The large hall of the principal club of one of our provincial towns was
packed with people. Every box, every seat in pit and stalls was taken,
and in spite of the excitement the public was so attentive and quiet
that, when the lecturer stopped to take a mouthful of water, everyone
could hear a solitary belated fly buzzing at one of the windows.
Amongst the bright dresses of the ladies, white and pink and blue,
amongst their bare shoulders and gentle faces shone smart uniforms,
dress coats, and golden epaulettes in plenty.
The lecturer, who was clad in the uniform of the Department of
Education--a tall man whose yellow face seemed to be made up of a black
beard only and glimmering black spectacles--stood at the front of the
platform resting his hand on a table.
But the attentive eyes of the audience were directed, not so much on
him as on a strange, high, massive-looking contrivance which stood
beside him, a grey pyramid covered with canvas, broad at its base,
pointed at the top.
Having quenched his thirst, the lecturer went on:
"Let me briefly sum up. What do we see, ladies and gentlemen? We see
that the encouraging system of marks, prizes, distinctions, leads to
jealousy, pride and dissatisfaction. Pedagogic suggestion fails at
last through repetition. Standing culprits in the corner, on the form,
under the clock, making them kneel, is often quite ineffectual as an
example, and the victim is sometimes the object of mirth. Shutting in
a cell is positively harmful, quite apart from the fact that it uses
up the pupil's time without profit. Forced work, on the other hand,
robs the work of its true value. Punishment by hunger affects the brain
injuriously. The stopping of holidays causes malice in the mind of
pupils, and often evokes the dissatisfaction of parents. What remains?
Expulsion of the dull or mischievous child from the school--as advised
in Holy Writ--the cutting off of the offending member lest, through
him, the whole body of the school be infected. Yes, alas! such a
measure is, I admit, inevitable on certain occasions now, as inevitable
as is capital punishment, I regret to say, even in the best of states.
But before resorting to this last irreparable means, let us see what
else there may be...."
"And flogging!" cried a deep bass voice from the front row of the
stalls. It was the governor of the town fortress, a deaf old man, under
whose chair a pug-dog growled angrily and hoarsely. The governor was a
familiar figure about town with his stick, ear trumpet, and old panting
pug-dog.
The lecturer bowed, showing his teeth pleasantly.
"I did not intend to express myself as shortly and precisely, but
in essence his Excellency has guessed my thought. Yes, ladies and
gentlemen, there is one good old Russian method of which we have not
yet spoken--corporal punishment. Yes, corporal punishment is part and
parcel of the very soul of the great Russian people, of its mighty
national sense, its patriotism and deep faith in Providence. Even the
apostle said: 'Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.' The unforgotten
monument of mediaeval culture--Domostroi--enjoins the same with
paternal firmness. Let us call to mind our inspired Tsar-educator,
Peter the Great, with his famous cudgel. Let us call to mind the speech
of our immortal Pushkin:
"'Our fathers, the further back you go,
The more the cudgels they used up.'
"Finally, let us call to mind our wonderful Gogol, who put into the
mouth of a simple, unlearned serving-man the words: 'The peasant
must be beaten, for the peasant is being spoiled.' Yes, ladies and
gentlemen, I boldly affirm that punishment with rods upon the body
goes like a red thread throughout the whole immense course of Russian
history, and takes its rise from the very depths of primitive Russian
life.
"Thus delving in thought into the past, ladies and gentlemen, I appear
a conservative, yet I go forward with outstretched hands to meet the
most liberal of humanitarians. I freely allow, loudly confess, that
corporal punishment, in the way in which it has been practised until
now, has much in it that is insulting for the person being chastised
as well as humiliating for the person chastising. The personal
confrontment of the two men inevitably awakens hate, fear, irritation,
revengefulness, contempt, and what is more, a competitive stubbornness
in the repetition of crime and punishment. So you no doubt imagine
that I renounce corporal punishment. Yes, I do renounce it, though
only to introduce it anew, replacing man by a machine. After the
labours, thoughts and experiments of many years, I have at last worked
out a scheme of mechanical justice, and have realised it in a machine.
Whether I have been successful or not I shall in a minute leave this
most respected audience to judge."
The lecturer nodded towards the wings of the stage. A fine-looking
attendant came forward and took off the canvas cover from the strange
object standing at the footlights. To the eyes of those present, the
bright gleaming machine was rather like an automatic weighing-machine,
though it was obviously more complex and was much larger. There was a
murmur of astonishment among the audience in the hall.
