In recent years floggings have rarely been imposed. In 1962 when Superior Court Judge Stewart Lynch of Wilmington imposed the first whipping‐post sentence in Delaware in 10 years, the public outcry was instant.

Judge Lynch not only pubsentenced another Delaware citizen to the lash last year. His response to public criticism and to repeated pleas to change the sentences was to reduce one of them from 20 lashes to 10. He has said he received critical telephone calls for doing even that much.

A father of seven children, the judge has said he believes in corporal punishment for them, too.

The man whose sentence was reduced to 10 lashes is Talmadge R. Balsar, 40‐year‐old habitual criminal. His flogging, for a $4 robbery, would have taken place on Jan. 28 if State Supreme Court Justice Daniel F. Wolcott had not stayed the execution this week.

Justice Wolcott did so to let the Appeals Court act.

Several members of the Delaware bar have suggested that Judge Lynch's penchant for whipping, even though the whipping law is still on the books in Delaware, has embarrassed some of his fellow judges.

Judge Lynch's first whipping sentence was imposed on Franklin W. Cannon Jr., who was 19 when the judge con victed him of auto theft. Cannon has a juvenile record dating back to the age of 13, and defense psychiatrists have testified he is a “sociopath.”