New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1866-01-22
JENKINS AND GALL0ws-RAPTURE

headline that we are about to describe the
summary execution of our friend Jenkins, with
bis dying speech and confession, we are AFRAID
they anticipate pleasure not in store for them.
jenkins has not been hanged, but be has had
the Undesirable felicity of witnessinga hang
ing.match," and retails the whole circumstance
in the country papers. In this case it was q
woman-and, from all we can understand, avery
wicked woman" the peer, not the inferior I'D
crime of the world.renowned Lucretia borgla.
From what we previously knew Of the case, we
imagined that Mrs. Grinder Of Pittsburgh this
special Borgia, was one Of those singular COM
pounds Of human nature where the moral sense
was SO completely deadened, that moral, II not
mental, insanity supervened, and the slightest
form of resentment was gratifed by murder.
Our mental philosophy has not enabled us to
rightly estimate such creatures, or draw the
lines of distinction between accountability and
on.accountability. Those who accept the rude
Hebrew law of retaliation, and ask life for life,
or who even 90 so far as to demand on eye TOR
an eye and tooth for tooth, need have no
scruples as to the nice shades OF mental anu
moral accountability. Mrs. Grinder had taken
life. She had taken it in wayward, petulant'
causeless way, as though she enjoyed it. We
see no vindctiyeness-no elaborate plans OF
assassination-no morbid sensual reveling IN
death.doing like the notorious Pritchard'
Surely, said all the world, when Mrs. Grinder
stood up in Pittsburgh jury.box to seek the
true deliyerance of God and her country
surely this is fend at last, and nothing but
Gods infinite mercy can have compassion on
her soul.
Now when this wicked woman comes in the
presence of death, and the dread sentence is
about to be inflicted, we find, from our friend
Jenkins, that she has many angelic traits.
Never did martyr meet death SO calmly as the
modern Borgia. Her face wore "a pleasant
smile from the time she left her cell until the
fatal white cap was drawn over her face" Were
ever such grace and dignity seen upon q scat.
fold7 "Not an expression Of the countenance
escaped her that could, By any possibility, be
construed into either remorse or fear OF death,
mental agitation or any kindred emotions. v
Even while the moose was being adjusted, she
bestowed remarkably graceful inclination Of
the head, coupled with sweet SMILE" Surely
in this dreadful hour, some degree OF remorse
will be manifest. Surely this moral agency, the
gallows, will teach US lesson worthy Of the
life.taking. We are told that no criminal i
more wicked that none of her sex has ever
shown so much fondness for crime as this
abandoned Mrs. Grinder. five are to assume
the prerogatiyes of divinity, and take away O
life that can never be restOred-sOme lesson VII,
DO taught; some warning to control othel
wicked beings-and prevent the increase o
crime. Jenkins-true and keen reporter
can see nothing! With eager eyes he look
down into the depth Of her soul. Nothing
Her tone is mild and cheerful, her face still
beaming with smiles" Oh, seraphic parting
Before the cap was drawn over her face, she
glanced pleasantly around at the spectators,
and then cast her expressive blue eyes upward.
Death in the very midst Of his terrors seems to
lose them all. Gallows and rope, and moose,
and cap, and the disgusting paraphernalia of the
scaffold, become sentimental and poetic, and
we sadly miss the music and the flowers aud
refreshments So does our modern civilization
punish Lucretia Borgia. "Had she," ex'
claims Jenkins, "been titled lady, like bel
predecessor, or walked in superior society, hel
name would yet figure in plays and romances.
There is great meaning in your rude English,
Jenkins! The gallOws is too often the burden
of play and romance to possess any terror
1t appeals to human sympathy. tits an apology
for crime. It enables the criminal to redeem
himself in the eyes Of tender men and women
We may stab, and shoot, and poson-we may
even become as infamous as BOrgia-but wher
death comes we shall cast expressive blue eyes
upward at tho rope, and have jenkins show the
world in play and romance how charmingly VIZ
expire.
We know in many cases what causes thi,
gallows.rapture. Whisky is very potent
agency. When man is trembling in the sigh
of death, dram Of whisky is very useful. Il
makes him bold, and disposed to sing songs
and shout, and become marvelously pious. A.
he sits in his damp cell, with pinioned arms
and busy jailors around him, and an eagel
Jenkins noting curiously every smile on hi:
face-the accents of his speech-his raiment--
his most sacred emotions; while, with nerve.
unstrung and veins beating heavily, he hears
bie chanlain dwell pnon tho consultations of @
holy religion, and. accepts from the jailer con
slant draughts Of whisky, he soon becomes
rapturous and inspiring. If whisky is not suf
fcient, the physician gives him morphine.