The lecturer extended his hand, and pointed to the apparatus.
"There is my offspring," said he in an agitated voice. "There is an
apparatus which may fairly be called the instrument of mechanical
justice. The construction is uncommonly simple, and in price it would
be within the reach of even a modest village school. Pray consider its
construction. In the first place you remark the horizontal platform
on springs, and the wooden platform leading to it. On the platform is
placed a narrow chair, the back of which has also a powerful spring and
is covered with soft leather. Under the chair, as you see, is a system
of crescent-shaped levers turning on a hinge. Proportionately with
the pressure on the springs of the chair and platform these levers,
departing from their equipoise, describe half circles, and close in
pairs at a height of from five to eighteen _vershoks_[1] above the
level of the chair--varying with the force of pressure.
[1] A vershok is 1/16 of an arshin, _i.e.,_ 1¾ inches.
"Behind the chair rises a vertical cast-iron pillar, with a cross bar.
Within the pillar is contained a powerful mechanism resembling that
of a watch, having a 160-lb. balance and a spiral spring. On the side
of the column observe a little door, that is for cleaning or mending
the mechanism. This door has only two keys, and I ask you to note,
ladies and gentlemen, that these keys are kept, one by the chief
district inspector of mechanical flogging machines, and the other
by the head master of the school. So this apparatus, once brought
into action, cannot be stopped until it has completed the punishment
intended--except, of course, in the eventuality of its being forcibly
broken, which is a hardly likely possibility seeing the simplicity and
solidity of every part of the machine.
"The watch mechanism, once set going, communicates with a little
horizontally-placed axle. The axle has eight sockets in which may be
mounted eight long supple bamboo or metal rods. When worn out these
can be replaced by new ones. It must be explained also that, by a
regulation of the axle, the force of the strokes may be varied.
"And so we see the axle in motion, and moving with it the eight rods.
Each rod goes downward perfectly freely, but coming upward again it
meets with an obstacle--the cross-beam--and meeting it, bends and is
at tension from its point, bulges to a half-circle, and then, breaking
free, deals the blow. Then, since the position of the cross-beam can
be adjusted, raised or lowered, it will be evident that the tension
of the bending rods can be increased or decreased, and the blow given
with a greater or less degree of severity. In that way it has been
possible to make a scale of severity of punishment from 0 degrees to
24 degrees. No. 0 is when the cross-beam is at its highest point, and
is only employed when the punishment bears a merely nominal, or shall
I say, symbolical, character. By the time we come to No. 6, a certain
amount of pain has become noticeable. We indicate a maximum for use in
elementary schools, that would be up to No. 10; in secondary schools up
to 15. For soldiers, village prisons, and students, the limit is set
at 20 degrees, and, finally, for houses of correction and workmen on
strike, the maximum figure, namely, 24.
"There, ladies and gentlemen, is the substance of my invention. There
remain the details. That handle at the side, like the handle of a
barrel organ, serves to wind up the spiral spring of the mechanism. The
arrow here in this slot regulates the celerity of the strokes. At the
height of the pillar, in a little glass case, is a mechanical meter or
indicator. This enables one to check the accuracy of the working of the
machine, and is also useful for statistical and revisionary purposes.
In view of this latter purpose, the indicator is constructed to show
a maximum total of 60,000 strokes. Finally, ladies and gentlemen,
please to observe something in the nature of an urn at the foot of the
pillar. Into this are thrown metal coupons with numbers on them, and
this momentarily sets the whole machine in action. The coupons are of
various weights and sizes. The smallest is about the size of a silver
penny,[1] and effects the minimum punishment--five strokes. The largest
is about the size of a hundred-copeck bit--a rouble--and effects a
punishment of just one hundred strokes. By using various combinations
of metal coupons you can effect a punishment of any number of strokes
in a multiple of five, from five to three hundred and fifty. But"--and
here the lecturer smiled modestly--"but we should not consider that we
had completely solved our problem if it were necessary to stop at that
limited figure.
[1] Five copecks silver--the smallest silver coin in Russia.
"I will ask you, ladies and gentlemen, to note the figure at which
the indicator at present stands, and that which it reaches after the
punishment has been effected. What is more, the respected public will
observe that, up to the moment when the coupons are thrown into the
urn, there is no danger whatever in standing on the platform.
"And so ... the indicator shows 2900. Consequently, having thrown in
all the coupons, the pointer will show, at the end of the execution ...
