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:
“Routine physical punishment such as spanking teaches a toddler that might makes right and that it is fine to hit when one is stronger and can get away with it.”
—Alicia F. Lieberman (20th century)
“My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time—
To let the punishment fit the crime—
The punishment fit the crime;”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“If we could do away with death, we wouldn’t object; to do away with capital punishment will be more difficult. Were that to happen, we would reinstate it from time to time.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)