under the pump

Nick was under the pump. He was underdone, and the selectors wanted to replace him with James Stewart.

The laws of the state relative to the intermarriage of the whites with the coloured population, are also referred to. A case of this kind took place at New York when I was there; and as soon as the ceremony was over, the husband, I believe it was, but either the husband or the wife, was seized by the mob and put under the pump for half an hour.