Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-03-10

. crime he does not consider the punishment
he does the deed and takes the chances.
is asserted that Merrill, the matricide, sait
''you cannot hang me.'' This is no evidence
to show that he considered the penalty befor,
he committee murder, but that he thought O.
il after mis- arrest.
The great point am after is this: Nearly all
convictions for murder depend on circumstan
tial evidence, which is very uncertain. The
prosecuting attorney follows the man from
one trial to another, almost with the dagger
of the assassin rather than with the sword OF
justice, until the jury, as personal favor Ia
him, bring in verdict of guilty. Circum-
stantial evidence is uncertain, and in killing
a man YOU send him beyond all hopes of ad
justment.
| Mr.. Young sharply criticised the present
jury system. The panel is made up of men
who are all willing to say that they have
lived in the same county where great mur-
der has been committed, and have
not formed an opinion upon it,
some even having not heard of it. Formerly
jurors were taken ia cart and dragged over
rough roads until they could agree upon a
verdict, now they. are shut up in room until
they can reach decision. As Pope SAYS:
1.-THE hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine
No doubt many verdict is the result of a
compromise that the jurors may be released
| from their uncomfortable quarters.
Hanging is very uncertain and unsatis-
factory punishment. The guillotine is a
much more preferable instrument than the
gallows; and if the State is to establish capi-
tai punishment, hope it will seriously con-
slider the claims of the guilotine.
The old idea of the gallows was not to kill
a man, but to hang him after he was dead
Aerxes took Leonidas, because he dared to
resist him at the pass of Thermop. lac, and
hung him up as an example. Criminals were
formerly hung in chains, and allowed to re-
main on the gallows until their skeletons
were picked clean by the birds, or their bodies
shrivelled up and the particles were blown
away by the winds.
What we want to do is not to make punish.
ment excessive, but certain. submit that
where capital punishment prevails the sen
tence is very uncertain. What is the result?
The prisons are full of men under sentence
of death, who will never be executed, and
the death penalty is made farce. Chief
Justice Appleton says that the murderer can
not be hung in nine cases out often. Lynching
is the remedy for this noD-enforcement of law.
The speaker produced statistics showing that
in lSS0lynchings were common in States where
hanging prevails, while in the States where
the death penalty has been abolished there is
no record of lynching.
l maintain that there is no demand for
restoration of the death penalty from the peo-
pie of the State. This bill which we are dis
cussing originated from an order introduced
by one person. The legislature or party
which takes on itself the responsibility of
enacting such law without ascertaining the
sense of the people on the subject, takes a
great risk. l am in favor of referring the
matter to the next Legislature. The bill is
entirely uncalled for, we have had no expires
sion of the sentiment of the people. and even
the men who support the measure do not
know what they want. hope my motion to
refer to the next legislature will prevail.