Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-02-22

was reserved for the era of mawkis sympathy
with scoundrels. of false, absurd, and dan
gerous ideas of the ends and aims of govern.
ment and penal laws to produce in the quiet
villages of our fair State the ne Plus ultra OF
atrociOus crime. Ave
A last, enormous, monstrous deed of guilt,
Original unprecedented guilt
that from the human memory blots out all
other deeds Of horror.
1t is the voice of reason, of nature, of
eternal justice-the primal Law of public and
personal security-from Almighty God, &C.
knowledged in the laws of all civilized socie-
ty. that the cool, malicious miscreant, who
shall have accomplished his deed of blood,
must die Otherwise it were an outrage upon
the citizen. That it is the universal sentimen mt
of this land is sufficiently apparent in the
unanimity with which all the people con-
Cured in the justice melted out to the assas.
sins of two presidents. l call for the same
justice to the bloody assassin of the humblest
citizen of Maine. l call for the terror of
death to Keep from the throat of innocence
| the knife of coward malice. l call for the
terror of the gibbet to stand as the guardian
| of sleeping mother and her babe.
Mr.. Wilson of Paris said
Mr.. Speaker The question of capital
punishment, of tie right or expediency of
taking the life of the condemned criminal is
| a vexed one. and one that has agitated the
thinking mind from the earliest DAYS ofhuman
history. Indeed the advocates of that right
draw their strongest arguments from the de-
nunciations of the Mosaic Law as recorded
in the Old Testament. To approach this sub
ject Alright. we should first briefly consider
the relation of punishment to crime. shall
differ with some of you probably in my defini-
zion of this matter, but l start with the asser-
ton that the right of society to punish crime
is founded solely in the right of self preserva-
tion-that the pesalty inflicted should have
no element of retaliation or revenge. but
should be dictated solely by the good OF
society: in other words, that the sole design
of punishment is the protection of society in
a three-fold manner. First, by the imposi-
ton of sentence severe enough to have
tendency to deter the criminal and others
from committing the same offence;
second, by Withdrawing from the
condemned criminal the opportunity of re
peating the wrong within certain time pro-
portional to the enormitv of the offense; that
by endeavoring to reform the criminal so that
when discharged, he will lack inclination to
repeat the crime.
am well aware that it is the fashion in
some quarters to sneer at this third method,
but Notwithstanding all that l still enuncate
it as my belief On the other hand large
majority of the advocates of capital punish
ment for the crime of murder hold to the
doctrine that the primary idea of punish
ment is a retaliation. They thunder forth
oi e " A''
he die shall be surely put to DEATH Eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot
for foot. burning for burning, wound for
I,doad soI,o of ,hsm ,o 80 for os go Gov that
We almost commit sacr;Iaoa If wa do No, ,aL,.
tho I;fa of mnrdsrer Nov n Chaoy.r
in an article on rho aeatb nenal,v s.vs
..M.I;oa .s.uo.t,a,,,.t, ,,.oI ~. -,
:. da,nons,ra,ad .nS no,,,;np s..I, a.ro ,ho
murderar NOT even tho orr ofRefuae nrov;d
cd hv Cod H;mssIffnr . inst tr;aI nor ,b, ;n,or.
vert;on of nv no raon;r1 or ;n,orcaJ;na noyror
mar tho .ltarofCod .Thou sbal, ,.La ,ha mnr'
derer from mine altar that he NAV die II
not if the murderer 10 lot of with his life
then tho whole land ramains gp;;tv and the
blood of tho mnrderad man cr;e,b INTO Cod
from, tho arorrd. for Tho nr;mal cnrsa ia On
the crime AGAINST Gods IMAGE in mankind
and mn atonement or restitution can be made
for II bv man none shall be accented ;" No
wonder that soma of the most horrible atroc;.
tics which d;sfiynre the fair mage If buman
history have been wrouuht with the sanctinn
and nv the direct command of the Church
when notw;tbstandino the boasted nrooress
of tb;s nineteenth century a gentleman on
t;tlal he nos;,;on and .biI;tv 70 sneok for tho
cburcb ppts forxard sucb bloof,b;rstv doc
tr,na
wy ""'r.' W az ,.iis e'o','"s W
.:I go no. y. ".! "S,,n 1s w
,sn' W pu"is" ~, 'ne i, :s y, oo
80 ~. a., eo" tn.,;.;.;a "o u1 ISL VI.
Vi ."e ."qu'',''o" "nu Wv, u NAY uon -
'.", p.. $50 D'' =, III 49, 90
III - -. -
a.. :,, - ~, ". , W .'." :,, "'' Nv
WI ua. ~ Soy . ",, luna, may
"o ~ e., 'o-uay "S vel as ~ .ne past
l"ese passages y. SCI lp.eie arc o,lui"s
y" US !" '.en eA".' sisninoe e' WY are
no' 'nose III 'lhn,euia.e oonnec',oh WIN 'ne'h
also, such ne .ha' su,i'e'h us ia."er
a"u us ,., ''o'ner siai. oe sureiy put W uea."'
""u NC .""s s.een -, '"'i ""u eIi1 ., 'iu'
vi IL ne os iou"u III us manu-; ne snaii s''ey
&c Pu' " uta" Anu h qua. is.n ",s
1.,. '" - s y. pu. "
.a. w. 10y .n :,'' .n.
20. 80, ~ ~ ts;;.np, a.
.ue "a a.. Ia" VI w. anu ~ '.. "p
Ply W VI. p :. -. "'', ""e"'
oni, s ~. ~ " 80" - 49,,
,ns'e. Az. VI .ne .s =, .ne IN, .o' az
..",sI le ..Wn =
III . " .t
re 80 %. ,,pa,o al" =; VI" ~ ,,,,,
" - ~