Medieval Punishments by William Andrews

Author:William Andrews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2013-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

PILLORY AT RYE.

It was no uncommon circumstance for the offenders to be killed on the pillory, by the pelting to which they were subjected by the fury of the crowd. In 1731, a professional witness, i.e., one who, for the reward offered for the conviction of criminals, would swear falsely against them, was sentenced to the pillory of Seven Dials, where so bitter were the populace against him that they pelted him to death. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of “wilful murder by persons unknown.” In 1756, the drovers of Smithfield pelted two perjured thief-catchers so violently that one died; in 1763, a man died from a like cause, at Southwark; in 1780, a coachman died from injuries before his time had expired.

An amusing anecdote is related, bearing upon a pillory accident. “A man being condemned to the pillory in or about Elizabeth’s time, the footboard on which he was placed proved to be rotten, and down it fell, leaving him hanging by the neck, in danger of his life. On being liberated, he brought an action against the town for the insufficiency of its pillory, and recovered damages.”*

In the year 1816, the pillory ceased to be employed for punishing persons, except in cases of perjury, and for this crime a man was put in the pillory in 1830. The pillory, in the year 1837, was abolished by Act of Parliament.

At the present time in China, the Cang, or Cangue is employed for punishing petty offenders. From a picture we give from an original sketch recently made, it will be seen that it consists of a large wooden collar fitting close round the neck. The size and weight of the board varies, but it is not to be removed until the completion of the sentence, which may vary in length from a couple of weeks to three months. The name of the prisoner and the nature of his crime are written on the cang in large letters. He is left to public charity for support, and frequently suffers from the pangs of hunger.

* Chambers’s “Book of Days.”

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