Pillory

Pillory, a mode of punishment now obsolete. It consisted of a raised scaffold upon which was a cross formed of planks. At the junction of the arms and upright of the cross was a hole, corresponding with a hole in each of the arms, and in these holes the neck and wrists of the culprit were secured, and he was subjected to the abuse and maltreatment of the populace. The punishment was abolished, except in cases of perjury, in 1816, and entirely abolished in 1837. Titus Oates was put into the pillory for perjury, and its use in the colony of New England is mentioned by Hawthorne in his Scarlet Letter.