Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-03-01

premium upon wilful and revoting murder.
Punishment is not an empty word. Revenge
is no part of il. But a penalty should be q
penalty. If your laws are simply to deter and
reform, WHY use the word ''punish?" Will
men DENY that punishment shoul be graded
according To the heniuu mess of the crime
Can there be any punishment for cool, de-
Hibernate, wiliul, atrocious murder ADEQUATE
and rroportionaie to the crime save the pen
atty of death? Punishment only to deter and
10 rsform? Name 10 me one professional
criminal reformed by stone walls. say ad-
visediy. and speak from my personal sc-
quaintance with professional criminals. that
imprisonment, even for life, has M terror
for the average criminal. Its lettering eff
feet. 10 them. is n nudity. What fallacy
tn talk of reforming, of making good citi-
zen of man sentenced for life. Society has
no iurther use for him. Death. and death
alone. can deter the professional criminal
from wilfnl and deliberate murder. Lord
Bacon says. ''Men fear death. as children
fear to 20 into the dark"
Three years ago this very month. il be-
came my duty, as prosecuting officer, 10
move the court for sentence in the case of
Jason T. Scribner. T~o children. one an
innocent babe that laughed and crowei as
her father rushed upon her in his rage. were
misnomer-was a deprivation of liberty for
life
The following spring it became NV duty to
prosecute Charles L. Merrill, guilty of a
crime so atrocious that the Romans declared
il impossible. the cool. wiful, deliberate
SLAUGHTER of the mother who twenty one
years before had risked her life to give birth
To his worthless existence. The details of
that horror are unparalleled for alroci,y in the
annals OF crime. They were too awful T. be
repeated here. To repeat them would freeze
the purple blood in YOUR veins. During that
trial | studied the mental and moral constitu-
ton of that matricide. His sanity was I'M
questioned and unques,ionable. When
arrested, said he 10 the coroner, We'll there
is ole thing, YOU can't hang me-" com
mend this remark TO the attention OF gentle
men who. looking at mankind from their
closets and pulpits. holi that men about 10
commit murder never consider the penalty
After verdict of murder in the first degree, it
became my duty to move the court for his SEN
tence. What farce it seemed! Imprlson-
ment for lite. He lives to-day, at Thomas
ton, better fed, better clothed, than thou
sands of men who have never broken the
smallest commandment of the law.
To his dull. sodden nature, without ambi
ton. content to live, eat and breathe. To mere
" vegetate, imprisonment is no punishment
BY his own admission, il had no terrrrs for
him when he raised his arm to bury that ham
mer in the brain Of his mother. This expert
ence taught me with fearful emphasis the in
adequacy of the present penalty. Gentle
men may theorize, sympathy for the criminal
may drown the cries of outraged justice.
women may weep over the murderer while
the victim is forgotten. the clergy NAV phil
osophize ideas impracticable in practical
world. but the immutable principle remains
that justice is Justice.
Need an innocent man feai to look into the
faces of AN American jury? When he comes to
his trial from his prison cell, where the death
damp gathers and the sunshine is a stranger
guest, their presence floods his mind with the
sunlight of promised liberty Their province
is a sacred one. They sit in the temple of
justice to hold the scales with even poise:
and when a mans life il trembling in the
balance. believe they can be trusted.
believe in the New Englind jury. Since the
Grand Assize of ll1G. trial by jury has stood
one of the sacred monuments of liberty
and innocence. Prominently the tribunal
of the people, the unanimous verdict of jury
may veal represent the average in igmeut
intelligence, and conscience of the great pub
lie. With the amendment have Offered thai
the jury determine whether the punishment
in each ease be death or imprisonment-t
law to-day in Iowa and Indiana-I believe
tn" nresent hi ought to sa isfy every member
of this House.
We all believe IN the majesty of the law
The law. which is the ark IF safety to US all,
it meets MS at the threshol of lifp, and folds
our naked infancy in its motherlv arms. 1t
snpports orr toitrrng steps until we assume
the duties of lite. IL keeps watch and ward
with us in the darkness of the night, follows
us over the lanl AMI guides us over the
trackless sea From the cradle to the grave,
ii guards our every step; and when life's fit
full Journey is DER. defends our poor dust
and ashes from desecraipn and insult. Bv
it our last resting place is kept sacred until
the morning of the resurrection. 1t will not
allow even the rose watered by tears of love.
or the wild violet that may bloom there in
silent sympathy. to be destroyed by any ruth
less hand. Stern, yet kind; pure. yet mer-
ciiul; strong. immut ,ble and just, it is the
attribute of God on earth.
Gentlemen, with the prot action to human
life affor led by this bill. this apostrophe to
law is true one without it life is no higher
than property. and justice becomes a mock
cry. Grntleman. let our legisl,tion saw,
'Une to destroy Is murder by the Law,
An, Ribbeis keep the lift I'd hsni In awe
Mr.. White OF Lewiston said that after
listening with close attention to all the argu
ments upon the one side and the other, he
saw no occasion to change hiI deep-seated
conviction that the death penalty is the only
safeguard and protection which society has
against the wilful murderer.
Mr.. Hall of Rockland took the floor to close
the debate, AMI replied to the argument. adj
vanced by the opponents of the bill.
Mr.. Heath of Augusta Withdrew amendm ent
"a" and substituted therefor an am nndment
allowing the jure to bring in with their verdict
of guilty of murder in the first degree. a recon-
mendation to mercy, in which case the SEN
tence shall be imprisonment for life He
explained that amendment "B'' was that the
time within which condemned man shoulI
be executed should not be less than II and
not more than Is months after conviction
Amendment &C" gave to the accused 90 pre-.
emptorv challenges. Amendment "D" gave
the accused right of appeal from the de-
cisiOn Of the presiding judges to the full court
upon motion for a new trial. and the con-
currence of but three judges should be nee
essary to grant such motion. Amendment
''E' related to the removal of insane convicts
under the bill to the insaue asylum. AmrnI-
ment p related to the after of pardon by
the Governor.
On motion Of Mr.. Talbot Of East Machias
the question of referring t, the next legisla-
ture was taken by a yea and nay vote, result