To Pillory or Hillary, That Is the Question

Tracing the family tree left me interested in learning more about my ancestors, where they came from and how they lived. (see: Hey, Cuz, Pleased to Meet You!) I checked out a book on the history of Tennessee from the library. Included in the book are descriptions of the punishments inflicted on lawbreakers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Pillory, circa 18th and   19th centuries.

(No, none of my ancestors were listed in this group — really.) Among the descriptions are what we’ve come to know as cruel and unusual punishments. And even if such punishments were considered cruel at the time, they don’t seem to have been unusual.

There were few prisons in those days. Punishment was swift. Horse thieves and murderers were usually marched straight to the gallows. Others received less deadly forms of punishment, often in the form of public humiliation.

In one case on record, a man wounded another and was sentenced to be whipped publicly, cropped on both ears, and branded on the arms with hot wire. Another man, convicted of manslaughter, was sentenced to be branded with the letter M.

Horse stealing was not always a hanging offense, however. One horse thief escaped the death penalty, but his sentence included confinement in the pillory for one hour, having both ears nailed to the pillory, then severed at the end of the hour, 39 lashes “well laid on,” and branding with the letter H on the right cheek and the letter T on the other.

Counterfeiters were decreed to receive “39 stripes on his, her, or their back, be imprisoned not less than six months, nor more than two years, shall be rendered infamous, and pay the costs of the prosecution, and shall also be branded on ... the left thumb with the letter T.”

Also consider perjury, a crime with a ring of relevancy these days: A perjurer might be sentenced to stand in the pillory for several hours with his ears nailed back, and afterwards both ears severed from his head and left nailed on the pillory. (Are you paying attention, Mr. President? Oh, that’s right. You’re being Hillaried. That’s cruel and unusual enough.)

In the meantime, reformers throughout the country spoke of better treatment for those convicted of crime. Many believed that if the “convict could be incarcerated for a time in a ‘penitentiary house’ and accorded humane treatment, he would have the opportunity for the first time to contemplate the enormity of his crime and thereafter live an exemplary life.”

Thus, our modern prison system was spawned. Construction continues unabated to this day. It certainly has reduced the crime rate, hasn’t it?

— RP