The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-04-08
EXECUTION OF CRIMINALS.


which the following is the substance:
That they regard the practice of execut-
ing criminals publicly, in open fields, or by
the road side, as productive of very serious
evils, and pray that stop may he speeoily |
put to it. The evils to which they partlc- !
ularly allude, are the collection OF the idle,
the dissolute and wicked classes of society,
VINO invariably assemble in thousands,
upon such occasions, not only from our own
state, but even from remote parts; the
scenes of gambling, debaucheries, quarrels,
the temptations to vice, and the commission
of first crimes TO which they give rise, loss
of one or more days work, and the waste
OF money by those who cannot without lnlu-
ny of their families, neglect the one or dis
spate the other.
The experience of ages has moreover
proved that publicity in executions never
serves to give force to example to prevent
the commission of crimes: on the contrary,
it has happened even IN our own state, that
a man murdered fellow creature, the
evening of the same day on which he himself
had witnessed the execution of a criminal,
for the same offence. We allude TO the
case of Burns, who was stabbed by Wilson
in the year 1922, the day on which Lechler
was hung at Lancaster. 1t Is notorious,
also, that robGeries are constantly committed
under the gallows.
We view public executions as the rem
nont of the forooious pUiicy, and Daruurous
ideas which prevailed in the benighted age
of the world, and consider them disgrace
to the present enlightened state OF society
opposed to the principle of the mild system,
which to the honor of Pennsylvania, was
first introduced in the United States, into
her reformed penal code, and as tending to
fbo hv
familiar with scenes Of a cruel death.
Without expressing our opinion as to the
expediency of continuing the punishment of
hanging in our penal code, your memorial
lists pray, that so long as it is permitted to
remain, the inhction of it may take place
in the prison yard and that no person be
allowed to witness it, except the sheriff,
the ma gistrate and constables of the city or
county, and such others as the sheriff may
deem absolutely necessary on the occasion.
We beg leave respectfully to suggest fur
Their, the propriety of making provision for
the presence of a certain number of wit
nesses TO every execution.
In reference to the supposed influence of
example, YOU memorialsts ale satisfied,
that the general knowledge of the fact that
an execution was about to take place in the
prison yard, would have much greater eff
feet, than the pompous parade usual on such
occasions, in the presence of a multitude.
They lastly pray, that the British mode of
executing criminals may be adopted, viz,
dropping them through an enclosed platform,
as in this way, the least possible violence
will be done to the feelings of the spectators.
EXTRAORDINARY TRANCE. The subioined
extract from paper read before the Cambridge
Philosophical Society, details some extraordi-
nary particulars respecting case of trance,
which occurred to girl in the neighborhood of
Cambridge.
a Sarah Carter, aged II, the daughter Of
fsrmnr at Stanleard has been afflicted with
enlargement of the FisceTa of the abdomen for
two years, the consequence of typhus fever,
which attacked her whilst nursing her father,
who died Of that complaint. The swelling of
the body does not give the fuctuating sensa-
ton produced by water, but its hardness is that
of enlargement of the internal organs. During
the whole of her illness she has complained
very little, owing, perhaps, to her constitutional
Incidence of body and mind as even in the
earlier period of the disease she seldom spoke,
except when questioned; and she is now with
out feeling or the power OF utterance, lyin in
a state Of perfect insensbility, in which she
has remained since the first week in October
During the first fortnight Of this insensible
state, her head was constantly rolling from
CONTINUED nig ht and day without moments
intermisson. In May last she eat the last solid
food, which was piece of cheese, and for the
four following months she took nothing but
fruit, which she merely sucked, and water,
which she swallowed in minute quantities
Since the first week in October, it appears,
that nothing whatever has passed her throat
and her mouth is so firmly locked by the spas
niodic contraction of the muscles, that all at
tenpts to open it have failed. 1t seems that
every voluntary muscle Of her frame is in the
same state of spasmodic action for when, with
much force, her arms are raised from her chest
on which they are crossed, they can only be ell
evated few inches, and recoil instantly to
their former position and SO inAexible is her
whole person, that when removed from her
bed, she is carried like a statue. Nothing has
passed her bowels for thirteen weeks, nor has
there been any secretion of urine for the same
time, every power of the abdominal viscera
seeming suspended The heart, the circulating
system, and the organs of breathing, seem IN
affected; the pulse, indeed, varies in frequency
and strength, and she experiences, occasionally. |
an increase of fever. The pulse does not get !
weaker, and the color of the cheeks changes so
often, that her mother thinks she is conscious
of what is passing in the room. She lies upon !
her back, lit:le inclined to the right side
The application of leeches to her temples
some time since, was followed by eopious dis
cndrge OF Dloou, ana lew DAYS ajler her nose /
bled freely, She had taken no medicine what |
ever for some months: but on the tenth of
November, two drops of Croton oil were put
upon her tongue by means of feather, but |
with no effect; the following day four drops, |
from a different bottle, were applied in the t
same way, and, in the course of few hours, it (
occasioned heaving of the stomach, and an |
ounce of cheese, in a semi-mastlcal state, and |
retaining its odor, was thrown up For sever
al days the salivary glands secreted copously, |
but the mother would not allow repetition of |
the oil, the application of galvansm, or in fact |