Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-03-10
DaiIp Kennfbfl 3ournal.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
Abstract of the Arguments Made in the
Senate, March 7th,
On the Bill Restoring the Death Penalty
for Murder,
By Mr.. Young Of Cumberland and Mr.
Wentworth of Penobscot,

Bill an act to restore the death penalty fo
murder in the first degree. as amended by tn,
House, came up by assignment in the Senat,
at II O'Clock on Wednesday, March Ith, anC
was debated at considerable length. Mr.
Young of Cumberland moved to refer to the
next legislature, and spoke in support of hi,
motion and in opposition to the bill He wa,
followed by MIR. Wentworth of Penobsco
who spoke in support of the bill, and in op
position to the motion to refer. .At the con
clusion of his address, the Senate adjourned
to meet at 80 in the afternoon. when the bill
was further debated by Messrs. Lebroke OF
tracted discussion, the motion to recommi,
was lost, l3 to l3, and the bill passed to be
engrossed. 10 to 8. Following is an abstract
of the arguments made by Mr.. Young and Mr.
Wentworth. The remarks of Mr.. Lebroke
and Mr.. Rust will be published Monday
morning:
Mr.. Young OF CUMBERLAND.
Mr.. Young said:
As citizen of the State of Maine, not a
lawyer, as person affected BY the bill both
ways, as a person who may be murdered or
who may possibly be hung if capital punish
ment is restored, l wish to call the attention
of the Senate to this bill, and to protest
against its passage at the present time |
feel my inadequacy to enlighten you on this
great subject.
| II am no orator, as Brutus is;
| But as you know me all, plain blunt man:
| For l nave neither wit, nor words, worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
| To stir mems blood: Ony speak right on:
tell you that which you yourselves do Know"
In the first place the bill comes to us in a
remarkable shape for a measure of this i'm
portance. The Committee on the Judiciary,
on an order introduced by one member of the
House of Representatives with numerous
| remonstrances against it) after considering
the matter very freely brought in bill.
which was reported to the House to- be dis
cussed. After the usual period of ncuba.
tion-three weeks at least-the House passed
the bill to be engrossed. The men who re-
ported the bill allowed half dozen amend
ments to be attached; and then went home to
sleep, perchanee to dream of gallows erected
all over the State, of babes protected. of
grangers who could go about their
daily tasks without fear of the lurking
assassin. So far all was well. But
! they awake Mortified: it was not the bill
they supposed. The result was, that, re-
pudiating their previous action, they passed
| the bill we have before us.
Why this history of the bill?
bring it in to show that the House has
not properly considered the matter The
| bill. as ! claim. does not represent the mature
judgment of the House; it represents the
mature judgment torn to pieces by subsequent
caprice.
The advocates OF the measure have
, gone back to Moses for authority.
! They say that it is written that ''whoso she'd
deth mans blood, by man shall his blood be
| she'd" This scriptural argument is fa'la
cious. The Hebrew language, in which the
Old Testament is written, has only two lenses
| the past and the future. The text simply
states a general truth; it means that man
who is in the habit of getting into difficulties
will eventually get killed. Moses himself
killed man. and lived to an age which few
of us in this Senate are likely to attain even
| if this bill is defeated
On what is the law for capital
punishment founded? On the old heath
en- disregard for life. Human life in ancient
times was not reckoned valuable Monarchs
disposed of the lives of their subjects at their
| pleasure. Formerly in England and France
| human life was taken for trivial crimes.
-
times quite a number of the most respectable
citizens of Salem were hung for their sup
posed familiar intercourse with evil spirits.
My proposition is this. While | do not
| deny the right of any citizen to take life in
! self-defepce, while do not deny the right OF
| the State to take human life when it is neces-
| sary to protect its own life, yet l claim that
| it should be done only in extreme cases. Our
| forefathers said when they framed the
| Declaration of Independence, that all men
| ''are endowed by their Creator with certain
| unalienable rights; that among these are life
liberty ard the pursuit of happiness We
| may take away mans liberty. and we can
| restore it to him again; but when we have
taken away his life we can never make resti-
tuition.
Punishment must be founded on tw things
revenge or example. We must strike what
seems to be fair average of punishment The
| moment revenge enters into it we drop the
| idea of punishment and make it retrbution:
! we go back TO the old barbarous ages of IAN
eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Now
for the example. Formerly executions were
public. now all but 10 or II persons are ex.
cluded, and these are persons who do not
| need the example. If it is example we want,
why not take the murderer out on the summit
of the highest hill and hang him there? II
1 Woulu DC n spSCtdcle DI DTutfllly moi TO De
| tolerated for a moment. The State. when it
| executes a criminal in secluded recess in the
prison yard, by the very process acknowledges
that it is ashamed of what it is doing; that it
doesn't want the example to go out into the
| community. l don't believe that public ex-
eeution would raise the morals of the people
of Maine. In all this / don't forget that the
victim is dead. That is gone beyond recall
| The question is, what shall be done with the
murderer
| Hanging does not deter from crime. have
seen it stated that out of I67 criminals execut-
ed, l64 had witne ssed execations. The poor
est use you can make of man is to
hang him. As just stated, the question to
be settled is, what shall we do with the man
who has committed crime. Il is no argument
for the death penalty to say that it
must be restored or We must reduce
the sentences for other crimes, as we are
putting a premium on murder. Are our
punishments infallible and just 1t strikes
me we can adjust this this punishment by
! scaling down others. When q man commits