In 1754 Bonavista had an institution known as the "Whipping Post" where lawless people were punished as an example to others at that time. There was no clergyman, no day scholls and the world had not heard of the renowned Robert Raikes or the Sunday School Institution as we know it today. The first person to be whipped was Joseph Batt, who was sentenced to receive fifteen lashes for the stealing of shoes and buckles valued at seven shillings and sixpence.

Having brought him to the whipping post he was seized by the mob who said he should not be whipped but the Magistrate persevered and the law was carried out with the utmost vigour. The mob then demanded that the plantiff should be whipped. This motion was not carried out but the men of Bonavista had their revenge, they thought, when a few days later, they assailed the offensive whipping post, tearing out the obnoxious irons to which they were accustomed to tie the hands of the criminal during the infliction of court punishment.