Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1873-08-01
soME rHouaHrs ON HANo1No.

"
Suggestions have lately been made
that the method Of infilcting the death
penalty legalized In every State OF the
Union where capital punishment OBJ
tains. should be changed. II Is alleg-
ell In favor OF this course. that although
hanging Il perhaps not moro painful
than many other merhod<. the specta-
Gle of such a punishment Il debasing
TO witnesses. aud the ignominy and
dread attending It Il especially har-
rowing to those criminals who are
condemned to suffer its penalty. aud
to the living friends whom more than
IL other meti,u,i Of death.it disgraces.
Same have suggested that sentence OF
death In thi. country be executed by
ad,nini.terinS to the criminal some
swift AMI subtitle poison, which would
quickly. yet p,inl-ssly. end his career.
Others have advocated the adoption OF
the ynillntine of France, the scimetar
Of Turkey, or the military mode OF
shooting to death. We have failed
To s-e In anything we have read
upon thl. subject a we'll grounded
reason for change. Tho death pen
atty for murder Is like 9th
or puni. hments Intended not a.
revens-tui, but preventive. Its oo-
ject /. not so much to place beyond the
power of doing further mischief the
crlmnal condemned to death. IA BY
the very shame aud ignominy Of his
puni,hment to deter others from like
o~ffenses against human life. The
physical palm of dissolution figures
but very little In the execution OF the
law. It Is the attending disgrace Of
capital punishment In which the srgn'
msnt for It's continulnre Is found,
Hanging by the neck has for centuries
been synbolical of crime. IL has been
the judicial way Of capital punish
ment for many generations. The
dread Of death by this method more
than by the gui.lotine or fatal shots,
lies more largely III It's Infamous asso-
ci,tlons than la the mode h.elf. The
disgrace Of the crime has attached Ii.
self to It's mode Of punishment. The
method Of poisoning n cr' ninal Is but
the suggestion Of that sickly humane
t~arlanisn which would condone crime
aud aid a criminal to escape just pun
ishiueur, or ut the worst TO perish
without Disgrace or pam, forgetting
that the ignominy Of a death by legal
process Is one Of the strongest
incentives to avoid the crimes whlch
lead thereto. While 1t Is undoubtedly
true that crime my be prevented.
more by tho certainty than the severity
Of the punishment, - Is equally true
that the bunl.hment NUT lie In some
measure commensurate with the illegal
act. The certainty Of n days. a weeks.
a month 5. or wen u years impriSon.
ment. would be no prevention for tie
crime Of homicide. imprisonment for
lite might be sufficient, but we are not
now discussing that question. II CAPT
tai punishment is to be continued II
would seem to be the better way t
render it a. ignominiou. as possible
The physical pam Is nothing. Mo-
criminals whoare hanged die INSTANTLY
It Is the ineradicable disgrace OF th'
death aud the horror which surround
this manner of exit from the worlt
which. more than Its physical severity
will deter incl from the commission o
crimes. whereof It il the penalty
Hung by tho neck till dead vii
II shuider to ari-e even In th'
most deprmve,i, which any other sen
teucs OF tile law Is powerless 10 evoke