UPON A SOLDIER BY A U.S.A. COURT-MARTIAL. Private Cooper, of the 169 th Indiana Volunteers, was recently terribly punished at Oamp Aiger lor absence without leave. Instead of the usual punishment by a certain numbpt|^of ijmra^vfcf&tiigqp duty — dlggirfglrenp^, company §tre"efcW, bt xraer tiring but healthful and beneficial labourCooper was, tortured in as merciless and inhuman a tnander as might be imagined. A " sawhorse," after the 9tyle of those used by carpenters, hud been specially constructed as an instrument of torture. The legs of the horse were made nearly 4ft long, and the cross- bar was a £ft pole, slightly larger at one each than the other, triangular in shape, with a sharp edge uppermost. At the time for his punijfhment Cooper was led in shame to the horse and placed astride it. His bare feet were tied securely beneath, hanging clear of ihe ground. His hands were pinioned in front of him to the sharp edged pole. And there, bareheaded, under the glaring sun of a fiercely hot day, Cooper swayed in agoily «nd excruciating pain for four hours. The men crowded about to see the sight, and they laughed, and jeered, and taunted poor Cooper to their hearts' content. They seemed to find in his suffering and degradation Something outlandishly humorous. The sun burned down on his unprotected head, «nd the sword-like pole cuf into his ftash with unrelenting tomiHit. The weight of his whole body r'estpd on the blade. There wt- n > relief. Every vein in the poor flljw'rf face and neck seemed l^ady tn burst. He would draw bis 'U&* ny from time to time in usel -«m • •rid/'aavqur- to rfes* them. That; w-i* before thay benaine numb. H" would throw his weight forward on his hands, and then draw back again into the old position." After four hours they came to take him down, hrn he could cot stand, and sank to the ground exhausted.' They had to .carry him to his tent. He had been sentenced to eight hours of th? pawhorse torture, but on the following morning it was found that his physical condition would not allow the additional four hours' punishment. There was humanity enough lefo in the regiment to prevent th° full sentence being oarried out. For days Cooper's condition was critical, but he will pull through, and perhaps can give some interesting expert testimony on btivr l \t feels to be tortured and racked by the United States' army officers pet contrivance, if the occasion' ariaea.