National Republican., 1878-10-14
IN REG.iRD TO H.iSGIyG.
How Capital Criminals should 30 Executed.
IL L Al L Il IL l.

To thc Editor Of he Nd'ionrl RsDVHicm
Tho lcp'ornhlc sCcrcS which occurred at the re.
cent executions IN Paris have attracted the Gtion
lOn Of tho French government to TIE matter Of cX.
Cru'lug criminals In public. The Minister Of jas
iru has orlgrcd that all documents relative 70 exc.
cuiigns within the prison walls shall be collected
together for thorough examination OF the subject.
Tic above paragraph In n daily PAPER suG-
gcsts the question, Should not the United
States adopt reform In public executions p
In tho light of the nineteenth century, this
part of our judicial system seems to be REM
nant of barbarism. There have been various
modes of infliCting the extreme penalty of tho
law. In Asia aud the south of Europe l,S0D
years ago cruChXiOn was considered the proper
mode. Torture Of the bodies Of condemned
persons before death was common for many
centuries IN Italy and Spain. The faggot was
tho favoritc mode of death for criminals in
Franco and England. Joan of Arc and the
noble army Of martyrs, beginning with John
Rogers in England, are noticeable examples.
Bcheadng with the AK became popular in
England during the reign Of Henry VIII.
Three blows were given to the neck of Anne
BDylcn before the head was severed from the
body. Mary Queen of scots, Sir Walter Raleigh,
and hundreds Of others in every grade Of So
ciety suffered this extreme penalty of the law.
The French revolution brought such harvest
to the block that 4 now reaper was in
vented, calleu tnc tulllOllnc NaitcT lts
makor), and from the tmo OF Louis
XVI and Marie Antoinctte 1t has been
doing It's bloody work in France, and
now reform or mitigation of horrors Is do.
manded of the Government. In military exc.
cutions tho soldier is shot by company of his
comrades. Major Andre. of Revolutionary
memory, petitioned for this death, but General
Washington refused as the more ignominous
mode OF hanging was considered proper for a
spy.
In England and the United States the judge,
upon pronOumcing sentence unpG the prisoner,
says "On suck q day yOu are to hang by the
neck until dead, and may God have mercy
upon your soul" The crowds who witness ex.
ocutiOns, and tie sometimes prolonged agony
Of the malctnctOr, are britalizcd by the spec
taclc, for by some strange Psychological law
there is fascination In the spectacle Of hu.
man suffering, Tho French papers say that
the sight Of blood sometimes affect the crowd
rs II would 50 many wild animals.
1t Is not necessary to dwell upon this revolt
ing subject to convince q Christian community
that torture Is not necessary or desirable in
our penal code. SutIocatiOn Is probably the
most agOniZing of all deaths, and II Is flC.
quumlly lingering one. For this reason Il
should be abolished. The sake, the wheel,
and the axe are no longer used by the cNcCu.
toner among civilized nations; the guillOtinc
and the rope will follow.
"Whosp shudduth mans blood by man shall
his b,uul he she'd was the Mosaic law. We
can obey ii by taking tho life of the mnlcfactJr
in sudden and painless manner. lnhalinB
| chlorolOrm Or some Of the gases will send the
evil-locr out Of the world, and that Is all that
Is desired. VIII not justice be satisfied IL the
! criminal Is transferred to the bar of the Great
| Judge Of all, even If 1t Is done without bodily
agony? 1t Is a subject to b. investigated by
medical science, and the mode of speedy and
/ painless death GscertaiuCl.
Our Legislators should then act, as they will
when the moral sense of the people Is awak-
encd upon the subject Let us not wait for re-
forms in France or the Old Word but lei
mercy and Justice" meet on our own soil, and
We have the promise that righteousness and
peace" will follow. $. l..