Derby's dose: Difference between revisions

'''Derby's dose''' was a form of [[torture]] used in [[Jamaica]] to punish [[slavery|slaves]] who attempted to escape or committed other offenses like stealing food. According to [[Malcolm Gladwell]] in his 2008 book ''[[Outliers (book)|Outliers]]'', "The runaway would be beaten, and salt pickle, lime juice, and [[bird pepper]] would be rubbed into his or her open wounds. Another slave would defecate into the mouth of the miscreant, who would then be gagged, with their mouth full, for four to five hours."<ref name=Gladwell>{{cite book |last=Gladwell |first=Malcolm |authorlink=Malcolm Gladwell |year=2008 |title=[[Outliers (book)|Outliers: The Story of Success]] |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |page=282 |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-316-01792-3}}</ref> The punishment was invented by [[Thomas Thistlewood]], a slave overseer, and named after the slave, Derby, who was made to undergo this punishment when he was caught eating young sugar cane stalks in the field on 25 May 1756. However, historian Douglas Hall points out that "Derby's dose" was so-called because it was often administered by one of his slaves called Derby.<ref>Douglas Hall, ''In Miserable Slavery: Thomas Thistlewood in Jamaica, 1750-86'', Macmillan, 1999, p. 73.</ref>