At the Newcastle County Workhouse in Wilmington, Delaware, James Dudley Major, also known as Earl White, was fastened to the whipping post and given 40 lashes across his bare back.
He was serving a twenty-year sentence for highway robbery, and the old punishment was carried out before a crowd of about 40 spectators, including city and county officials.
Warden Elmer J. Leach himself applied the cat-o-nine tails.
According to the report, the lashes were “laid on lightly,” but by the time the punishment ended, Major’s back was red from the blows. He had been manacled to the post throughout the whipping, unable to move as the crowd watched.
When the lashing was over, Major smiled.
Smiles At 40 Lashes On His Back
WILMINGTON, Delaware. — James Dudley Major, alias Earl White, serving a twenty-year sentence for highway robbery, felt the sting of the lash at the Delaware whipping post at the Newcastle County Workhouse when he received 40 lashes on his bare back.
Warden Elmer J. Leach applied the cat-o-nine tails. About 40 persons, many of them city and county officials, were spectators. Although laid on lightly, Major’s back was red.
When the lashing was over, he smiled.
While the lash was being laid on, he was manacled to the whipping post.
Major also is wanted in Kansas, where he escaped while serving a 21-year sentence for bank robbery, Major is the first person to receive 40 lashes at one time for a long while.
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. October 8, 1923.
