Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-01-26
NOS, bloody and inhanan actions and the most

atrocious crimes, have been committed IN those
countries wheic the punishments have been most
severe The punishment of breaking upon the
wheel was invented to prevent highway robbery,
bnt robberies were as common after as before the
ghasly Invention. In England where no less than
l60 offence were at one time made capital, two
thousand persons are said 10 have Been
executed Annually. Bot tits Judicial slaughter
was not attended with any beneficial effect; life
ard property we've not protected by these sam uin-
ary laws and crimes continued to be committed.
When larceny from the person was capital offence
pickpockots were repeatedly convicted OF plying
their vocation under the very shadow of the gal
lows, while the eyes Of the spectators were turned
towards the scaold, and thus it was literally true
that "eyery execution made several new candi-
dates for the hangman." Familiarity with scenes
of bloodsLed ard slaughter destroys ali sense of
the sanctitv of human HE. 1t is well authenti-
Gated fact that after the conclusion Of the reign
of terror" in France, the children amused them
selves by guillotnng cats and chickens, since
they could no longer witness public executions.
Blu. we do not need the eyecu.ioner Of Henry
Wits time, with the blood of $4,000 victims upon
his hands, nor the French Guillotire with its
bloody horrors, 10 come and tell us that capital
punishmt Mt is an evil. We do not need the testi-
mony of the numerous European countries where
this punishment has been abolished. We have
abundant evidence among our own States. The
unqualified abolition of the death penalty is no
longer an experiment. Imprisonment for life as
substitute for it, has been fully tested in at least
four States of the Union, viz. Iowa, Wisconsin,
Michigan and Rhode Island. In his message for
1872 Gov. Washburn of Wisconsin thus endorses
the efficiency of the law "ln July next twenty
years will have elapsed since the death penalty
was abolished in this State. The experiment met
with strong opposition from large portion OF the
people Of the State, who predicted that large H.
crease of crime would result from the change
The prediction, happily, has nc. been verified, and
the facts conclusiyely show that no state in this
Union can boast greater exemptions from crime
than Wisconsin.
With a population of |, 100000, representing al
most every nationality, and two-ffths of foreign
birth, statistics show that crime, instead OF IN
creasing with the growth ofthe State has actually
diminished. THIS is due in great degree to
high toned public sentiment, which causes the
violated laws to be promptly indicated
Private information from officials in Michigan
and Iowa is substantially to the same effect. Sta
tistcs upon this question may not be Of the ut
most Importance, but it is sufficient for the argu-
ment against the death penalty, that they do not
show any increase of crime in those States where
it has been abolished, except under the operation
OF causes which equally affect the States where it
is retained. When once abolished it has never
been restored in any State in the Union
1t is the lesson of history that penal laws be-
come more anu more leniert with the progress Of
civil zation. Nearly all Of the advocates of capital
punishment admit that We may soon reach state
of emil. htenment which will enable US TO dispense
with it. Practically, and with the exceptions
named, we hare disper sed with it in Maine for
Miry-eigh years. The public sentiment of the
STATE is PROFESSIONALLY il favor Of its abolition.
TIE people are now appealing to the legislature,
not to take step backward, but simply make GER
tain by legislation what has so long been the prac
teal fact and thus forever wipe from statute
book this lingering vestige of heather philoso
phy. W.