The Accused Wife Beater Whipped By A Judge With A Garden Hose Before He Had A Trial
In 1927, a man who was a habitual drunk was beaten by the judge, who was also his long-time friend, because he believed he had assaulted his wife
Domestic violence is a societal scourge that sadly frequently rears its ugly head. Those who are guilty of battering a spouse or partner are deserving of facing severe punishment for their crime. In the 1920s, an Akron, Ohio man was accused of public drunkenness and assaulting his wife, leading to the judge presiding over his case to visit him in his jail cell prior to the trial and administering a spanking with a length of garden hose.
It was reported that in early 1927, 41-year-old bricklayer John Caves was arrested on charges of drunkenness. It seems that this was not the first time he was accused of such crimes, but there was also a belief that he had also just assaulted his wife.
Judge E.E. Zesiger presided over Caves’ hearing, but took very unusual steps to try and correct the defendant’s behavior with his own hands. Before the trial was underway, he visited the accused in his city jail cell and bent the grown man over his knee and administered a strong spanking with a length of rubber garden hose he had brought with him for the occasion until Caves relented and promised to do better.
The magistrate later reflected on his attempt to knock some sense into Caves:
“I don’t know whether I did the right thing. We have tried everything prescribed by law, but Caves didn’t seem to care. When I saw from his air of nonchalance that he didn’t harbor any regret for his actions, I determined to try a sound spanking, a remedy that has worked wonders in curing bad boys of their ‘cussedness’ in times past.”
It turned out that Zesiger and Caves were far from being strangers to each other. At the time of the incident, the two men had known each other for 20 years, and even had worked together as young men, with Caves supervising bricklayers and the judge serving as a carpenter.
Zesiger had been a judge for several years by the time this case came up. During his tenure on the bench, his old friend had come before him numerous times regarding drunkenness.
Caves later flatly denied having ever laid a hand in anger on his wife, explaining:
“A whipping post would be just punishment for a man who beats his wife, but I certainly object to being treated as one when I have never once struck my wife during our entire married life.
“I supposed the judge did get tired of seeing me in court and he so far forgot himself and the dignity of the bench as to lick me. It would have been bad enough if he licked me, without authority, when I was jailed for intoxication, but to think people got the impression I beat up my wife — that’s terrible.
“I know I drink too much, just can’t let the stuff alone, but I guess we all have our failings, and I never lost a day’s work through being drunk.”
Mr.s Caves also denied being an abuse victim, telling reporters:
“John has never laid a hand on me, drunk or sober.”
Judge Zesiger refuted the Caves’ claims:
“I talked with Johnny many times, gave him the pledge and tried to help him in every way, but to no avail. His wife often complained to me that he struck her, so when I saw him in jail again the other day I just took the law into my own hands, or the bull by the horns, as the saying goes, and laid him across my knee and thrashed him. I know I haven’t got a legal leg to stand on, but he deserved a licking and I gave it to him.”
Perhaps emboldened by the publicity received by the spanking he administered, Zesiger oversaw a domestic violence case shortly thereafter. Addressing the wife, who came to court with two black eyes, he handed the woman the same 18-inch length of hose he had previously used on Caves and told her to utilize it against her husband. However, she declined, citing that she didn’t have the physical strength to do so.
Remarkably, the much publicized spanking doesn’t appear to have damaged any relationship between Caves and Zesiger. Two years later, in 1929, Caves was arrested once again; this time for driving a car while intoxicated. His case was granted to a continuance to allow for his preferred lawyer, Judge Zesiger, to be able to come to court and defend him. However, his choice of attorney didn’t prevent him from being found guilty and sentenced to a term in jail.
The American judicial system posits that people are innocent until proven guilty. However, Judge Zesiger believed he knew his friend so well and had seen him fail in the same ways so many times before that he felt comfortable taking the law into his own hands and meting out punishment before the matter went to trial. His suspicions may well have been spot on, but the actions he took were unorthodox, to say the least.