The New York Times, 17 February 1932

Jersey Judge Flogs 3 Schoolboys in Court Before Mothers, Who Promised 'Spankings'

Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.

WOODBURY, N.J., Feb. 16. -- Police Recorder Frank L. Johnson sentenced three schoolboys, charged with having broken the lock of a motion picture theatre's exit door to see the movie, to receive ten lashes each tonight, and then descended from the bench and administered the flogging himself with a borrowed strap.

The boys, Franklin Heiser, 16 years old, of 487 Salem Avenue; Norman Redfield, 15, of 44 Delaware Street, and William Elliott, 12, of 180 Green Avenue, were accompanied to court by their mothers.

Recorder Johnson found them guilty of creating a disturbance at the Rialto Theatre and fined each $5. Then he turned to their mothers and asked if they did not think the boys should be flogged. Unaware of the judge's intention, the mothers agreed, and volunteered to give them a good spanking when they got them home.

"It is quite likely that you would spank the boys," Recorder Johnson admitted, "but I am going to be sure they are punished, so I'll do it myself." He asked Police Sergeant William Porch to remove his Sam Browne belt.

With the belt doubled in his hand, the judge directed the boys to take off their coats. Then he had Sergeant Porch, a burly man, hold each of the boys during the whippings.

With their amazed mothers looking on, the three hapless boys did not flinch as Recorder Johnson wielded the lash ten times on each without attempting to lighten his stroke.

The Elliott boy, youngest of the trio, gasped audibly as the strap fell on his back, but he held back his tears.

The sentence meted out, Recorder Johnson returned to his bench and the boys and their mothers left the court room, accompanied by more than a score of their schoolmates, some cheering and others jeering and hooting them.

Recorder Johnson's sentence is believed to be the first of its kind in New Jersey in modern times. He was appointed Jan. 1.