New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1846-03-25
Dickens on Capital Punishment.
l;tor. NJ Me LonEon Daily Macs

|
| GENTLEMEN: In the very remarkable Report
made TO the State Assembly of New York. in 1s4l
| by select committee of that body who arrived al
the conclusion that the punishment OF death by
| law, ought to be forthwith and for ever abolished
in that part of America there is the following sug
gesIion:
Whether there sleep within the breast OF man,
| certain dark and mysterious sympathies with the
thought OF that death and that uurty which await his
nature tending invest any act expressly forbidden by
that penalty with unconscious and neXpchble iasc
nation that attracts his ghts IT, spite OF their
very shudderDg dread and bids ais Imagination brood
over its idea till Of those dark depths in his own
nature, comes gradually lortn INDUSTRIOUS oHH vi
| Temptation
Strongly impressed by this passage when | first
read the report and believing that il shadowed out
a metaphysical truth, which, however wild and ap
palling in its aspect, truth still was led 10
| consider the cases OF several murderers, both III
deed and IN intent, with reference to II and Ger
tainly il gathered very strong and special contrma
ZION 10 the course of that inquiry But rs the bear
ing here is on Capital Punishment in its Influences
on the commission of crime; and as my present Cd
ec, to make it the subject OF one or two considera
lions in its other influences on society In general
for the present, defer any immediate pursuit OF the
idea and merely quote il now, Us introducing this
lesser and yet great objection 10 the punishment oil
death
That there is, about it, horrible fascination
which, in the minds-nct OF eviidlsposed persons
but of good and virtuous and well-conducted peo
pic supersedes the horror legitmately attaching TO
crime itself and causes every word and action of 8
criminal under sentence of death 10 be the subject
of morbid interest and curiosity which Is odous
and painful, even 10 many Of those who eagerly
crafty il BY every means they can compass; pu'
which is. generally speaking, irresistible The at
traction OF repuls!on being as uuch law OF our
moral nature gravitation is in the structure OF the
visible world, operates in no case Il believel SO
powerfully, as in this case OF Inc punishment. OF
death; though it may occasionally diminish in lie
force through strong reaction.
When the murderers Hooker and Tawell had
awakened vast amount OF this depraved excite
ment and j, had attained to an unusually indecent
and frenzed hight, one OF your contemporaries, de-
ploring the necessity of mnsterlng 10 such an ap-
petite laid the blame upon the caterers OF such dam
ties for the Press, while some other newspapers
disputing which of them should bear the greater
share of it, divided 1t variously. Can there be any
doubt. ON cool reflection, that the whole blame
| rested on and was Immediately and naturally re-
ferable 10, the punishment OF death
| Round what other punishment does the like In
terest gather? We read ofthe trials of persons who
have rendered themselves liable 10 transportation ior
life and we read OF their sentences, and, In some lew
notorious instances OF their departure from luis
country and arrival beyond sea; but they are never
followed into their cells, and tracked from day 10
day, and night TO night; they are never reproduced
in their false letters flippan conversations, theolo
gcal discussions with visitors lay and clerical or
served up in their whole biography and adventures
| so many live romences with bloody ending
Their portraits are not rife In the printshops, moi
are their autographs stuck up in the shop-windows
nor are their snuff boxes handed afaely TO gentle
men in court nor do they inquire OF other spectators
with eyeglasses why they look al them so stead
Easily nor are their breakfasts dinners, and lunch
cons claboraely described, nor are their waXen I'M
ages in Bakerstree tlnleSS key 'cere IN immediate
| J lf h. 81
prices offered for their clothes ct Newgate, Dol
do turnpike trusts grow rich upon the tolls that peo
ple going 10 see their houses or the scenes OF thei
offences, pay They are tried, found guilty, pun
ished and there an end.
But q criminal under sentence of death, or IN grea
peril of death upon The scafiold, becomes, immedi
atelv. the town talk The great subject; the hero
the lime. The demeanor in his latter moments, o
Sir Thomas Mo-e--one of the wlsest and mos
virtuous OF men-was never the theme OF more en-
crossing interest than that OF hooker, raven
Greeracre or Courvoisier. The smallest circum
stance in the behavior Of these, or any slmila
wre,ches is noted down and published as precious
fact And read, too-eXtensiveiy and generally
read-even BY hundreds ard thousands oil Peopi'
who object the publication OF such details ana art
disguised by them. The horrible fascination sur
rounding the punishment and everything connected
with il is 100 strong for resistance; and when an al
tempt is made in this or that jail las Il mas Deer
sometimes made OF latel, keep such circumstance
from ,ranspiring, by excluding every class o
strangers, is only formal admission OF me exist
ence of this fascination, and OF the lmposspiity
otherwise witbstanding Il
Is it contended that the fascination may surround
the crime and no, the punishment! Let Us con
slider whether other crimes, which nave now no scr
OF fascination for the general public. had or had no
precisely the gross kind OF interest which now al
ttaches 10 Murder alone, when they were visited
with the same penalty. Was Forgery interesting
when Forge.s were hanged and IS 1t less interest
ing now when they are transported for life I! Com
pare the case OF Dr.. Dodd or Fauntieroy, or Rev
Peter Fem. or Montgomery, or Hunion, or any
other generally known. with thai OF The EScheqner
Bill forgery in later times which with every attend
snt circumstance but death, or danger OF death Il
give i, false attraction, soon dwindled down into
mere item in q Sessions Calendar. Coming, wher
the coiner was dragged las have seen onel On {
hurdle to the place Of execution or Burglary, o.
Highway Robbey.did these crimes ever wear az
aspect of adventure and mystery and did the perpe
traitors OF them ever become the Town talk, wheI
their offences were visited with deathl Now, they