Curious Punishments of Bygone Days

by Alice Morse Earle

Alice Morse Earle was a social historian of great note at the turn of the century, and many of her books have lived on as well-researched and well-written texts of everyday life in Colonial America. Curious Punishments of Bygone Days was published in 1896. It is a catalog of early American crimes and their penalties, with chapters on the pillories, stocks, the scarlet letter, the ducking stool, discipline of authors and books (egad!), and four other horrifying examples of ways in which those who transgressed the laws of Colonial America were made to pay for their sins.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ebooks

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Alice Morse Earle was an American historian and author from Worcester, Massachusetts. She was christened Mary Alice by her parents Edwin Morse and Abby Mason Clary. On 15 April 1874, she married Henry Earle of New York, changing her name from Mary Alice Morse to Alice Morse Earle. Her writings, beginning in 1890, focussed on small sociological details rather than grand details, and thus are invaluable for modern sociologists. She wrote a number of books on colonial America (and especially the New England region) such as Curious Punishments of Bygone Days. She was a passenger aboard the RMS Republic when, while in a dense fog, that ship collided with the SS Florida. During the transfer of passengers, Alice fell into the water. Her near drowning in 1909 off the coast of Nantucket during this abortive trip to Egypt weakened her health sufficiently that she died two years later, in Hempstead, Long Island.

Reviews

[Zadignose]

Just in case you needed a catalogue of examples demonstrating how horrible human beings are.

[Nelly Alikyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great research for writing.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exquisite coffee-table read. The ducking stool and trebuchet are interesting and certainly "curious".

[Kirby R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, but a decent one. I was a bit disappointed to find that it was only American punishments, as the title gave away nothing that would lead one to that conclusion, but the sentences were interesting nonetheless. I found the ducking stool to be the most interesting due to both the "crime" one had to commit to face it and the fact that I had never heard of such a device up until reading it here.

[Sharon O. Heckert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new

I had already heard and knew well the punishments set forth in this book, and, in retrospect, possibly should have expected as much since documentaries/other periodicals on the subject I have seen and read many. So many court records written in Olde English make for a somewhat difficult read; one has to carefully go over each word slowly (and usually more than once) to make sure comprehension is correct, and it ends up being very annoying.

[Linds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers antiquated punishments. Some I knew (the stocks, ducking stools) and some I didn’t (cucking stools, bilboes).
My main takeaway is don’t think I realized how much trouble you could get in for essentially name calling.

It seems so primitive (and it is) but if I had the choice of going to prison for two years or taking a whipping or a day in the stocks I’d take the letter. As awful as it is at least you can get it over with and provide financially for your child.

[Edwin R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's interesting how our ancestors tortured each other with pain and humiliation. If you ever wondered why there's a clause against "cruel and unusual punishment" in the Constitution this book will illuminate the many reasons. The recitation of facts gets a bit tedious though, and you find yourself getting a bit bored with Puritan cruelty. I guess evil really is banal. It seems the author; Alice Earle survived being shipwrecked in the late 1800's....she should have written about that!

[Bruce Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many who entertain the warm and cosy fantasy of living in an earlier century. Ah, those halcyon days of simplicity and courtesy.

This slim volume, compiled by an American 'historian' in the late nineteenth century, will provide the reader with a cold, rank shower of brutal reality, effectively extinguishing all such naive daydreams.

[Debra Barstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book talked about different forms of punishments used for offenders. Reading I could see how some of the punishments evolved into what we use today for punishment of offenders. I sure am glad that some of these forms are not used in today's society.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earle focuses on specific, minute detail, rather than on broadly interpreting what it means in a historical context or how it related to long-term trends in history. Diverting, informative, sometimes bizarre. I liked it.

[Elaine Reinhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting and horrible punishments

Fascinating punishments and examples. Some very horrific and shocking. Hard to believe that people lost their lives as well as parts of their bodies.

