The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-02-02
HANGING AS a sOUI-sAvER.

In one of tee southern states tht
other day two men we're lawfully
hanged. There was nothing peculiar
or strange il that fact, for it ia very
freouen. occurrence in the south fol
men to be lawfully hung. But this
instance vas peculiar, nevertheless
The men did oct profess innocence
of the crime OF murder, nor did they
say they were going straight &c
heaven. They admitted that they
had killed their victims, and though
priests visited them frequently, they
did rot claim ability to zee heaven.
This was certainly remarkable. We
do not remember to have heard OF 8
case OF hanging quite so striking.
For two or three generations at least
hanging has been regarded as the
open sesame to the higher realms oi
bliss hereafter. No other mode oil
execution seems to be quite perfect
IS q sanctifer. The men who are
shot, garrosed or guillOtined seldom.
i! ever, are able to zee heaven from
the scafold. They die with their
sins on their heads, aud as they dc
not go through the purifying process
of hanging, of course they pass from
the hands OF the executioner to tie
place the existence of which ia denied
by Ingersoll, Beecher and other dis
tinguished infdeIs. Because hanging
is SO effective an agent in the
cure of wicked souls perhaps is the
reason why it hiss been 80 generally
adopted by a sympathetic and Chris
tan world. Chastine Cox, the brutal
negro who was hanged in New York
a few months ago for the murder o.
Mrs. Hull, saw heaven more distinctly
than he did the grim and angular
frame work Of the scafold. II be had
been beheaded, does anybody suppose
the executioner would have trsns-
formed him into saint? The going
of at the end OF a rope seems about
the best thing for the publication OF
the soul that can be devised. Some
nice-minded people given to drawing
close distinctions profess to see moon
gruity in a murderer going right of
to heaven, fresh from his bloody deed /,
the wickedest known to man. We
confess that time was when doubt ex-
isted as to the propriesy Of swinging
the slayer OF his fellow man plump
into the elysisn fields, pure and un-
defled, but all that has long since
vanished. Hanging forgives all sins,
sanctifies criminals, and ensures
righteousness OF the soul. 1t still
seems STANCE why some other mode
of execution would not do as well, bu!
perhaps the priests and ministers
have not taken a fancy to the heads
mans block, or the guillotine. Maybe
one of these days the ether
methods Tor disposing Of murderers
will receive the attention OF the pioue
ones, who will make them also the
means of salvation. When that time
does come, those who are executed
according to the Utah favorite plan,
shooting, may also be placed upon
the favorable footing now enjoyed by
the human slayers Ia those states
where hanging is in vogue. In the
mean time the Utah murdere.s who
choose death by shooting must go
down instead of up when the exeou.
toner gets through with them. But 30
long as hanging Is the only way by
which a certain class can get to
heaven, We suggest that it be the plan
in all Christian countries.
It might be well also, for the
sake OF the eternal peace and
quiet of the souls of some people
who will certainly never get to heaven
in the ordinary way. to ask to be
- b,,v,c, ,,r.Gtr, s0oya ~ ovo;d