The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-02-16
What FOrg

ohssii OO AouSCu dU 4nOudobCh o WSOA iAOAAA
next Friday. These men deserve as little
sympathy as any of their class that could be
selected for the purpose of affording moral
entertainment; though, to be sure, many
men, including the warden of the State Prs-
on, have grave doubts of the guilt of Wagner
and it will be somewhat difficult to rectity
any mistake in the matter which may be de-
tected after the 26 inst. But however worth
less the victims may be, it is certainly worth
while to inquire why they are to be executed !;
for every deliberate act of the state is pre-
sumed to be performed for a purpose and a
good one.
Is it in order that they may commit no
more murders? Certainly not There have
been many murders in Maine since capital
punishment was practically abolished in 1887,
and it has been found quite possible to pre-
vent repetition of the crime by the same
person, without strangling him. The record
in this and other states shows that ifthe pun
ishment is preventive there is much more
reason for enforcing it against burglars and
robbers, for they have oftener been guilty of
violence during confinement than murderers.
Is it that they may not avoid punishment
by making their escape? Theoretically there
might seem to be some slight ground for
making such an excuse. But of all the muir
derers who have been convicted in Maine,
has one ever escaped ?-or is there one now
at large through the inability of the state to
keep him safely? Is there anything so in
trinsically beautiful about the act of strang-
ling that naked hypothesis, unsupported,
so far as Maine is concerned, by one poor
fact, ought to be urged in its favor?
Will it deter others? 1t was alleged that
the year 1878 was uncommony fruitful in
murders of the worst class. Therefore,
when the legislature of 1874 met, vigorous,
able and well-sustained effort was made by
the advocates of capital punishment to have
the gallows rebuilt. But the discussion re-
suited in the decisive rejection of their meas
ure, while bill definitely abrosating the
death penalty passed the Senate and failed in
the House by only few votes. From the
close of the session of chat year till last Sep
tember, when the executive council unex-
pectedly refused to commute Wagner's SEN
tence, it was universally understood that there
would be no more hanging in Maine, because
the law making power, instead OF increasing
the stringency of the law under which only
two executions had taken place in forty
years, had rather shown a disposition to tear
up the gallows by the roots. But during this
nil nj cEb 70 rdnr
was committed within the limits of the state!
On the other hand the greater part of the
murders of 1878, including Gordon's fearful
crime, followed the execution of Cullen by
an Aroostook mob. The last preceding hon.
icdal outbreak followed the hanging of Har-
ris in 1869. The PRESS has never insisted
on the argumentative value of such facts and
statistics of crime as are here referred to, ex-
cept so far as this,-if they do not prove that
barbarous penalties promote crime they are
at least perfect and conclusive answer to
those who contend that such penalties oper-
ate as restraint on those who mediate the
commission of crime. We say, then, that
Wagner, and Gordon are not to be hanged
because it is anticipated from anything that
has ever happened in Maine or elsewhere,
that their doom will prevent other murders.
Is it because an exceptional and alarming
recklessness in regard to human life exhibits
itself at just this time, so that heroic reme-
dy is demanded? Least of all. If there has
been since the month of December, 1873, one
wilful murder comnitted in Maine, no court
or jury has discovered it, and the newspa-
pers have not reported it. 1t is not expected
to reach the insane, or those who commit
homicide by accident or in the heat of sud-
den passion by this penalty, and these are
the only murderers that have appeared in
Maine for fourteen good months at least. It
is a time of comparative peace. Human life
is respected and criminals, as we pointed out
few days ago, are punished with certainty
and dispatch. Why attempt to inaugurate
reign of terror? Is it good way for the
state to impress upon its citizens high no.
ton of the sanctity of human lifea After dill
igent enquiry we can find no further reason
for the proposed exhibition at Thomaston on
the 26th inst than the old and bad one-'ft
is good enough for them"-"take it out Of
them'-''give them as good as they send"