State v. Morris

Convicts — Guards—Right to Whip — County Commissioners — Rules and Regulations. In tbe-absence of rules aud regulations made and promulgated by tbe county,commissioners permitting it; a guard bas no legal right or authorhy to whip convicts in bis care or custody. 8. v. Nipper, ante, 272, cited as controlling.

xYppeal by defendant from. Adams, J'., at January Term, 1914, of GastoN. Tbe defendant, a superintendent of one of tbe cbain-gangs in Gaston County, was convicted of whipping a convict. Tbe whipping, with a leather strap l1/^ inches wide, 16 or 18 inches long, attached to a wooden handle 10 or 12 inches long, was admitted by the defendant, and the evidence for the State showed a serious beating and the use of a stick. There were no written rules or regulations, and there is no evidence that the commissioners of Gaston County have formulated and adopted any rules or regulations for the discipline of convicts. His Honor charged the jury that if they believed the evidence the defendant was guilty, and he excepted and appealed from the judgment imposing a fine of $10.