Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1870-04-14

inion is right or is wrong; .he 1ac5 ih;i
it exists as Il living power AMI influence
and that owing to its presence Court:
and Juries are unwilling to convict wheI
it can be avoided, where the penalty il
death, and as a consequence of this
many criminals go unpunished alto
gether and are turned lonse apou society
to prey upon the property peace anc
lives of its members; this is the point Il
which | would invite attention. There
is probably nOt-a county i'll the State o
Ohio that has not one or more men run
ming at liberty within its borders, who
had it not been for this conscientious
opposition % capital puuishmen which
peryadeS more or less all sections of the
State, woald now be serving Il lifetime
term in the Penitentiary, if they had
been SO fortunate rs to escape hanging
or if the death penalty mad been abolish
ed they would have been convicted and
disposed of i'll such manner as to Sc
cure society, for ali time, from the dan
ger and COMMUNICATING influence OF their
presence. What We need is the enact
ment oi laws, so just, and ut the same
time so humane, that all good ...en eau
cOnscientiously join in their execution,
and it is the part OF fwisGon to pass sIscn
laws as the public sentiment OF the
country Will enforce promptly ;.au ian
partially. r ..-+
The advocates of capital punishment
can consistently sanction the i'm prison
ment for life of the deliberate murderer;
because.his punishment is Just, as far as
it goes, and inso doing, they are not
called upon to approve Il positive wrong;
while all who advocate the. abolition OF
the death penalty would cheerfully CO.
operate in the rigid enforcement OF a
law that would shield society from rtle
future depredations of such criminals,
and, at the same time, leave their lives
in the hands of Him vino gave them.
Would it not he wise then FOR tne advo-
Gates of the gallows to accept law That
all can join in carrying into full efie ct,
although it does not come up to tn cir
standard of right, as the only present
means of securing the safety OF society.
Then let them labor by reason and ar
gumeut to bring their dissenting neigh
bors TO addapt their views, aud this once
accomplished, their favoiite law can be
reepacted and what is more, impartially
executed.
But why continue the baT3orous prac-
tice of choking a criminal to death with
a soaped cord, which may Or may not
break his neck in the fall? Why keep
him dangling i'll air, struggling III death
agony for thirty minutes or an hour,
when there are other means that would
instantly terminate his eXistauce? ? why
not give him cbloroform, that would
cause him TO sleep his life away with
out pain, or subject him to The, action OF
galvanic battery, SO powerful as to end
his life at once without the possibility
of suffering If life for life is the
basis upon which capital punishment
rests, this milder and comparatively
civilized mode of killing ought to super
cede the gallows, as tribute to the pro-
gress of our age. ~. -.
What is the reason that civilized cGm-
munities no longer impale theiT crimi-
mails upon gibbets nor burn them slowly
at the stake, nor nail them to the cru
cifiX but that the great heart of human
| ity has become so expanded with ch ris-
tian .benevoience aud love that these
barbarous inventions and practices can
not remain in its presence, So must it
be with the gallows, and 1t seems to me
that the time has fully come TO put it
out of the way, as too hedious in its
character to live i'll the presence of the
enlightened civilization of the Ia, thalf OF
the nineteenth century, let US then set
| it side, quietly as we may, jand7leave
no record behind Us, by which our
children may learn that we ever gave
our sanction, even tacitiy, to anything
so ,nonstrous. Christian civilization is
the exact measure of the worlds pro
gress, and We may hot check its onward
march; Truth and Right are every day
being better understood and appreciated
while falsehood and wrong are constant
ly eliminated asthe years steal silently
away. The little stone which the king
of Babylon saw in his savision .tcat out
of the mountain without hands, is still
rolling on and before its progress every
thing cruel every thing barbara every
thing inconsistent with christian chari-
ty will have to go down; tor it will final
ly becoale great mountain and fill the
the whole earth. e