The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-03-15
ancxUrabIe JusyIce-Wtlltam Foster To
DIE Upon the ScaHOld.


Executive was made known to the Sheriff OF
New York yesterday by Colonel De Kay, the
Governors Military Secretary. and the reasons
which induced refusal of the application for
| a communication of the sentence to imprison-
ment for life will be made public on Monday
or Tuesday of next week. They would, no
doubt, have appeared simultaneously with the
| announcement of the result but for the
domestic affection which has temporarily
withdrawn the Governor from his severe
official labors. The near approach of the day
of execution and the unwillingness of the
Governor to grant further respite, rendered
it proper that the unfortunate prisoner should
be at once informed of his fate in order that
he might prepare himself for death. Before
this time Foster knows that all hope for him
on earth is over, and that on Friday
next he must stand in the presence of his
Maker to answer for the life he took in mo-
ment of drunken passion. He can lean no
longer on human aid; he can count no longer
on human mercy. His reliance now must be
on the Saviour, who died for all sinners-on the
divine mercy which flows from the atonement
on the Cross.
Governor Dix has filed the Executive chair
but little over two months, and for the sec
ond time he has been called upon to discharge
the most painful duty that falls to the lot of
any public officer. Twice in that brief period
hs has held the life of q fellow being at his
mercy. Twice he has been compelled to
listen to the touching cries of heartbroken
relatives, of wives and children, fathers and
mothers, who have prayed for the lives of
those who were dear to them despite their
crimes. Twice he has firmly resisted such
appeals in the conviction that justice to the
people who have honored him with their con-
fdence demanded that the penalty of the
offended laws should be fully paid. The case
of Foster was one Of peculiar difficulty.
Never, perhaps, in the history Of the State
have such tremendous efforts been made to
secure the Executive clemency as have been
exerted in behalf Of the murderer of Avery d.
Putnam. Ministers of the Gospel, judges,
lawyers politicians, men of large wealth and
of high commercial standing have united their
voices in favor of communication of the SEN
tence passed upon the prisoner. The jurors
who tried him, with one exception, have de-
clared their verdict to have been rendered in
the belief that it would insure the sub
stitution Of life imprisonment for the
death penalty, and have expressed their
opinion that the lesser punishment
was sufficient atonement for the crime.
A legal doubt has thus been thrown about the
case to add to its embarrassments. The wife
of the murdered man has begged the life of
his murderer at the hands of the Governor.
The father and mother of the unhappy pris-
oner, bowed down with shame and grief have
suppicated for mercy. A wife, whose devo-
ton to hey guilty husband has been almost un-
paralleled, and children, just old enough to
feel the loss of father, have prayed that he
might be spared the gallows, although doomed
to perpetual separation from them during the
remainder of his days To all of these Gov
ernor Dix has listened kindly and patiently;
but, while his heart has no doubt yearned to
grant their prayers, and while he has, we know,
been torn by conflicting emotions and has been
seeking strength and light at the throne of
Grace 10 guide him in his painful task, he has
never lost sight of the stern demands of justice
and Of that broader and deeper mercy which
belongs to the people whose lives are endan-
gered by the reckless ruf6anism of the city.
His sense Of duty has prevailed. He has felt
that the red-handed murder, which has too
long held reign Of terror in the metropolis,
must be dethroned and crushed forever;
that the gallows must gather in its harvest
in order that peaceful citizens may walk
the streets in safety and that happy homes
may no longer be rendered desolate in mo-
ment by the cruel hand of the assassin.
The people Of New York will honor Gov
ernor Dix for the Roman frmness he has dis
played in this most trying and distressing
case, yet they will not withhold their pity from
the unhappy man who is so soon to give up
his life to the inexorable demands Of justice.
No heart can be SO hardened as to be unmoved
at the thought Of a human being, in the vigor
of manhood, in the full enjoyment of health
and strength, going forth to meet his death
upon the scaffold; looking out for the last
time upon the light of day, upon the glories of
sky and earth, upon the living faces of his
fellow creatures, in the certainty that in
upon his eyes and his soul will be
hurried forward on its awful journey into the
presence of its Creator. No one can refuse
sympathy with the innocent relatives of the
criminal, who will be crushed by the weight
of their heavy grief; with his loving, faithful
wife, who must weep alone over her father
less children; with his parents, who have
lived an honored and useful life, and whose
virtues entitled them to look for a far different
fate for their offspring. Yet very few will
believe that Governor Dix has committed On
error in the course he has pursued, or refuse
to give him credit for an earnest desire to