Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-02-02
Capital Punishment Should it be Re.
stored 2
Hon. o. B. THOMAS, Prairie du Chen. Wis.

Hon. 0. B. THOMAS, Prairie du CHEN, Wis
Dear Sir As the restoration
Of capital punishment, in refer
ence to which you write me, is O
matter at this time of public interest
| choose to answer you in the col>
umns Of the Herald.
have been compelled to think
upon the same subject, and to agree
with YOU in reference to the restora-
ton of capital punishment, applicable
TO murders perpetrated for the sake
Of gain. Whatever theorists may
pretend, capital punishment in its
most dangerous form does exist in
this State, A terrible instance of it
took place in the execution Of the
boy Neaville in Richland County last
summer A mob enacts and executes
the law and the danger that an in
nocent party will suffer is magnified
a hundred told, and this was the ar
gument used with such damaging Of
feet against capital punishment, in>
tiicted under legal sanction. In your
letter you remark that it is impossi-
BILE to punish citizens, otherwise law
abiding men, who have hung u mur>
deror. am loatho to confess that
experience proves this remark to be
but too true. But if a mob can oxe>
cute a murderer, aud its members
be thereafter free from legal blame or
or molestatiOn in other words, if
they have done lawful act, then [
do not see but that capital punish
ment legally exists in the State as
practical result of our legislation
More executions take place under
this system than any other, and the
advocate of capital punishment ought
to be satisfied were it not for tho
frightful dangers to which society is
exposed by self constituted tribun>
al with the power of life and death
in its hands. If the mob is to be re-
garded as practically lawful and
necessary tribunal whose members
may without legal punishment
launch murder ii 10 eternity, then
you as an officer OF the law ought
not to resist them IN their bloody
work. hear that your heroic sher-
iff and law abiding citizens rlsked
their lives to uphold the supremacy
OF the law, and in so doing that they
saved the life Of murderer. Sup>
pose the sheriff or some Of his assist
ants had been shot down by the mob ?
The sheriff in the New Albany jail
was seriously wounded by the mob
that broke into it. There should be
no conflict of jurisdiction. If the
Vigilance Committee, arrogaling to
itself supreme power in particular
case, is acting within its lawful sphere,
it should be made criminal TO resist
it. Your language involves the con-
clusion, that If the mob had succeed
ed in breaking into the jail and hang
ing the alleged murderer, Miller, that
it would be legally impossible to
punish the actors in the tragedy.
And why not? The true reason, if
we probe the matter to the bottom is
this. The whole community would
feel that the murderer had received
nothing uut his deserts, and that his
executioners had done what the law
through mawkish sentimentality had
failed to do. Sentence him to the
State Prison for life and some Andy
Johnson may open the prison doors,
and other unsuspecting victims may
be exposed to his midnight dagger.
The summary justice of the mob dis
sipates ell fear of this sort | think
the proposition il self evident, that
il every case where public sentiment
approves Of Il summary execution by
a mob, it would approve Of it, if
done by the ordinary tribunals Nor
do | think that .luries would tail in
their Duty if we had proper and dis
eliminating legislation upon the subs
iect If we are forced to the alter
native to choose between the mob
and courts of justice; if one or the
other must be invested with the aw-
full power of taking human life, sups
pose every reasonable man would
prefer courts Of Justice. But it is at-
frmed that the legalization Of capt
tai punishment has no more tendon
cy to repress murder and the result
ing mobocratic Vengeance, than inn
prisonment IN the penitentiary. 1t
is insisted upon the whole, that i'm
prisonment for life, iDasmuch as that
penalty is more certain to receive
the assent Of jurors, confers upon in
nocence the greater practical protec>
ton, Certainly if this be SO, capital
punishment ought not to be restored,
for the only basis Of human punish
ment must be protection to society ;
all other purposes Of penal law must
be subsidiary to this, To determine
the Imperative efficacy of the two
sorts of punishment, the example of
neighboring states is referred to. In
Michigan, capital punishment is abol-
ished there are few murders there,
andseldom have mohs there disgraced
its people. Capital punishment exists
on the statutes of Indiana, and there
the Reno family is said TO have rob.
bed and murdered, and there the
strong bars of a prison and the periir
Gus heroism of the sheriff, could not
shield them from the vengeance of the
Vigilance Committee Of Jefferson
County. In Iowa, capital punish
ment exists as dead letter on the
statute book, but it exists as a living
reality in the Vigilant's code, and
they have added thereto, the crime Of
horse stealing, and the suspicion Of
It. But we cannot say with any sort
Of certainty, that Michigan owes it
security to the abolition of capital
punishment, nor can we say that In
diana or Iowa is indebted to capita
: punishment, existing only in theory
/ Al. ~ l.. y