CAT-O'-NINETAILS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 85, 10 April 1926, Page 20

CAT-O'-NINETAILS

A PUNISHMENT OF DAYS THAT HAVE GONE,

During the year Judges have frequently added to sentences of pena 1! servitude a number of strokes of the "cat." The reason is, of course, that it is known that such punishment strikes fear into the hearts of criminals who have specialised in crimes of violence, writes Hugh Brady in the "Daily Mail." No man who has been punished with the "cat" has ever betn known to run the risk of receiving a second dose. t At one time garrotting was a common 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 '-ninetails, and consisted of nine small thongs of rope. To-day the "eat" used in British prisons consists of but one thong, one inch in diameter, attached to a wooden handle. In ap- | pearanee it somewhat resembles a sturdy dog whip. The history of the cat-o'-nine tails dates from the early days of the British Navy, and it superseded a birch consisting of a number of thongs. In. those far-off days it terrorised the most unruly of naval defaulters. About half a century ago the instrument was introduced into penal establishments, but it was" not untiV twenty 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 being vested in. the hands of the governor. But to-day only Judges can order flogging. It was after the war that the cat-o'-nine-tails lost eight of its tails 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 in 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. Fife or six strokes invariably bring the criminal »o a half-dazed condition. Water may revive him until ten strokes have been given. Then the man is ; removed tohospital for treatment. It is interesting to note that the phraae ''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.