Boys beaten in spanking machine

Boys at the Minnesota Training School in the United States were punished by a ‘spanking machine’ an inquiry in 1911 was told. The boy’s feet were held in stocks and his body bent over a curved surface and his hands were outstretched and he was beaten with a heavy strap.

As published in The Missoula Sentinel (Montana, United States), 25 August 1911

 

Still on spanking machines, here’s a report from 1957 that reads a bit like an ‘urban myth.’ Apparently in the 1930s and 40s in a place called Council Buffs, Iowa, USA, every grade school had a spanking machine. Mostly, people didn’t see it but heard about it from someone else. It was kept in a dark corner of the principal’s office.

One man remembers the device, ‘It was sort of a wheel shaped thing with dozens of paddles. It seems like it ran on a steam engine, but I’m not sure … you see I never saw it myself.’

 

As published in The Daily Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States), 22 September 1957.

Traditional School Discipline

Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com