Note 214 — Chapter II

The Forum, Vol. I, 231. It is a matter of some doubt as to whether the ducking-stool ever was actually used in Philadelphia. In 1769 a woman was sentenced to be ducked at the end of Market street wharf, but we are not informed whether the sentence was carried into execution. In 1779 Ann Mease was sentenced to the same punishment but the council remitted the ducking January 26, 1780. XII Colonial Records, 235. In 1781 there was another conviction but the sentence was not carried out. In 1824 the supreme court held that the ducking-stool was not the punishment for a common scold in Pennsylvania. James v. Commonwealth, 12 Sergeant & Rawle, 221 (1824). The Act of March 10, 1683, reënacted in 1693, provided that a scold should stand one hour in a public place with a gag in the mouth. Charter and Laws of Pennsylvania, 144, 198. This was supplied by the Act of November 27, 1700, II Statutes at Large, 85, which provided that the gagged person should stand in some public place at the discretion of the magistrate. The act was repealed in council because it was not stated how long the person should stand gagged and the penalty was too great. II Statutes at Large, 466.