Corpun file 21769
The New York Times, 2 February 1927
Judge Spanks Wife Beater
Whips Akron Prisoner Until He Promises to Be Good.
Special to The New York Times.
AKRON, Ohio, Feb. 1. - Judge E. E. Zesiger of the Criminal Branch of Municipal Court here decided that John Caves, alleged drunkard and wife beater, deserved a whipping for his misdeed, and he gave it to him this afternoon.
In a prison cell back of the court room the Judge took off his coat and in the presence of Jailer Stitzlein turned Caves over his left knee and spanked him with a piece of rubber hose until he cried and promised to mend his ways.
"I don't know whether I did the right thing, Judge Zesiger said. "We had tried everything else prescribed by law and it seemed to do John no good. He had been fined repeatedly for drunkenness, and had been lodged in the jail and in the workhouse for abusing his wife, but he didn't seem to care.
"I guess I hit him twenty times across the seat of his pants with the flexible hose. He yelled like a schoolboy, wept, and promised to turn over a new leaf. After that I ordered him released and told him I never wanted to see him in my court again."
