Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-03-10
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,, MARCH 1, 1926
PENTTEN7IaRY FOR THE DISTRICT

Committee Of the Whole, Mr. Tomlinson, o.
Connecticut, in the Chair, on the bill tor erect
ing Penitentiary the District OF COLUMBIA
Mr. Thomson, of Pennsylvania, said, the Dill
now submitted to the consideration OF the com
mittee, is one embracing principles OF consul
cradle consequence. He would desire It to be
read through, before he proceeded to make any
remarks on the subject, but ii was very long,
and would Of course occupy considerable tlme
He thought statement Of its general scope &
design would be sufficient to enable the COM
mittee TO understand the arguments he had to
offer 1t proposes to establish, in this District
Peniuntiary, and so to alter the criminal law
Of the District, that confinement TO hard labor
shall be inflicted on most crimes, instead OF the
irrational punishments now in use.
When, said Mr.. L. this subject was, by a
resolution Of the House, referred to the Com
mitIee on the District, il became their duty 10
inquire into the provisions OF the present code
ofcrimnal law, administered in the District;
the condition of the jails; and to provide rem
edy for the evils they found prevalent In both
will now, as briefly as can, exhibit to the
committee the facts on these subjects, which
have come to our knowledge, and the reasons,
which have induced us to propose the remedy
for the evils of the present system which TINS
bill provides.
In the year 1912 the District of Columbia
was ceded to the United States by the Safes OF
Maryland and Virginia. By an Act OF Con-
gre SIS on the subject, the laws Of Maryland, as
they then stood, were adopted Tor the govern
ment of that part Of the District coded by that
State, and the laws Of Virginia for the govern
ment Of that part of the District South OF the
Potomac, until they should be altered by Act
Of Congress. As far as relates to criminal mat
ters the laws Of the District have not been since
altered.
The States of Virginia and Maryland have
since changed their whole system OF criminal
Jurisprudence They have discarded this cru
el system of hanging, whipping, and dlshsur-
ing malefactors, and substituted, in their stead,
the more mild and efficacious one oil conhne-
ment to hard labor, in Penltentlary but
these Improvements do not extend TO THIS LIS
trict.
It's maxim, in legislating on subjects con-
nected with criminal law, that the prevention
OF crime is the only Legitimate object oil pun
ishment That system which secures to socI-
ety the greatest amount of prevention, is the
best, and ought 10 be adopted, and that which
experience has proved is defective, In this re-
spect, ought at once to be abolished. Ii we
look into the practical operation Of III" present
system of criminal law, in this District, we
will find i, wholly inadequate to produce the
great beneficial results to society, which ought
10 flow from the administrator OF the penal
Justice Of acountry.
On IN. South side of the River there are
above thirty crimes punished by the dreadful
penaltv of death; and on this side Of the River,
there are above fourteen for which the same
punishment is provided. 1t is unnecessary for
me to recite the whole of these bloody enact
ments II will be sufficient to mention two or
three, to illustrate the spirit Of the whole code.
Feloniously breaking and entering Store or
Warehouse, BY day or by night, and stealing
there to the amount of four dollars; breaking
out of prison, if the prisoner were confined un-
der the charge of capital felony; whether he
were guilty of that felony or not; slave, pre-
pairing or administering any medicine with Ill
intent, or attended with any bad consequences;
maliciously burning any house, whether 1t be a
mansion house, or whatever may be It's use
On this side of the River, breaking and entering
:, Warehouse, Storehouse, or 1obacco- mouse,
and there stealing to The value of five shllhngs,
is punished with death. Thus on the one side
ofthe River, the life of a man is valued at tour
dollars, while on the other, the law likes lis
price at but five shillings. But the most nor
rid Of all the bloody denunciations OF the law
here, is, the Judgment which it requires 10 be
pronounced on slave, convicted OF petit trea'
son, murder, or arson. Ii requires that he
should be hanged, his head cut off, and his body
divided into quarters, and his head and quar-
ters set upin the most public places Of the Dis
trict Future generations will scarcely believe
that in this enlightened age, after the Distric,
had been under the exclusive government OF
the Congress Of the United States for thirty
FIVE wears, its laws would tolerate such dread.
full spectacle. What will they say when they
are informed that the law not only tolerates,
but commands it? How should we feel reprov-
ed for our supineness, in legisla'ing for this
District, if, unfortunately, poor slave should
be convicted Of murder or arson, and we should
be compelled witness sssu rne the bleeding n
mangled quarters of the unhappy malefactor
exposed on the public avenues of this City?
/, is certainly unnecessary for me to prov
that this system is wholly inconsistent VIII