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

could escape the final Judgment. If you vio
| late physical law the penalty is swift anC
sure. The sins of the parents are visited
upon the children even to the third and fourtl
generations Some are born with the seed.
of inherited disease in their system.
'The young disease that must subdue at length.
Grows with their growth and strengthens with heil
| strength"
Nature Furnishes the slightest infraction of
her ordinances. But if we seek out those
laws which govern the universe and put our
| selves in harmony with them, all well be
well. So with human enactments. The law
stands as guardian and protector of the life
| of every citizen. When the murderer yio-
lates the laws of the State and strikes down
one of its citizens. the law does not punish
him; he simply Furnishes himself; he puts the
halter around his own neck. If men violate
| the law. fully considering the consequences,
| they cannot complain when they suffer the
penalty.
Not every killing is murder. Delibera-
tion and premeditation are necessary in order
to constitute the crime. l do not believe that
any man commits murder AS defined by the
statutes but who does in his own mind con-
slider every step and the penalty of the act ;
he must, if he is q rational man. know that
in almost every case the criminal is detected
punishment is, but his consideration goes be-
yond it. He considers the relief which the
prison affords him, and the possibility of es
cape and pardon. The fact is that the dura-
ton of the average sentence of the murderer
imprisoned for life is very short, only eight
to ten years-not so much as the sentence of
the horse thief
You should place before the criminal what
deters him most and what protects society the
most. Life is the greatest boon that can be
given man. 1t holds true now. as in the days
of old, all that man hath will he give for his
life. Imprisonment has no terror for the
coarse fbered criminal. When men who
are discharged from prison return and knock
at the iron doors for assistance that they may
be protected and fed; when murIerers in our
own State declare "You can only iniprison
me, you cant hang melt would seem
that Imprisonment for life is not IA sufficient
punishment.
1t has been said that punishment should be
graduated to offences. That is true. But
shall be scale down the punishments? Are
the penalties inflicted in Maine adequate? !?
The assassin enters your dwelling in the night
time; that is an offense punishable with a
lite sentence. He has entered your dwelling
and possessed himself Of your valuables
In so doing he has awakened you. He
is confronted by the evidence of his guilt. and
if apprehended will be imprisoned for life. II
he strikes you down the punishment is no
greater. dead men tell no tales" He
shoots you down and departs in security. A
man meets you in secluded spot in high
way. IT he is armed and robs you of your
money-though it be trash" in the language
of Shakespeare-he is imprisoned for life.
You are the only witness who confronts him.
If he kills you the punishment is no greater,
and he will probably escape all punishment
for want of sufficient evidence to convict
him. The law simply puts premium on
murder.
1t is said that juries will not convict Of
murder in the first degree where the punish
ment is death. l do not propose to consider
that question. When an atrocious murder
Is committed, and public opinion is excited
to a fever heat, the only danger is that under
the pressure brought to bear upon them the
jury will convict when they ought not. If
they so convict it is not my business l do
not propose to rander to caprice or to false
sympathy for criminals. If innocent men
have been convicted of murder and executed
it is fearful thing to contemplate. But be-
cause one man is convicted for a murder
which he did not commit, shall we strike down
all law? If we make the law so lenient that
it will not punish and execute, the people
will. do not want to contemplate the spec
tacle of the people of Maine taking the law
into their hands and lynching the murderer
because this legislature would not pass a law
rigorous enongh to punish criminals as they
deserve.