The Cecil Whig., 1881-01-29
(CoNTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE

(CoNTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE)
eft dangling in the air instead of being
buried, until nature, more pitying than
nan, scattered their flesh to the winds.
tnd let only the whitened bones to rattle
. fearful warning to all evildoers. TIL,
lumber of criminals to be executed to-
sether has gradually decreased, and is i,
,ot time that the solitary gibbet dropped
orever into oblivion. and that hangman'> ;
.ay should be erased from Christian
'alendar'
Is there no better use to be made of an
immortal creature. sinner though he be.
han to Stranale him to death? Can those
,eople who believe that sinners pass from
his world into state of perpetual tor
ure sanction the robbing of even one
rnmenr of life from 4 wrctched criminal
who perhaps has never had all incentive
- 90 rignt' Is it not this very class who
.tand most in need of Christian preach
ng and Christian sympathy? The deeper
lyer Il man's soul is with guilt. the more
lced has he for Christ love and forgive
iess- the more need has such a man for
ime to repent ere it be too late. Instead
If launching the weak victim Of morta
passion into eternity by disgracelul
teath. would it not be more Christ-lke.
more savoring of true mercy. to endeavor
to let in the light of truth upon such a
larkened SouIa Let every one ask of him
self, what might be his own position i'll
the world, had he been deprived Of early
advantages. and reared in the hot-bed of
vice? The surroundings OF most men
point out an unerring destiny.
1t is but a little while ago that miser-
arable boy who was executed remarked
hat he had never heard of Christ until
ne entered the prison walls, and this vic
tim, under sentence of death 10y a cruel
aw. declared that if the Christians had
aiken half the pains to save him before
lie committed his crime that they did now
when he had to die for it. that deed would
never have been perpctrated.
We are apt to shudder over past cruel
ties as depicted i'll history's pages. 1t is
true that we no longer kindle the flames
beneath the feet of hanging victims, but
the man still hangs and dies. and the dis.
grace is upon our age. Criminals are nO
longer tortured upon the rack. broiled
upon gridirons. or burned at the stake,
but there is still the practice of lega
murder. In the seventeenth century we
read of persons having their heads taken
,ff by the Halifax gibbet for stealing
i few yards of cloth and other triflng
:rimcs. Beheading was then the familiar
method of abbreviating peoples lives,
and many inventions were made in dia.
Dolical machines which should do the
being implicated. To modern taste these
machines and the severity of punishment
meted out to small oifienseS seem terrible
enough: but what better is this newer
method of letting the drop fall and
swinging man into eternity? No one
can doubt. also, that injustice is often
done even now. as it was in those good
old times eff which Boswell speaks wher
he tells this story OF Scottish hanging
Before the heritable jurisdiction was
abolished, man was tried for his life il
the court of one of his chieftains. The
iury was going to bring him in mot
guilty but somebody whispered then
that the young laird had never seen al
death. and the man was hanged accord
ingly.
Another story is related of worthy
Highland dame, Who considered her hus
bands reluctance to submit to the hang
man 5 rope to be an evidence of lack of
proper respect for his chieftain. who was
present and exclaimed:
Cit up, Donald. sit up an be hangi
an dinna anger the laird!'
At this time. so prevalent has become
the horror Of executions, that it is almost
impossible to convict man of murder
and every bubble of the law is invoked
to save the criminal from the gallows
But woe to the wretch who is condemn.
oil tn fIin wbafbor lao nraptu,IIv aco,po,
or not. He is kept in state of continued
torturing suspense. He dies a thousand
deaths in the mere anticipation of the
fatal event. At one time he resigned al
hope. At another the cxtinguished flame
starts up anew, to burn with a tiercer
fire than ever. No physical suffering car
ever equal such mental anguish. Every
one has heard. perhaps, the story of the
two lambs. one of whom had broker
leg, and the other was tied near to q
chained wolfe. Thus they were left ovel
night, and in the morning the lamb with
the broken leg was found to have surviv,
ed its pain, while the other was dead from
fear of the wolf.
Think of law which keeps the wolf
the biootl-thirsty scai,old-for months,
often FOR years, just within sight of its
trembling victim!
That many persons have died innocent
of crime is ali undiSputed fact, and, il
time had been given. the true culprits in
many cases would be found. Is it not
better that all the guilty should go un.
hung than that our innocent being should
suffer such a death?
The words are soon spoken and the act
is soon done which dooms Il wretched
creature to u violent death: but bitter
before he reaches the fatal end. His
mind is narrowed by all the parapher-
MALTA which precedes his death. The
burial service is .'ead for him while he
still lives: the prison bell tolls forth a
dreadful knell in his ear: he sees the gal
lows looming up before him, awaiting its
prey: he sees and shudders at the idle
throng who are there to witness his last
agonies, not one of whom will reach forth
a hand to save him, and whose faces.
even, seem devoid of human pity.
Is it not time. oh. my country. that
such scenes were foreve: blotted from
the pages of your history? The man who
is actuated by passionate revenge may, in
the heat of his ire, have no mercy for his
a Christian land, which sits
in silent Judgment upon its erriag ones
should have both mercy and pity. Would
,1,, e hn L,+ 4