[Christine Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd collection in need of contemporary interpretation.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing and horrifying in equal measure. Humanity is a bloodthirsty lot!

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good factual accounting of various types of punishments used in the US and England, and maybe other parts of Europe. This book was first published in 1896.

[Phil Syphe · Rating 3 out of 5]

When reading accounts like those recalled in this book, one can't help but feel relieved to be living in this century! To think that there was a time when a person could be whipped for lying, or put in the stocks for being drunk or swearing, seems incredible from a twenty-first-century perspective. In fact it seemed incredible from the author of this book when it was published in 1896.

Some of the old punishments were shocking - barbaric even. Many petty criminals had their ears cut off before the beginning of the 1800s. Others had their tongues burned and branding was common.

This book mainly covers punishments administered in England and even more so in America, often comparing how these two nations dealt with criminals. In some cases a person was subjected to severe ordeals just because they were *suspected* of committing a crime - I imagine those later proved innocent were most aggrieved.

The author quotes many actual accounts from yesteryear exactly as they were written, but I think this book would've been a better read had she translated the old English spellings to the modern, as I found myself having to focus on what was being stated, rather than just absorbing the info. Other than that, this work is a good reference of how our forebears dealt with so-called criminals & actual criminals.

[East Bay J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this at the same time that I bought Frances Hill's A Delusion Of Satan (about the Salem Witch Trials), which I thought was particularly appropriate. Curious Punishments Of Bygone Days is an exploration of some of the popular methods of discipline in Colonial America. What's most interesting to me is that this book was written in 1896, much closer to the topic and times it covers than we are today. You've seen most of these depicted in movies but there's something to getting the full story and all the gory details. Women, of course, were the recipients of some of the most humiliating punsihments, which should come as no suprise. Humans are sick and here's the proof. This book is as entertaining as it is disturbing to think that people used to do this stuff to each other. Ouch!

[Erika Schoeps · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The writer is descriptive, and dramatic when describing objects of torment, and it's disturbingly delicious. The book itself is well-researched, and features interesting stories of famous people from the 18th century. I only have one complaint, and it is a large one. The author has a lot of research, and she felt she had to use all of it in it's entirety. There is a description of the punishment, which is then followed by a ridiculous number of examples, all of which are direct quotes in "Olde English". This simply means that you get to read a lot of horribly misspelled descriptions of punishment. It would've been fine if she had picked one or two short passages, but usually you get 4 or 5 ridiculously long examples. They're a pain in the butt to read, and I was really getting fed up with it. It's a great book, but skip all the quotes.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Colonists Behaving Badly

Originally published in 1896, the author shares with us her research on colonial period court records. What is truly amazing is the reasons for punishment such as sleeping in and missing church services or disagreement with the town authorities. The punishments are illustrated with quaint woodcuts, and the cases are quoted from court texts. Many interesting tidbits on Daniel Defoe, Paul Revere, and a few other notables as well as a comparison to English practices. If you are looking for information about this, it's probably here.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cool little history (written in 1896) of public punishments in colonial America. I'm tempted to call it a "cute little history" but that might get me strange looks. There's everything from the familiar stocks to the less known "brank" for nagging women. Earle pulls many direct quotes from town and court records gives specific anecdotes of how various punishments were carried out, where they originated, and what sorts of crimes they were applied to. It's a quick interesting read.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting look at the horrific punishments used in the early days of our country, and an even more interesting (and very sad) look at the amount of random deeds that were considered crimes back in the day.

[Avis Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it's supposed to, describe instruments of torture. Earle is an outstanding cultural historian, but her other books are better than this.

[Snem · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really interesting to read the crimes people were punished for back in the air. I really wanted pictures though.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good to be reminded just how idiotic our sense of punishment has been through the ages. Branding, stocks, pillory ...

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book full of interesting historical recountings that are by turns humorous and horrifying.

[Gerald Wing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining

It is a fun read yet kind of shock to know how bizzare the consequences were and the reasons they were inflicted upon people.