Today’s Savage Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
In Britain, flogging was permitted in the armed forces until the middle of the 20th century. The weapon was usually the cat-o’-nine-tails, and, although different types were in use, the general design would seem to be that as described by an officer in the 1800s:
“The nine lashes, each about sixteen inches long, were made of a thick, strong kind of whip-cord, mounted on a wooden handle the length of a drumstick. On each were tied three large knots, one being near the end, so that a poor wretch, who was sentenced to receive one thousand lashes, as was often the case, had twenty-seven thousand knots cutting into his back, and men have declared to me that the sensation experienced at each lash, was as though the talons of a hawk were tearing the flesh off their bones.”
The savagery of such floggings were such that that happened in many cases. In 1800 it was reported by the doctor examining a man who had just received “only” 200 lashes, that once the wounds were cleaned, the man’s backbone and shoulder-blade were laid bare. In that same regiment in 1806, a man died after receiving the same type of wounds; another received 400 lashes and, although he scorned to flinch at first, further strokes did so much damage “that he groaned and died”.
Culled from: The Book Of Execution
Poor wretch indeed.