Corpun file 25798 at www.corpun.com

Chicago Sunday Tribune, 20 March 1932, p.8

7 Delaware Thieves Given 40 Lashes Each at Whipping Post

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Wilmington, Del., March 19. -- [U.P.] -- Seven men, convicted of theft, were given 40 lashes each at the whipping post of the Newcastle county workhouse today.

It was the largest mass flogging of recent years in Delaware, one of the few states where whipping is permitted by law.

The strokes were administered by Warden J. Elmer Leach, who is a personal opponent of flogging but is obliged by law to do the whipping himself.

The men were led out in turn and tied with their hands out to two iron rings in the wall. The three foot whip, made of nine separate straps, was snapped across their backs and shoulders. The resulting welts were treated by physicians. The warden administered 280 lashes in all.

Five of the men were white and were convicted of robbing a pawnshop. The other two, Negroes, were convicted of petty theft. All were to serve jail terms in addition to the flogging.