Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-11-18

hes. a h0ngman OF IarlS ls tePortCu "
have said that he knew his audience well,
and that he could show hundred who
never failed to gather at the gallow's foot
for good example, and yet twenty upon
whom he had performed his Office were
taken from among his visitors.
Do we hang him for his good No one
will pretend that. Do we hang him be.
cause we wish to revenge the death of hi:
victim? Will we deliberately, and in the
unimpaired possessionsof our faculties take
his life because he, with low moral sense
and perhaps in a moment Of great excite.
ment or intoxication, has taken a life II
So, do we not place ourselves on a level
with the murderer? No man in the State
has the right to take his own life, nor the
| life of another except in self defense.
Has the State greater right than the
| individuals who make the State No one
will claim that the life Of she murderer
after he is convicted and secured in pris-
on is taken in self defence.
And then again the possibility of put,
ting to death an innocent man ought to
compel us to repeal SO dangerous law.
History is full of instances where men
have been hung for crimes of which they
were afterward proved innocent. Lafay-
ette said he should demand the abolition
of capital punishment until he believed
in the infalliability Of human Judgment.
Vermont stands to-day among the first
and foremost in the States of the Union
Her constitution end laws DO horo. TO the
heads and hearts If her Legislators Yet
there is this one dark chapter in her
statutes that large portion CT her people
ask to have repealed that she may stand
in the front rank of Christian civilization.
We ask her to come up by the side of
those States which have so wisely repealed
the death penalty. No complaint comes
from these States that the lives of persons
are not as secure as before the law wss,ra.
peeieJ
In WISCONSIN there gere one year ago
thirty in prison sentenced for life. and
the commissioner of the State Prison says
of this GLASS, they are decidedly the best
behaved inmates of the prison
and during the six years / have
been connected with the prison | have
.sas na 10 a. occasion TO punish single one of
the life members. And he also says what
we may say Of orr criminals, that one
half of tho prisoners VINO aie sentunoed Tor
life, committed their crimes under the in
fuence of ardent spirits, which others ad-
ministered to them. These men he says,
now sober and returned To their normal
condition, are peaceful and well behaved
They were originally and ere noW ~
moral ana az good il all respects az the
average OF society. Aud yet these Iaen
under our laws would have been hung.
To quote from Henry Ward Beecher ::
There is no need of the death penalty;
every consideration Of reason and human
ity pleads for it's abolition. 1t does not
answer well the en9s Of jus tioe, and oiten
defeats them. As IN example il tends
rather to brutify thaa to quicken the
moral sense Of spectators, and yes, while
the fear of hanging does not deter mon
from crime, the fear OF inficting death
deters many jury from finding a just
verdict, and fayora the escape III crimi-
mails. 1t is the rude justice of a bArbarons
age. We ought long ago to have done
with IL" Charles Sumner says: Every
EXECUTION ..ers as----- iiAe n confession OF
weakness ii not of cowardice. 1t belongs
to true civilization TO settle this ques-
tion ON grounds of humanity and justice,
mindful that every esampie of violence
even by the State il injurious 70 public
morals"
Mr.. President, the Judge ~ho sentences
the criminal, and the Sheriff who hangs
him only do what their office compels
them to do, but legislators are directly re-
sponsible Tor all tho Wroag- doaa -ooioty
by an unjust law. Let Us pass this dill
capital punishment, and the
State will teach its citizens the satrcdnoss
of human life