WARNING

A news clip yesterday suggested that people who use debit charge cards should check their statements carefully. Thieves have been removing bank machines at night and leaving a decoy in its place. Through modern technology the thief removes the cash and the decoy is replaced by the real bank machine before morning.

Encyclopedias tell us how thieves were treated before the days of cameras, finger prints and other modern technologies. Throughout England and European countries stocks were placed in prominent places. A heavy frame of timber with movable boards showed openings through which the feet and hands would be forced into these openings and then clamped into place. For several hours the thief would be exposed to public ridicule. This was even brought to America for a short time but the vast distance between cities and towns soon made it less effective.

While kings and nobles were planning religious wars and fighting over territory men could always join the army and escape the disgrace of being seen in the stocks. The amount of time spent in the stocks could vary with the seriousness of the crime. Sometimes the guilty party would be placed in the stocks if he failed to attend his proper church on Sunday morning. In modern days the offenders can be viewed on cameras and be identified when their pictures appear in the daily papers.