3250.... I fancy I make no mistake!
"And it will be quite sufficient to throw into the urn anything round,
of whatever size, and the machine will go on to infinity, if you will,
or, if not to infinity, to 780 or 800, at which point the spring would
have run down and the machine need re-winding. What I had in view in
using these small coupons was that they might commonly be replaced by
coins, and each mechanical self-flogger has a comparative table of the
stroke values of copper, silver and gold money. Observe the table here
at the side of the main pillar.
"It seems I have finished.... There remain just a few particulars
concerning the construction of the revolving platform, the swinging
chair, and the crescent-shaped levers. But as it is a trifle
complicated, I will ask the respected public to watch the machine in
action, and I shall now have the honour to give a demonstration.
"The whole procedure of punishment consists in the following. First of
all, having thoroughly sifted and got to the bottom of the motives of
the crime, we fix the extent of the punishment, that is, the number of
strokes, the celerity with which they shall be given, and the force
and, in some cases, the material of the rods. Then we send a note to
the man in charge of the machine, or communicate with him by telephone.
He puts the machine in readiness and then goes away. Observe, the man
goes, the machine remains alone, the impartial, unwavering, calm and
just machine.
"In a minute I shall come to the experiment. Instead of a human
offender we have, on this occasion, a leather mannikin. In order to
show the machine at its best we will imagine that we have before us a
criminal of the most stubborn type. 'Officer!'" cried the lecturer to
someone behind the scenes. "'Prepare the machine, force 24, minimum
celerity.'"
In a tense silence the audience watched the attendant wind the handle,
push down the cross-beam, turn round the celerity arrow, and then
disappear behind the scenes again.
"Now all is in order," the lecturer went on, "and the room in which the
flogging machine stands is quite empty. There only remains to call up
the man who is to be punished, explain to him the extent of his guilt
and the degree of his punishment, and he himself--remark, ladies and
gentlemen, himself!--takes from the box the corresponding coupon. Of
course, it might be arranged that he, there and then, drops the coupon
through a slot in the table and lets it fall into the urn; that is a
mere detail.
"From that moment the offender is entirely in the hands of the
machine. He goes to the dressing-room, he opens the door, stands on
the platform, throws the coupon or coupons into the urn, and ... done!
The door shuts mechanically after him, and cannot be re-opened. He may
stand a moment, hesitating, on the brink, but in the end he simply
must throw the coupons in. For, ladies and gentlemen"--exclaimed the
pedagogue with a triumphant laugh--"for the machine is so constructed
that the longer he hesitates the greater becomes the punishment, the
number of strokes increasing in a ratio of from five to thirty per
minute according to the weight of the person hesitating.... However,
once the offender is off, he is caught by the machine at three points,
neck, waist and feet, and the chair holds him. All this is accomplished
literally in one moment. The next moment sounds the first stroke, and
nothing can stop the action of the machine, nor weaken the blows, nor
increase or diminish the celerity, until that moment when justice has
been accomplished. It would be physically impossible, not having the
key.
"Officer! Bring in the mannikin!
"Will the esteemed audience kindly indicate the number of the
strokes.... Just a number, please ... three figures if you wish, but
not more than 350. Please...."
"Five hundred," shouted the governor of the fortress.
"Reff," barked the dog under his chair.
"Five hundred is too many," gently objected the lecturer, "but to go as
far as we can towards meeting his Excellency's wish let us say 350. We
throw into the urn all the coupons."
Whilst he was speaking, the attendant brought in under his arm a
monstrous-looking leathern mannikin, and stood it on the floor, holding
it up from behind. There was something suggestive and ridiculous in
the crooked legs, outstretched arms, and forward-hanging head of this
leathern dummy.
Standing on the platform of the machine, the lecturer continued:
"Ladies and gentlemen, one last word. I do not doubt that my mechanical
self-flogger will be most widely used. Slowly but surely it will
find its way into all schools, colleges and seminaries. It will be
introduced in the army and navy, in the village, in military and civil
prisons, in police stations and for fire-brigades, and in all truly
Russian families.
"The coupons are inevitably replaced by coins, and in that way not only
is the cost of the machine redeemed, but a fund is commenced which
can be used for charitable and educative ends. Our eternal financial
troubles will pass, for, by the aid of this machine, the peasant will
be forced to pay his taxes. Sin will disappear, crime, laziness,
slovenliness, and in their stead will flourish industry, temperance,
sobriety and thrift.
