Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1845-05-28
THE SENTINEL
YPsILANTI. WEDNESDAY MAY %, 1874:
Crime aud its Penalties.

commission ofihe most heinous crimes is viewed .
gives The following reasons for this state of feel.
ing.
Farsi, "Many opposed TO the punish
ment of death, and such would moi be very likely
to assist IN catching fer the purpose Of hang
ing him."
Now il the doctrine Of the abolition Of Capital
punishment has this tendency, we pray its advo-
cafes TO cea Sc their efforts at once. If we regard
this as correct reason, We inprte to such as are
opposed to the punishment of death, course of
conduct utterly Repayment 10 good citizenship and
the dictates of sound reasons.
They are thus made to speak in this manner.
Truly, great crime has been committed. One
man among US has, by the commission Of premed-
iated murder, proven that his liberty is attended
with imminent danger to the lives of his fellow
men. He ought TO be confined for life, and thus
the danger removed; but. the law says, if taken
he shall lose his life. 1.-THE punishment was inn
prisonment we would assist TO arrest him, but can
not consen, to bring his life into jeopardy prefer
ring TO let him go at large though it actually en-.
dangers the tires of many others.
Ifths reason operates on the mind CT a single
individual to produce this effect, we regret the
shorsighteduess which has led TO the promulga-
ton of the doctrine. But the plea of Choir was
insanity. If this plea could be sustained, there
was no danger of his e=ecutiom while by his es-
cape a numbering maniac is turned loose upon
community, and now roams somewhere at large,
because (if we believe the Signals reason) there
are many among US who do not believe in "capi-
tai punishment" For the good of society we hope
his next crime will be committed in less consci.
encious community. .
Another reason is the expense and uncertainty
attending The .'chcanery of the law"
This reason, if there be any who make it, is
absolutely criminal. If our Government was any
thing bu, popular one, and the laws were so
made and SO administered as to defeat their own
end, the security of life and property, we aPpre-
bend the people would soon say sit was their
rightto alter or abolish it." Where the people
govern, however, such state of things indicates
either wilfuI carelessness or want OF intelli-
geace making them unfit for sefgovernment.-
Though we are obliged to the Signal for its notice
Of the subject, we cannot quite coincide with 1t in
what il considers the reasons Of this 'carelessness.
We appfehend the reason TO be the want of
vivid sympathy for the safety and suferings of 9th
ers, induced by long INDUCED inveterate selfish
ness. and The The Signal assigns mere friv-
ilous excuses made to silence the upbraidiDgs of
conscience for this neglect.
sit may well be doubted" says the Signal
"whelher the execution or Choir, even if witness.
ed by the person who shot Mr.. Phelps, would
have prevented the act. So it may. But we
have known cases precisely the reverse the pres
ent,where murder has been committed by persons
imediately after Witnessing an execulion,in which
the advocates of The abolition of capital punish
ments have called their opponents all sorts of H.
logical reasoners for presuming TO say sit may
well be doubted whether, il the person who Gem
mited the act had nerer seen execution,it would
have prevented it."
In the Southern States no legal penalty ever
exists, the actors in an 'aair of honor" "street
encounter or an unfortunate affray, though half a
dozen should fall victims. 1t is the absence of
legal penalty which first prompts to the carrying
of arms for personal security. and the possession
of arms in the resentment of afrons, leads to the
shedding of more blood than all the legal penalties
in the civilized world beside.
That the same absence Of penalty will lead to
the same consequences here, is proven from the
fact, that in all new territories where the law
from the imperfect state of society, connot be
speedily and ffectuaIly enforced, the carrying o.
arms is prevalent. 1t was so in Michigan. and
if the present indifference to the execution of law
continues, and has its natural increase, will b
so again. So it is in Iowa and Wisconsin. |
will be said that in these places marauders of al
kinds congregate. and make some precaution ne
cessary. Why do they congregalle IN these pla
ces except for these very reasons, the laxity o
law and comparative security of crime. Of fea