Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-04-11
SHALL HANGING BE ABANDONED

Every now and then the question il
brought up, is this country or in England
shall the time honored custom of send
ing murderer out Of this world by the core
be abandoned for some more humane
method? There certainly is somcthi ng ter
ribly revolving alb )ut the spectacle of the gal
lows, and were 1t not for the comparative
privacy OF hangings at the present day, W,
should expect rcvusion of public feeling
which would do away with this sickenins
form Of capital punishment. Even as il
is, whed one reads in the graphic newspaper
accounts Of the event how the victim
Swung struggling for several minutes Al
the end OF the swaying rope" and then the
compliment announcement that "at the enc
Of twenty Minutes. the physicians pronounced
life extinct it is hard to reprcss feeling Of
pity and indignation, that human beipl
should be subjected to such prolonged tor
lures for the simple purpose of putting hin
out of this wicked world.
But there is utilitarian way of looking al
what may, at first sight, seem a mere mat
ter OF sentiment. Why may not this painful
and revolving aspect Of the gallovs render il
more effective as source of wholesome terro,
to the criminal classes? The more dreadful
and forbiddng the spectacle of capital pun
ishment can be made, the more influence it
will have, we may naturally suppose, in de-
nNn fNAt. h.
the crime which it is designct
to punish. The abandoned cutthroat
who reads or hears Of the execution of a
criminal condemned for murder cannot belr
being terrified by the prospect of such q
death. He may have murder in his heart
but he will think twice before he will have
1t upon his hands. So the ga,lows becomes,
what we suppose it is really intended to be
more preventive than a rctributive form
OF punishment. 1t not only answers tho
purpose OF extingushiug the spark of a
| criminal existence, but the far more usefu
purpose OF throwing about the life of The
criminal classes horrible and forbiddng
shadow.
or course, it is possible to make the spec,
acle OF hanging over-repulsive, as when the
execution is bunglingly performed or the
mechanism OF the galows is made quatc fol
Its work. The present agitation in England
against the custom Of hanging comes from
one OF these causes. The new hangman who
was appointed to take the place of the man
who for 80 many years performed this dsa.
greeable duty has not proved himself to be
| an efficient successor On q number of oc.
casions it has been necessary to repeat the
process two or three times before the death
OF the criminal occurred, and naturally this
prolongation Of agony has raised strong pro-
tests in influential quarters. What England
needs, however, is new hangman, not a
new method Of capital punishment. With
executions properly conducted, the popular
protest will subsidc. Until this abuse is cor.
rected-for it is an abuse to maintain an in
competent e1eculioner-the English people
will probably continue to protest
The other methods Of capital punishment
suggested by would-be reformers fail to rec
ommcnd themselves TO the judgment of SEN
sible people Shooting would be too honor
able. That method is, by long ASSOCIATION,
connected with the sentiment Of soldiers
death, and is eloquent with associations of
misfortune, of unwise venturesomeness, and
of everything but base and beast-hke blood
thirstness and selnsh passion. Guillotining
is too barbarous and offensive to modern
taste. 1t is destined to become, among all
civilized nations, we trust, relic of the
reign OF terror, A powerful shock OF
electricity Is the latest suggestion OF the re-
formers. and Inc most sensible, we think.
But for the present the gallows ought
not to 20. II is not barbarous, but 1t is
a wonderfully impressive method Of dispos
ing of the chief of criminals, and the sac:ed.
ness of human life demands that it be main
tanned