The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-07-28

SINCE OUR remarks on capital punishment in
our last issue, We have noticed q singular article
referring to this question, in the Bulletin of San
Francisco, which comments upon some curious
enquiries of a writer in the Chicago Times on
the circumstance attending all the executions
that have taken place in the United States from
the commencement Of this year to the date OF
that writing. The whole number of executions
for the half year just elapsed in the United
Stat was 81 in all, not including those of the
10 {" Molly Maguires " lately hanged in Penn
sylvania. The object of the writer in the
Chicago Times is, to show, by the demeanor of
those 81 criminals, that hanging has no terrors
for most criminals, as all died in the belief that
they were to go straight to Paradise. save one
wretch, William Meeks, of Georgia, who was
convicted Of adultery and murder, and had to be
carried to the drop, but spoke freely and sensi-
bly,. The sc others died game,'' says the
Times writer. George Williams, colored, of
Georgia, convicted of killing his son, said on the
scaffold 81 am a soldier of the cross, and feel
resigned to die. / am innocent of the crime,
and feel my way clear to glory" Simon Rag
land, colored, of North Carolina, convicted Of
rape, said that :" as soon as his soul left his
UOuy, IL HOuIu AJ cIEdlRuG u QedVe0. 1lTe6
were executed for killing their wives ten for
robbery and murder three for murder and out
rage. In the Northern States, the executions
were for murder exclusively. No women were
executed amongst the 81 cases of hanging. The
writer concludes that hanging has little or no
effect on those executed, nor on the class of peo-
pie who 60 to witness the executions,-arguing
from the circumstances attending these 81 execu-
tons. The absurdity of hanging a man who
thinks that thereby he is being sent off straight
to heaven, is set forth by the writer, as well as
the effect likely to be produced on the minds. of
criminals or evil doors who may happen to wit
ness such a spectacle. Hanging is stript of its
terrors by the real or assumed caImness of the
The man who is hanged seemingly
dies as happily as the greatest saint, and the
vicious crowd who witness or hear of the execu-
ton say, " The murderer who was hanged died
happy what more do we want ? we must all die
somehow, and it appears that a fellow can die as
on the scaffold as in his bed,'' or words
to that effect. So that hanging becomes a farce,
as a punishment of the criminal, or a
means of lettering others from crime. Our
OWN concluding remarks are echoed by the wri-
ter in the Bulletin, who says -
beyond question the worst use to which q man
,an be put is to hang him. But if executions have
little or no terrors for those who are the central fig
in them, and still less for those who witness
hem and for whose moral Improvement they are
it may be questioned whether it is alto
gether right that they should be continued. I'm
for life ought to have o more restraining
on the vicious than those ecstatic gallows
scenes, in which the expiring culprit is usually
into an ascending angel"
If a vicious horse throws his rider and breaks
ais neck, We do not generally shoot the brute
,ut Try to utilize him, in some way where he