Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1851-02-13

! Inc senate OF wisconsin by vote of II to I
have, like Iowa, abolished the Death Penalty. We
extract the following from the last Milwaukee
! Sentinel.
We are aware that the question Of Cap
ital Punishment is not without its difficult
lies. Excellent arguments have been and
can again be made, both for and against it.
But admitting the righ, of Society, in sell
defence, to inflict punishment upon evil
doers, and rega'd ding The ultimate object of
all laws enacted for this purpose, TO wit,
the prevention o! crime, the question re-
solves itself into ,his-what mode or meas
nre Of punishment, not di.propor,ioned TO
the offence, nor repugnant 10 the instincts
OF Humanity and the dictates of Religion.
is best calculated TO secure the desired
end? In seeking an answer TO this query,
II Is wei! to consult the experience of 9TH
ers. Especially in SO grave a matter as
changing the penalty attached to the crime
of Murder, it is wise to look at the results
OF the like experiment in those States
which have tried it. Our near peighbor,
Michigan, abolished Capital Punishment
some years since, and the following arti-
Gle from the Detroit Daily .Adrertiser,
which only reached US yesterday, throws
some light upon the practical workings of
the new law. We content ourselves, for
the present, with commencing it to the
honest and dispassionate consideration of
the Assembly, and with the expression Of
the hope tha. they will ponder the ques-
iion long and we'll, before deciding TO
abolish Capital Punishment:
The DEATH PENALrY.-It is now
some six years since the abolishment OF
the penalty Of Death for the crime Of de-
| hberate murder, in the State Of Michigan,
and the substitution therefor of imprison-
ment in the State Prison during the pleas
ure Of the Governor. twas urged al the
time of change, that public opinion, ell
| lighteued by new and enlarged views of
human nature, demanded this step in the
| reform OF the criminal code, and it is by
no means certain that majority OF the
| citizens Of tins State were at that time in
favor OF it. Since that time, we have had
an opportunity TO les, the practical work
ing Of the law, and we have no hesitation
| IN saying that three fourths Of those very
citizens, were they called upon to-day TO
give an opinion, would declare ihem> selves
in favor OF the immediate reincorporation
OF the death penalty for murder in the pc
nal laws. 1t may possibly be, that this
feeling is local in its extent, but it is Ger
tain that in this immediate community it
eAists very strongly.
This city has been the scene, since the
| aboli>hment of the punishment Of Death,
of many murders, bloody and revolving in
their details, deliberate and nnprovoked
in their character, possessing no feature
10 redeem them from the most restricted
definitions Of That crime at the common
law. 1t is asked in all candor, if this
crime has not been Of more frequent oc-
currence here than formerly? II the an
swer is found to be in the affirmative, let
i be asked if this has not been owing 10
the fact of the lenient character Of the
punishment. Death is regarded alike
with dread by all, the depraved and utter
ly abandoned not less than the good, while
the punishment Of incarceration is differ.
| emily looked upon. The VIGOROUSLY bad
and proiligate, already beyond the worlds
sympa,hies through their own wicked
ness, take very different view of a ''tour
in the State Prison." from those TO whom
crime is new. To the one it's the loss of
50 many years from career Of crime,
while to the other it is moral and social
Death.
We punish alike then, him who with
malice in his heart brings desolation TO
the heauth-sione OF family by striking T."
the earth husband and father, and him
who, driven by want, seizes the means of
allevia,ing hunger, or under the tempting
influence of bad associates and evil com
munications, commits an act OF dishonesty
amounting 10 emb, zzement.
When the death punishment is aban-
doned, large class of evil doers are left
without any moral restraint. Ii each are
melted to commit robbery, they may as
well add murder, for the punishment is
The same, aud "dead men tell no tales"
Holy wri. strengthens this view of the
subjec, it leaves, 10y implication, the pun
ishment Of other crimes TO the operations
OF finite wisdom but declares that ''who-
so shedde,h mans blood, by man shall his
blood be she'd"
Within few weeks, two bloody and
deliberate murders have taken place with
in our midst one in this city, and ore in
the county Of Monroe while several
others have ,ranspired in different parts OF
the State. Attempts 10 kill, also have
been deliberately made, which through
causes beyond the means Of their perpe-
traitors, have not been successful. II may
be answered, that the same outrages would
have taken place under any law F.; bu, it is
not for those who would remove from the
depraved and violent, the only punishment
which men fear, 10 make this >upposition.
A bad man may live, and take his ease
and enjoyment, even in peniten'ary, and
may look, and he often does look, with
Imperative indifference upon being in or
out of it, but he has only one life 10 lose,
and he fears the loss Of that quite as much
as the penitent and remorsefuI.
A Qu1ErUs FOR Cross RABIEs.-By
this we do not mean knocking their brains
out against the bed post, or anything of
,ha, sort. Nor do we mean giving them
paragorc, Daffy's Elixer, Dalby's Carma-
tive, black drops, or any other poison