New-York tribune., 1871-05-04
AN ISSUE or FACT

an ISSUE or FACT
The Ria9homtoa Republican gives scope TO
an anonymous correspondent, who. with refer
ence to the case of Rullof, sees fit to say:
Let it he surely known life OF the murderer
shall pay the penalty OF his Orime. and murders VIII be
Ie.s froonent than they ara to-day Let
1t be understood these knights of the pistol and the
sctto that their crimes Of blood can be perpctrated
with no othor consequence than lons cell for iie ana
the murders which already making our land red with
blood will become alarmngly frequent than they
are today Under the huenOe Of rum and passion and
hate and imagined wrongs wants, few lives Will oe
SAFE homes will DO secure from tho invasion o the
| pilferer the assassin"
The issue here made up is not one of senti-
ment, of tenderness" of "squeamishHess,'
of speculation, of hypothesis, but OF fact
No man has moral right to interpOse his
mere assertion in defiance of recorded and I'M
| disputed statistics nor has he right to bur
row in Ignorance and plead that the facts were
not within his knowledge when he put forth
his reckless, refuted assertions. If he knew
nothing else in the premises, be should have
known enough to keep silence.
! The State of Michigan abolished tho Death
! Penalty in 1S46-a quarter of century ago.
| Abundant efforts have since been made to re-
verse this action, but without success. That state
! had then perhaps 100000 inhabitants-s4e has
now over 100000. 1t is nOtOriousy far more
easy to convict of murder since than 1t was
before changing was played ont" i'll that State.
Yet the State records show that but thirty
persons in all were convicted of murder i'll
that State in the twelve years that Immediately
followed the abolition of the Death Penalty.
But nine more years had intervened after
Al. l. hnfo ffna 1nt of
our last authentic return. which is contained
in the following letter:
MICHIGAN STATE PRISON OFFICE,
JACKSON, May Is. 1868
MARVIN n. BoyBe. Esd.-Dear Sir: Your favor of the
I'd inst was duly received which you certain ques
tions to which hasten to reply
l. The number OF life sentences for murder in the first
degree from 1859 to 1867 inclusive period of nine years.
is ticenty-one.
O. The general conduct Of this class OF convicts is
goodwill average quite good better than those con
fined for the minor Offenses.
s. To your third inquiry, Has the crime of murder
increased since the abolition of capital punishment
that from the best data and information to be
had, / am well satisfied that it has not.
L. "Is the present law approved by the peopler 1t
most certainly meets the approval OF large majority Of
the people Of he STATE.
The question OF "repeal" has been raised in some OF
our ecclesiastical bodies you may have observed. but
to gain no favor from the alty OF thelf oehoha
tons
our peopye shoao no disposition return The galocs
Iam yours, respectfully, II. II. BINGHAM. Agent.
Here is a population now larger than that
of this City (though formerly smaler), wherein
there have been just ttty-One convictions for
murder in the last twenty-One years whereof
we have retHrns. And, as the population of
the State was much greater in the average
during the last nine than the preceding twelve
years, it is clear that there were comparatively
fewer murders in the later than i'll the earlier
period.
Wisconsin followed Michigan by abolshing
the Death Penalty in 1853. Her State Prison
Commissioner, H. COrdier, in reply to a formal
inquiry, on the 18th of November, 1867, wrote
as follows:
"The number OF convictions for murder iu the first
degree from 1853 date Of abolition of capital punish
menU to 1852 Is nineteen. From 1859 to 1851 t,oenyoe
total number in fifteen years, Jorty-one
''Of the number sentenced for life, thirty remain
OF this class OF prisoners here let say that they
are decidedly me best behased inmates of the prison
have had occasion during the six years have been
connected with this institution, to punish any one OF the
life members and it is rare indeed, that have found
Il necessary reprlmand any OF Them OF this class OF
prisoners, have recommended the pardon of several;
been most e1emptorG
"Of the number who have been pardoncd none have
ever been returned here have yet learn that
any one number has been guilty Of subsequent
ofense whatever"
During the sir years preceding the abolition
Of the Death Penalty, Wisconsin, with sparse
population, had twenty convictions for murder;
during the eight following years, with far
larger average population, there were but
t,centy-0ne In other words (the increase of
average population being fifty per cent? there
were but half so many convictions for murder
in proportion to the number of inhabitants as
there were under the old law of blood for
blood
We might proceed with these citations from
Mr.. Bovee's "Christ and the GallOws," (for
sale at The TRIBUNE Office, but need we?
Year after year, in volume after volume, the
opponents of Hanging have collected the sta
tistics of violent crime under the two diverse
systems of punishment respectively and have
flung them in the faces of their adversaries,
who do not, because they cannot reply, unless
such naked, unsupported, abundantly refuted
assertions AS those of ID. w. b. can he con
sidcred replies.
BY the way, ID. W. b. sees fit to character
ize Rulloff as "tLis acknowledged murderer of
"his defenseless wife and infant child" Has
his code no penalty for liars and slandercrsf
The Honorable Caroline Norton has been