The Stocks:
A Colonial Punishment & Strange Crime Stories.
The Stocks were the sentence of punishments in the 16th & 17th centuries. Criminals would sit with feet in a wooden frame, where local people throw rotten food or stones at them. Their crimes were swearing, drunkenness, dishonesty & disorderly conduct in public.
The idea was an invention by a Boston carpenter, Edward Palmer, in 1643. First, they place wooden boards with hinges around the ankles and wrists. Then they subject the victim to insults, kick him, spit upon him, and perform other inhumane acts.
In the Book of Acts of the Apostles, they detail the treatment of Paul and Silas:
”Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
The Old Testament Book Of Job also describes the stocks, referring to God: “He puts my feet in the stocks, he watches all my paths.”
In the American colonies, they used the stocks for punishment and to restrain individuals awaiting trial.
Now, Edward Palmer, the inventor of the stocks, is the first person to get this sentence in the stocks. His crime; guilty of charging too much for his work!
