Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-05-17
4 QUESTION oP MERCY.

IA 0S6S1ANH VI AiL1AO L.
Circumstantial evidence is at once the
most dangerous and the most convincing.
And thisvery paradoxical character makes
IL the duty of administrators of Justice to
deal with it with the utmost circumspec-
lion. On Saturday our local columns gave
some account of the remarkable case of
McCurdy. McCurdy was convicted of the
murder Of one Of twin brothers named Ore
her. lie was sentenced to be hanged June
list. The Governor has suspended the ex-
ecution for thirty days, pending an appeal
for Executive clemency. No one saw the
deed committed The brothers were strong
young men the accused an aged man and
with but one arm, the left. Dreher was
Killed by an upward glancing blow on the
right side of the head, with a pick. The
three men came from Arizona to California
together, the brothers TO invest money in
gold find by McCurdy. There was such
gold discovery, and near the place of the
murder. The story is that the murdered
man had money. After his death the
brother was found to have double the
amount of money he formerly possessed,
and equal to the sum of money had by
each the prisoner had but few cents.
The deed was committed in an out of the
way place in the hills, where the parties
had gone. McCurdy himself went out to
LOOK for the missing man, found the body
and charged the brother with the crime
The brothers had been known to have fire.
quently quarreled. The prisoner and de-
cea ed left camp together, and Dreher was
found dead soon after. McCurdys reputa-
hoa for peace and quietness and honesty
was shown to have been good. There was
! great deal of other testimony. and
enough, evidently, to satisfy the jury, for
MeCurdy was convicted and the death
penalty was pronounced Now, however,
come nine of the jurors, the Judge who
tried and the District Attorney who prose
cuted the man, and these, together with a
large number of other citizens, petition the
Executive to commute the sentence to i'm
prisonment for life. The petition is based
on the grave doubt now entertained re-
gardinS McCurdy's guilt If there
was any reasonable doubt of his
guilt the prisoner should have been
given the benefit of il on trial
Ii must lie assumed, therefore, that there
was none. Subsequently, however, the
)ubt appears to have arisen, and appeal
i now made 10 the tribunal of mercy to
save the life Of the prisoner But it NAV
very well be questioned whether it would
b. mereifnl for the Executive to do as has
been requested. If there is remaining
evidence III the minds of the nine Jurors
the Court and the prosecutor, that Nc
Curdy Is guilty enough to be imprisoned
for life, then he is guilty enough to be
hanged. Since the doubt, however, has
nov been suggested, is not the prisoner en-
titled TO its full effect before the tribunal
OF mercy? The law seeks the life of no
man except upon undoubted proof of guilt.
As there is now only doubtful proof of guilt.
why should not the Executive give Nc
Curly the full benefit of the doubt in
the minds of the nine jurors and the
Court? Certainly, had ii existed at the
trial, he would have gone free of any con-
y.etion, for it was either murder, or no
m rider. The elements Of manslaughter or
murder in the second degree do not appear
to have entered into the case We know
nothing of the matter except as certified to
by the petition of the nine jurors and the
Court. But that is enough for the pur
poses OF the Executive To send this old
man TO prison for the remainder of his life
be ause he may be guilty. is, we take it, to
make burlesque Of the law. So long as
the may be- enters into the case, and the
certainty is matter of doubt, the Ex-
ecu.ive ought TO set the man free. To do
otherwise than TO liberate or to hang him,
We hold TO be a mockery. Ii the processes
o. the law are so weak, so incapacitated by
doabt, IN the name Of common humanity
let the prisoner benefit fully by it. To
10 at his life is no mcrcy-it were more
m srciful to end it. An eminent jurist saws
to the Executive
J am free to confess that the judgment of
Twelve mep, if unbiased, is formidable and com
mands serious consideration. But when they
afterwards sign Petition as they have this. it
si'g~es.s that they did not have an abiding con
venom when they subscribed to their verdict.
al q that If they did not. they must have beeh
morcd by some exciting and pIejndiced cause
at he time that in sober reflection has since
convinced them of their error. In my opinion
the verdict or rather death penalty. should not