Punishment
Bounty jumping could be a capital offense. In 1864 three bounty jumpers were executed on the parade grounds of Camp Morton in Indianapolis, Indiana. At Governor's Island in early 1865, bounty jumper James Develin was executed; he had been turned in by his wife after she caught him with another woman. Bounty jumpers were more likely to receive death sentences than those deserters who left due to homesickness, or to help the family farm, or simply as a lark against authority. In another incident, a bounty jumper attempting to escape his captors was shot when one of them overtook him, placing the pistol directly to the back of the man's head while both were running.
Not all punishments were capital. When a man who bounty jumped 32 times was caught, he was sentenced to four years in prison. The infamous Andersonville prison held hundreds of bounty jumpers.
Bounty jumpers also faced torture. One method to torture bounty jumpers was by use of thumbscrews.
Read more about this topic: Bounty Jumper
Famous quotes containing the word punishment:
“The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.”
—Plato (428–347 B.C.)
“The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.”
—John Philpot Curran (1750–1817)
“Death is less bitter punishment than death’s delay.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)