Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-04-04
Mas0n's Ofense.
To the Editor of the Globe:

10 the EQlCOr OIL GHe UlODt.
A great difference between civilized ant
savage warfare is found in the treatment o
prisoners. When prisoners are captured il
civilized warfare their lives are preserved ant
everything is done to make them as comic rt
able as circumstances will allow. Savages
however, put them to death, and generally IL
the most cruel manner.
No sane man can believe but that Guitear
deserves death for the cruel murder of our lat
president, but the law points out the method
| by which justice is to be melted on. to him
1t was manifestly improper for Sergeant
in his own hands, and to pro
coed to enforce it, and particularly so as ht
was placed over the assassin to protect his life
so that the majesty of the law might be vim
Dictated by the methods prescribed by enact
ment. Had he killed Guiteau he would have
been murderer and shonld have suffered fol-
his crime. Mob law which seemed to have
controlled the over ambitious sergeant is q
dangerous thing 10 practice in country like
ours where the courts are ever open to adju
dicate, by fair trial, all infractlons Of law
There has been great deal OF sickening sen.
timentality expressed IN Mason's case, but the
following from the pen OF Presiden,
White, of Cornell university, expresses
the case sosaccurately that beg leave to EN-.
body it in this communication.
"The crime for which Sergeant Mason was
convicted is one Of the most dangerous known
either from civilized or military point OF
view, and it is rendered infinitely more dan.
gerous by the proposed gloriication of it.
1t is terrible matter for any person to de-
eide that he Is called upon to put fellow-be
ing to death in defiance of the law; but when
the person making such decision and acting
upon it is a soldier discharging a soldier S
most sacred duty, the offence becomes dOubly
criminal.
The readiness of individuals to take life on
the slightest preteXt is one of the most seri-
Gus symptoms in this country. There is no
civilized land in which murders are commit
ted with such impunity; hence there is no civ
ilIzed land in which murders are so frequent.
I think too highly of the president OF the
United States to believe that he will yield to q
clamor which will only strengthen the lawless
feeling that has already cost the country so
dear.
Personally have sympathy for Mason and
his family, but my sympathies are yet stronger
for the families Of those who have been, and
of those who are hereafter to be. murdered
with IMMUNITY under our present loose sys
tenn of dealing with murderers.
In my judgment, had murder been punished
speedily and promptly throughout the coun.
try, as 1t ought to have been, and as it gener-
ally is in other civilized countries, the cow
ardly miscreant, who, it is hoped, will shortly
eXpiate his great crime upon the ecaffold,
would never have attempted the life of our be-
loved president. As long as any man who
feels like committing murder, feels that,
with the resources OF legal chicanery, and
with the laxity of American public opinion
toward crime, the chances are strong that he
will escape punishment, just 30 long we shall
be obliged to read every day in our newspa-
pers new lists of murders.
Aud if this same lawless spirit is suffered to
infect the army OF the United States, we shall
have cause for yet more bitter regrets"
JOHN PHENIx, Jr.