On this date, Lydia Hatch was sentenced to public whipping that "was pr operly done" for "suffering Edward MICHELL to attempt to abuse her body b y uncleanesse as well as "lying in the same bed as her brother Jonathan ." One gets the impression from the PCR that Edward MITCHELL, a married m an, was the victim of Lydia's advances, however, the PCR also record th at MITCHELL was a convicted homosexual whose partner was Edward Preston . There is nothing wrong with homosexuality as far as I am concerned bu t I suspect that 15-year old Lydia was a victim of child abuse and the c ourt was merely blaming the victim.

As to "mis-conduct," in many ways, the courts back then were as courts t oday. People were charged and if enough evidence was presented, they we re found guilty and punished. Until you read the verdict, which could b e missing, you only have an allegation. Lydia and Thomas were found gui lty of multiple offenses and flogged on different dates for different t hings (public whipping was a far more common punishment than death). Th at having been said, unlike the courts today, the accused did not have a l awyer, nor a jury, and the judge was rarely impartial. Thus you may are m ay not believe that the did what they were accused of even after readin g the original records. Essentially, while both children, Thomas was wh ipped for running away from home and Lydia was whipped for having sex w ith an adult. Today, they never would have been found guilty. In fact, t hey never would have been charged with a crime in the first place.

1. Abbrev: 0585 The Great Migration Begins Vol II
   Title: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New E ngland 1620-1633, Vol. II G-O (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealo gical Society, 1995)
   Page: 876
2. Abbrev: 0717 Sexual Misconduct in Plymouth Colony
   Title: Lisa M. Lauria, Sexual Misconduct in Plymouth Colony (The Plymouth Colo ny Archive Project, 1998
   http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/Lauria1.html)
   Page: 10, Appendix II, 20
3. Abbrev: 0471 Pioneers of Massachusetts
   Title: Charles Henry Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List D rawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns, and Churches, and Other Conte mporaneous Documents (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co,., Inc, 1 986)
   Page: 219