Weekly Trinity journal., 1877-07-07
THE WAGES OF SIN.

4 week or so ago fourteen molly Ma
gpires" convicted of murder expiated
their crime on the scaffold. And now
woman in Ohio under sentence of inn
prisonment for life, asks to be punished
in the same manner. These wholesale
executions lead US to reflect whether the
scaaold and the rope are really answer
ing the purpose for which they are used; /;
or not. The murderer is hanged for a
double reason ; to punish him for the sin
of having taken human life, and to deter
Others from the commission of similar
crimes. Strictly speaking, laws for the
punishment Of crime are designed more,
for the effect they will have upon society,
than for the mere purpose Of taking ju-
dicial revenge upon the criminal. In
view Of the happy condition of mind
which pervades the dying murderer, his
"torgiv;ng" disposition to all whose ef-
forts contributed to bring him to justice,
and the serene confidence he has of a
blessed Immortality, we may we'll ques-
ton whether hanging for murder is pun
ishment adequate to the otfense.
Death is n certainty to all. 1t stalks
in our midst in all seasons and none can
tell who will be his next victim. 1t
passes by the aged and feeble and singles
out the young and strong who, in the ap-
parent course Of nature have many years
of life before them. All feel and know
TIE uncertainty of human life, and real
ize that health and strength, although one
of its safeguards, may fall before the grim
destroyer without moments notice. The
instincts of life are strong within us, but
no stronger, perhaps, than with others of
Gods creatures. But life, without liber-
ty, life deprived of all hope and all pleas
are is worthless gift. To the convict
con6hed within the four walls of pris-
on cell, knowing that he can only leave
its portals when borne to his last home.
life is misery indeed. The Chico mur-
derers are more severely punished by their
sentences of twenty-five years each, than
they would have been had the eallows
received its due. Nothing cheers their
miserable existence but the distant hope
of Executive clemency. 1t is true that
the community is not satisfied with the
verdict which simply consigned them to
prison cell for it felt that any convic-
ton for lesser crime than the highest,
(even though the victims Weye China
men, was mockery of law and justice.
The law Of California defines murder, and
declares its punishment, and justice will
be satisfied with nothing else. Yet we
canrot doubt but those five men, looking
forward to quarter century's imprison-
ment will, after little, wish that since
they could no. be set at liberty the law
had been permitted to take its course
But even they have hope, distant and un-
defined it is true, for without it the heart
would be dead. The law gives the Ex-
ecutve power to pardon, it shortens the
period of sentence for good behavior, and
they being young men can look forward
to the time when n mistaken sympathy
will say they have suffered enough and
should be set free. But to him whose
sentence is imprisonment for life, there
are no such words of cheer spoken. His
future is bounded by the walls of the
building to which he is consigned lie
is dead to the world, dead t. love, dead to
all the kindly sympathics ofhumanity. He
knows as he enters the gates that when
they close behind him they close upon
every object in which he found or might
find happiness. This is, indeed, punish
ment, such as the mind shudders to con-
template. 1t is the punishment which
the minds of men brutal enough to take
the life of a fellow being in cold blood
would shrink from. Do away with capi-
tai punishment and substitute therefor an
imprisonment from which there can be
no hope for release, where no exercise of
the pardoning power will be permitted
except in those cases where after develop
ments show that an innocent man is suf-
fering for the crime Of another, and we
then have punishment calculated to
strike terror into brutal minds. The old
days of English law, when the gallows
was the means by which almost all of
fences against the public security of life or
property were vindicated were not en-
couraging 10 those who believed in It as
a preventive of crime. Executions were
public at Tyburn Tree. and the malefac-
tor who "died game" became sort ofhero
to the gazing crowd-one to he emulated
rather than condemned. While it con
tinued to be the mode of punishment
crime increased rather than decreased,
and it was not until humanity revolted at
the constant sacrifice of life in exchange
for property that better state of morals
pervaded the community and the num-
Der of offences against the law diminish
ed. Such, too, would be the case were
the laws inhictng capital punishment
abolished throughout the United States.
1t might appear that murders would in
crease, but let it once be known that once
within the prison walls there was no es-
cape but to the grave, and we believe that
human life would be more secure than
now.
THE FIRE CRACKER NUIsANCE.-The
average American boy delights in cele-
brating every holiday possible by the use