THE LASH IN MOUNT EDEN UNKNOWN.

Auckland Star, Volume IV, Issue 1023, 30 April 1873, Page 3

THE LASH IN MOUNT EDEN UNKNOWN.

FLOGGING OF A PRISONER.

The first flogging of a prisoner under the Act lately passed, which renders the. perpetrators of a certain class of offences liable to corporal punishment, took place this morning in the Stocl;ade at Mount' Eden. The name of the man who received this disgraceful and painful punishment is Robert Stinson, who about a fortnight since was found guilty at the Criminal Sessions of the Supieme Court of an attempted commission of a vile offence upon the person of an idiot girl aged 13 years, and was sentenced to im-

prisonment in gaol for eighteen months and to receive thirty strokes from the " cat o' nine tails." His Honof Justice Johnson, in sentencing the prisoner, remarked that he was sorry to say this class of offences were too common ; they brought discredit upon the community among whom they occurred, and it,was necessary that the perpetrators should be severely punished. The Legislature, he said, .had shown its sense of such conduct as the prisoner's by providing an exceptional punishment for such offences, and had given power to a judge to inflict personal chastisement; and, however adverse he might be to its infliction, he thought he should be trifling with the intention of the Legislature if he did not make an

example to deter such men as the prisoner from carrying out their infamous designs. He further said that there was a degradation connected with the subjection to corporal punishment which had induced the Legislature to re&erve that kind of chastisement specially for the offence of which the culprit Stinson had been convicted, and he hoped that the species of punishment and the disgrace of it would strike terror into the mind of the prisoner, and also others of his descrip-

tion, and prevent their indulgence in such lustful habits. There has been since the sentence some difficulty in finding a man capable of carrying out the punishment, but yesterday Capt. Eyre succeeded in engaging the services of a man in whose hands the " cat " was no novelty, and whom, from his former experience, should be able to inflict the torture with no half measures. It is sufficient here to state that the man is an old soldier. At a quarter - past six this morning a couple of warders proceeded to the culprit's cell, and, arousing him, told him to prepare for his punishment. Stinson made no resistance, but quietly donned his prison garb. He was then conducted to the "refractory yard," where were in atdance Captain Eyre, the governor of the gaol, the Provincial Surgeon, three or four of the prison warders, the representatives of the press and lastly the executioner. The prisoner on emerging in the cold grey morning air eyed the triangle, and an involuntary shudder passed over his frame. The doctor having examined the culprit, at once certified that hewas in a fit state of health to undergo the punishment ordered to be inflicted on him, namely, thirty lashes. Stinson was then ordered to divest himself of a portion of his clothing. His back being thus bared to the waist, he was secured to the triangle by his hands being strapped above his head and his legs lashed at the knees and at the ankles. His look on approaching the place of punishment was neither defiant nor indifferent, but rather apprehensive, he having nerved himself to bear the stripes as well as possible, and had evidently made up his mind not to flinch. After the prisoner had been triced up for a minute the man who was tocarry out the sentence of the law having divested himself of superfluous clothing, and bared hia; arm, advanced lash in hand, and measuring; off his distance prepared to begin his work.; At the signal given, the "cat" was given a; sweep, the keen thongs whistling through the air, fell upon the culprit's defence-; less back with a sharp sound. The first stroke left a red-mark, and the prisoner's hand began to twitch nervously. After several blows had fallen on or about the same spot the skin, became much discolored, assuming a deep red almost purple hue. Not a sound escaped from his lips, and as stroke after stroke fell, until' the law was satisfied, there was no perceptible change in his demeanour, and although the! blood swelled within the skin almost to bursting it, yet none esdaped. When the' '•' cat"; had done its work there was, on that* portion of his back where the lash; had fallen, a broad belt of discolored I flesh, which had very much the appearance of a raw beefsteak, a proof of the terrible suffering he must have endured. As ; the lashings were being, unloosed Stinson; spoke in terms of bitterness concerning the. woman who had "been the cause of his being; brought to justice. His coat was then , thrown over his shoulders, and hewas marched; to the infirmary of the prison to have his, back dressed by the surgeon. The cat with which the punishment was inflicted was a; formidable instrument of torture, having attached to a short handle the orthodox number of tails of heavy cord knotted in two or three places. The executioner can hardly be credited with having done his work thoroughly, or the prisoner , would have suffered more acutely. , ■ ...