The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-03-09
The Execution Next Friday-The Last Of
the GallOws.

Some faint-hearted people confidently pre-
dicted the triumph of the Confederacy after
Bull Run; when Waterloo restored the Bour-
France would be eternal, and that noodle
would succeed noodle on the throne through
all the coming centuries; when Congress, the
President and the Supreme Court were OF one
mind on the slavery question, each supPie-
menting the efforts of the others for lts psrpe-
tuitv and its extension, Abolitionists were
lookad pnop as madmeu, who, lacking strength
not onlr T., tho government but in society and
msasprablv in the church. would speedily die
ont and leave not trace of their fanaticism to
d.sturb the iniquities of their country. The
century is not three-fourths gone yet, but the
Confederacy and slavery are things of history,
ahhorred in every quarter Of the civilized
globe, while the last of the Bourbons has been
stripped of the ermine and all the seiens of
that degenerated race are fugitives, wandering
up and down through the world, homeless and
almost friendless
The gallows, we fear, has been restored in
Maine by the joint action Of the Executive and
Legislative branches Of our State government.
On Friday, at Thomaston, the humaniEing
spectacle Of man hanging and strangling at
the end of q rope, with his legs convulsivey
twitching and his features horribly distorted
beneath the black cap, is to be exhibited in the
presence of gaping spectators. Thus the mai
esty of the laws is to be indicated, and, as
some imagine, the glory of God promoted.
II anything could reconcile the opponents Of
the gallows to the humiliation of that disgust.
ing and barbarous scene. it is the firm eonvie-
ton that this execution will be the last that
the people of Maine will ever allow to take
place. The loathing that it will exotic and its
certain failure to deter criminals from pursu-
ing their wicked course will prevent its repeti-
ton, and Clifton Harris viii! probably be the
last victim of the gallows in Maine. If some
one must die in this way to arouse the slum-
bering conscience of the people-if blood is
necessary to bring about a reaction in favor of
remedial and protective, as distinguished from
vindictive punishments-the State can as we'll
spare this ignorant, worthless and brutal me-
gro as anyone. His murder will be an outrage
comparable only with his own crimes, as we
think, but he will have less reason to com
plain than the rest of the people of Maine.
Adherence Of the atrocities he has committed
will be softened in the contemplation of the
deliberate criminality of the State
First, In strangling man who may possibly
b, innocent. There are several cases ON re-
cord where supposed murderers, convicted on
their own confession and by much stronger
secondary evidence than any adduced by the
government in the case Of Harris, have after
wards proved innocent. There is in this case
to be sure, not one chance in ten thousand
that the prisoner is innocent, but if he were
the hardship of the irreparable injury would
be none the less because of the overwhelming
preponderancs of evidence against him.
Second, the State is guilty of strangling a
man that has surrendered. He is incapacitat-
ed for doing further harm. Complete protec-
ton Of society against his further assaults has
already been afforded. In taking revenge the
State recognizes motive of action which in
cases of individuals is one of the most prolific
sources Of the crimes which the State pun
ishes
Third, the State is guilty of encouraging
crime by affording to the people examples of
that disregard for the sanctity OF human life
which becomes contagious. Nothing like
bloodshed to promote bloodshed.
Twenty years from Friday the hanging of
Harris will be regarded with the Same wonder
and shame with which we recollect that men
were bought and sold at the South There is
story, which we cannot trace to any anthem
tic source that Gov. Chamberlain will reprieve
Harris if the Attorney General will try the
indictment against Verrill which is still pend
ing. If SO, there will be at least delay, and
the friends of the abolition OF capital punish
nent will have another chance to urge their
views.