New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-05-22

whom we presume to oouneract those laws we 81. 80
seIve. above God He knows how far beneaih inc o1e
- ave fIen ana the necessity of extending the nrc'ioh'
have Zen been astonlslei and mag nah' - =
ra,hv manifested and interest in behalf oil niur1rer o
having TO suffer he just reward OF rs crhe lac 49,.
vLo had ushered INTO eternity his gnPFepsel 49,,
ard be having q suitable space gwen hiin oE TYP
before his execution. should noil receive Suen
svmrahv shall ever rejoice while there l. "
st y no IA vindcate the law OF God, '!yeJ' x
WHY should wish such Gre Eres 20 i,ve auI s"s -
oxpefse Of our PRISONS WIZ We should heea s.y "a
,ors To contain all murdersTs and rowdes ana nay We
not enough 10 maintain And would be air ana JUs.
To tax the acricyed relations OF the slam Tor 'He suPP
AZ he nur.erors which they would have to do pfoSS
Crnita Punishment abolished, and be taNei % up
prisons Neither should the honest, INDUSTRIOUS man Ue
taxed for their support. Permit rae TO 'hhN you hse
taken a wrong view Of the subject lou appear ~ "s
80 f,l;nr Tor the murderer than the murdered DO YOU
not think the SHAREHOLDERS should be hang Tor NIlpnS
their slaves to death think they had ana nom VIVA.
Ill % "A CITIZEN.
MN aHa rs 5. 1884,
Eemoks.-We have yeutured 10 reform the spell
Ing of A Citizen. aud also TO correct his grammar
where it seemed absolutely necessaryto do So IL order
10 bring out his meaning Our readers who have some
scousiutance with the great works of Drs. SAM John
son and Noah Webster might not all have been sbe to
discern the word connive" if spelt "keniye' as he
wrote il: but there is enough of his style let for all
practical purposes-Now let proceed TO siraighten
cut the kinks in his twisted apprehension
I. Ifthere had been no Capital Punishment in Ken
tuckv. we presume TIE Wards Matthew and Robert)
would have been sent TO the State Prison as they
should have bccn-Matt for lfc-and that would have
ended all excitement in the premises. Scores are en-
ahed 10 escape any legal punishment OF their ermes
through the general and proper reluctance ofurors to
render verdict OF Guilty of Murder, when the erect
Of such verdict is TO subject the convict to speedy
and ilIcmedoblc punishment Ii he were gong TO
the State Prison in case Of conviction, these Jurors
would saysWell there is just possibility that the
bleeding witnesses for The prosecutionperured them
.selves--hat the eliminating circumstances are mis-
stated or misnterpreted and that the man is limo
cent after ALL but if such be the truth timewii soon
"discose it. and he will be liberated and compensated
crall his unmerited suerings;" but if the sccaseds
tob hung in case fconyicton, thentheappang
of the penalty and the fact that all human Efforts VIII
be urayai,inc to restore him in case his innocence
should be demonstrated next year, do strongly tend to
co6rce verdict of Not Guilty where there is room tor
but the shadow of doubt Do not say that this ln-
nuerce is limited to opponents OF Hanging facts eatab-
sh the contrary. After Prot. Webster had been con-
vcted of the murder of Dr. Parknan on the strongest
accumulation of circumstanta testimony that we ever
read the Rev. Geo b. Chceyer known most active,
RELENTLESS advocate of Capital Punishment) wrote zeal
ously and knowingly in support of the hypothesis Of
Websters innocence and in deprecaon of the verdict
which consigned him to the Gallcws And this is but
one case out of many. Were Capital Punishment abol-
ehcd. we firmly believe that at least twice as many
murderers would be convicted aud punished as now
are.
> Now as to the probability thot ''blood would flow
lin our streets" and all that in case Capital Punish
meut were abolished-wc balance guess that such
would not be the against a Citizens that 1t
would, ard appeal for decision between us to facts
Of record. Maine end Vermont virtually, Michigan
expressly, abolished legal killing several years ago
Wiscousin and we think Rhode Island have since
followed the example. The three last-named States
have far more population than this City aud nearly or
quite as large proportion of Foreigners Would
A Citizen" like TO see comparison OF tie How OF
bocd in our streets with the murders in those non
hanging Statesl We venture the assertion that,
within the last two years, more persons have been
felonously killed in this City. with six hundred thou
sand Inhabitants than in all the nonhanging States
ogellcr with an average population OF at least Four
teen Turdr.l thousand. and, the People OF those
States unlsarn their false education in the creed Of
blood for blood we feel confident that the contrast
will become more and more signal ana impressive
3. "a Citizen" processes great respect for 1.-THE
ereat law given to the Jews which demands life Tor
life" yet he twists it this way ard that 10 suit h'
purpose That law knew nothing Of tral by Jury for
murder-noiIling of giving murderer time for re-
pcntance-nor OF any Of the decent plraphernala OF
black gowns and prayer apd exhortation whereby our
doomed asssssins are surrounded up to the
very moment they are swung off, The "avenger OF
blood was justice, sheriff grand Jury, judge, jury
priest and executioner: and he did up his work with
fir less decorum than dispatch. f"A Citizen were
required explain this contrast between Mosaic and
Yankee " life for life, he would doubtless answer if
able to answer ut ALL that the law BY Moses given
to rude, iiliterate people in the comparative infancy
OF he Race, and when il morally impossible that
arrest imprisonment, trial. sentence, "space for re-
pentance, and finally execution, should proceed
deliberately as with us-in other words, that the Law
~ Moses was the best that could be upheld and en-
f'r reed in Lis day, though able to improve upon
IT, And that answer would serve US at least rs well
as It would him. IN fact if his demand of "blood
" for blood life for fe," is to be conceded in
fTirt as well letter. it Is plain that our laws are
sadly wrong in allowing murderer "space for re-
" pentance, clergyman TO pray Tor him, and so on.
I'D he show any such mercy 10 his victim Certain
ly Lot. Then why-on the principle OF "bood for
- blood Should such be shown 10 himl Why not
save the expense Of prisons and preclude the tax
ing OF aggreyed relatives" for the subsistence OF the
ruthless .troyer Of their happiness by having bar
rel Of 'aw-dust ready and chopPng of his head the