The Cecil Whig., 1881-01-29
EXECUTION OF WOMEN.
Should Such Scenes be Permitted "A
Woman's Opinion.

we DOaSt ourselves OF DelnS Il clFlliZed
people. We rejoice that we live in an
: enlightened land. and flatter ourselves
that we have outived the cruelties and
barbarities which were practised by the
bigots of past ages.
But still, in our onward march Of pro-
gress, we have not left the gallows be-
hind, to fall with the rack, the wheel,
the stake, and other Instruments of tor
ture. into well-deserved oblivion. We
claim to be a humane people, and still
We make public spectacle of dangling
poor wretch at the end Of rope until
he dies, generally of strangulation, and
not only does this dreadful sight serve to
crafty for brief hour the morbid tastes
of brutalized crowd, but those who
would shrink in horror from gazing upon
such scene are compelled to face its
dread realities in the columns of the
daily press, which TEEN with the disgust
ing details, sometimes wrought up to the
highest pitch Of description by the SEN
sational reporter.
Until the long expected millennium
shall dawn upon this benishted world, it
is probable that individual cases of crime
and savage cruelty will shock the feelings
of those who are incapable of such acts.
Advance as far AS the mass of mankind
may toward the goal of perfection. there
will be always suggards to be left behind
-perverse humanity-who will lingsr in
the darkness instead of seeking the light.
But some will maintain "Thou shalt not
kill' is a command which ought to be as
imperative against the law as against an
individual. And when the government
of humane people sanctions the legal
murder by strangulation of a poor crimi-
nal wretch, surely it has not yet attained
to proper state of either Christianity
or civilization.
Orthodox Christians, who believe in
an everlasting punishment for evil-doers
in the next world, ought surely to be con-
tent with the text, II will avenge, saith
the Lord" and not visit the crime of
poor mortal upon him by death, and thus
deal out to him not only the severest
penalty here, but plunge him in the brief
est possible time into the horrors of the
unseen Erebus. But there is an excess
of horrors even under the scaffold. It
was but yesterday that woman was
hung in the State of New Jersey. Poor,
pitiiul State! that could not forbear un-
der the name Of justice, from staining
her escutcheon with a weak woman's
blood!
| 1t may be urged that woman who
commits a crime should be as amenable
for the dead as though she were a man.
But, in the eye of the law, women are
but as children, with no voice in public
affairs, with no equal rights Of citizen
ship, with no legislative powers. How
unjust to punish woman with the same
inexorable fate which the law DEGREES for
the male criminal, and from which even
he often escapes. IF, in the law, women
aro held to be too irresponsible to pro-
| vide for their own protection, and are
|
BILE men, how unjust to mete out to a
woman the severest fate which can over
whelm the worst criminal.
Men make the laws-and women suffer
by them; men make the laws and, in
only too many instances, have a law and
| Justice alike been bitter mockeries to
women. 1t will be time enough to hang
a woman when women are accorded
voice in decreeng the proper punishment
| for crime. And how many women in all
| the land would vote for capital punish
nent? Every instinct of humanity is
against it. The meanest wretch that
lives exists in the image of his Maker,
and the poorest use to which the law can
put man is to hang him upon gibbet.
Had women an equal right with men i'll
| adjusting wise and merciful laws, the
black shadow Of the scaffold would no
longer fall beneath our skies.
But, that woman should be hanged
| is lasting shame to the civilization of
| the age, to our country, to the men who
decreed the deed. and to the State where
| in the scene was enacted.
Deeply dyed with guilt although
womans soul may be, the law should not
hold her responsible for crime in the same
degree that it hold man.. Men-who
look upon women as children in tho law
should be as merciful to sinful woman
as a wise father will be to an erring child,
| But injustice is the way of the world.
1t is the sad fact that fate is far sever
er to women than to men, not only in the
legal but also in the social aspect. Held
| to be the weaker vessel, she is called up
on to endure the heaviest wrath. 1t is
| considered to be most honorable in a man
| that he should work for his livelihood.
But for woman to work for daily bread
if not an actual disgrace, is to be under
| a social ban. With the exception of art,
| or literature, there are few pursuits
which woman may follow, and still
hold good social position.
Let a woman in her frailty Or her un.
| selfishness but step aside from VIRTUES
path, and society will thrust her forth
forever. The crime that is made 4 JEST
for man, is woman's social death-war-
rant. A man commits a murder, and,
ten to one. his death sentence will be
commuted into imprisonment for life.
| But, for this woman in the State of New
Jersey, who was convicted of crime upon
| circumstantial evidence, and who assert
| ed her innocence to the last, there was
| no mercy. No executive clemency inter
rered in her behalf, and she, too, suffer-
ed the death penalty.
A woman, criminal though she be.
| dangling at the end of the hangman's
rope is sight to make angels weep, al
though man denies her pity! 1t is an out
rage to every mother, wife and sister in
the land. Be her crime what it will, such
a victim is still woman's punishment.
| court of wise judicials decreed that
] poor Mrs. Surratt should suffer death in
this ignominious way, and the injustice,
the horror of that deed will live to haunt
the pages of American history forever.
Time enough to sentence a woman to
death when she stands as an equal citi-
zen with man; time enough to mete out
the measure of her punishment when
/ u l. III - 4