Domestic Spanking 100 Years Ago
From spankoz.net:
Wife Says 4th of July Spanking OK
The complaint brought against John James Edyk of 183 North First Street in the Court of Special Sessions by his wife was dismissed today. Mrs. Emma Edyk changed her mind and said it was okay for him to spank her.
Mrs. Emma Edyk told the court through her lawyer, Mr. Spiro that it was okay for her husband to spank her. The punishment was not severe, neither was it cruel, and she says her husband acted within his rights. She desires to withdraw the complaint and will consent that he go free.
In the complaint filed, Mrs. Edyk’s lawyer Mr. Spiro said: “Mr. Edyk was celebrating Independence Day and came home feeling happy. Mrs Edyk remonstrated him because of his hilarity. At bedtime just after completing her nightly prayers and about to get into bed, she felt obligated to remonstrate him again about the evils of alcohol. Mr. Edyk then picked her up, sat on the edge of the bed and laying her face down across his lap began spanking in the old fashion way. The spanking was not severe but humiliating. Mrs Edyk had not been spanked in the old fashion was since she was a schoolgirl of seventeen.”
– Brooklyn Union Dispatch, July 7, 1902