The "Justice Was Swift In Colonial Lancaster, Pennsylvania" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a Facebook page about the city of Lancaster when I came across a story written in "Uncharted Lancaster".  Story told of crime and punishment in Colonial America, specifically Lancaster County.  Found the article interesting and decided to do a bit more research so I dug out my two favorite history books on Lancaster County, Old Lancaster by Frederic Schriver Klein (Artwork by Charles X. Carlson) and The Heritage Of Lancaster by John Ward Willson Loose.  

Old Lancaster and The Heritage of Lancaster books.

Began my search and in no time found much of what I had read on the Facebook page as well as a bit more telling the history of crime and punishment in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Law and order in Lancaster were the duty of the high constable and his assistants.  It was said that justice was swift and sure.  Didn't have to wait months behind bars waiting for a trial, just a trip to the stocks and a pillory which were kept in the north-west corner of Centre Square near the Courthouse which at the time was in the center of Downtown Lancaster near the Courthouse.  Lawbreakers were put on display in agonizing positions with bare backs displayed with dried blood and purple welts; both men and women.  One story that was told was of a woman named Anne Toews who happened to add an extra zero to a one-shilling note, therefore making it ten shillings.  She was quickly found guilty and was given a public whipping of twenty-one lashes on her bare back.  In the pillory, wrong-doers were fastened by the neck and wrists and ridiculed and at times abused by fellow townsmen or mischievous pranksters.  Seems that horse stealing was a frequent crime, much like car stealing today, which was punishable by a public whipping at the pillory.  

"The Pillory" by Charles X. Carlson

At the time, Lancaster County consisted of almost 5,000 square miles and trials were held in Lancaster's Courthouse.  In 1821 Mr. John Lechler was convicted of murder and was marched through the streets of Lancaster, escorted by militia, two cavalry troops and the City Band.  At the Lancaster gallows fifteen thousand people of all ages came to witness the hanging and made a public holiday of the event.  The story went that Mr. Lechler was so fond of marching military units that he led the parade to his own scaffold.  Not only was hanging just for murderers, but was the punishment for burglary as well.  Women most often were given prison terms instead of hanging.  Public punishment was established to provide a warning to everyone what could happen to you if you break the law.  One crime that carried a sentence of whipping was counterfeiting.  Thieves were publicly whipped with twenty lashes and had both their ears cut off!  They also had to wear a large letter "T" on their coat for six months.  Those who were accused of shouting or scolding were usually gagged and made to stand in the pillory.  Most of the laws I have listed were slowly removed in the early nineteenth century.  I wonder what might have happened had the punishments been continued into today's society.  Would certainly be tough to wear hearing aides if needed!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.