"It is difficult to probe further the possible future of this machine.
Did Gutenberg foresee the contribution which book-printing was going
to make to the history of human progress when he made his first naïve
wooden printing-press? But I am, however, far from airing a foolish
self-conceit in your eyes, ladies and gentlemen. The bare idea belongs
to me. In the practical details of the invention I have received most
material help from Mr. N----, the teacher of physics in the Fourth
Secondary School of this town, and from Mr. X----, the well-known
engineer. I take the opportunity of acknowledging my indebtedness."
The hall thundered with applause. Two men in the front of the stalls
stood up timidly and awkwardly, and bowed to the public.
"For me personally," continued the lecturer, "there has been the
greatest satisfaction to consider the good I was doing my beloved
fatherland. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is a token which I have lately
received from the governor and nobility of Kursk--with the motto:
_Similia similibus._"
He detached from its chain and held aloft an immense antique
chronometer, about half a pound in weight. From the watch dangled also
a massive gold medal.
"I have finished, ladies and gentlemen," added the lecturer in a low
and solemn voice, bowing as he spoke.
But the applause had not died down before there happened something
incredible, appalling. The chronometer suddenly slipped from the raised
hand of the pedagogue, and fell with a metallic clash right into the
urn.
At once the machine began to hum and click. The platform inverted, and
the lecturer was suddenly hoist with his own petard. His coat-tails
waved in the air; there was a sudden thwack and a wild cry.
2901, indicated the mechanical reckoner.
It is difficult to describe rapidly and definitely what happened in the
meeting. For a few seconds everyone was turned to stone. In the general
silence sounded only the cries of the victim, the whistling of the
rods, and the clicking of the counting machine. Then suddenly everyone
rushed up on to the stage.
"For the love of the Lord!" cried the unfortunate man, "for the love of
the Lord!"
But it was impossible to help him. The valorous physics teacher put out
a hand to catch one of the rods as they came, but drew it back at once,
and the blood on his fingers was visible to all. No efforts could raise
the cross-beam.
"The key! Quick, the key!" cried the pedagogue. "In my trouser pocket."
The devoted attendant dashed in to search his pockets, with difficulty
avoiding blows from the machine. But the key was not to be found.
2950, 2951, 2952, 2953, clicked the counting machine.
"Oh, your honour!" cried the attendant through his tears. "Let me take
your trousers off. They are quite new, and they will be ruined....
Ladies can turn the other way."
"Go to blazes, idiot! Oey, o, O!... Gentlemen, for God's sake!... Oey,
oey!... I forgot.... The keys are in my overcoat.... Oey! Quickly!"
They ran to the ante-room for his overcoat. But neither was there any
key there. Evidently the inventor had left it at home. Someone was sent
to fetch it. A gentleman present offered his carriage.
And the sharp blows registered themselves every second with
mathematical precision; the pedagogue shouted; the counting machine
went indifferently on.
3180, 3181, 3182....
One of the garrison lieutenants drew his sword and began to hack at
the apparatus, but after the fifth blow there remained only the hilt,
and a jumping splinter hit the president of the Zemstvo. Most dreadful
of all was the fact that it was impossible to guess to what point the
flogging would go on. The chronometer was proving itself weighty. The
man sent for the key still did not return, and the counter, having long
since passed the figure previously indicated by the inventor, went on
placidly.
3999, 4000, 4001.
The pedagogue jumped no longer. He just lay with gaping mouth and
protruding eyes, and only twitched convulsively.
At last, the governor of the fortress, boiling with indignation, roared
out to the accompaniment of the barking of his dog:
"Madness! Debauch! Unheard of! Order up the fire-brigade!"
This idea was the wisest. The governor of the town was an enthusiast
for the fire-brigade, and had smartened the firemen to a rare pitch. In
less than five minutes, and at that moment when the indicator showed
stroke No. 4550, the brave young fellows of the fire-brigade broke on
the scene with choppers and hooks.
The magnificent mechanical self-flogger was destroyed for ever and
ever. With the machine perished also the idea. As regards the inventor,
it should be said that, after a considerable time of feeling sore in a
corporal way and of nervous weakness, he returned to his occupation.
But the fatal occasion completely changed his character. He became
for the rest of his life a calm, sweet, melancholy man, and though he
taught Latin and Greek he was a favourite with the schoolboys.
He has never returned to his invention.