New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-02-08
own good. So that we end as we bef.
gin with an instance thag it is the du-9,


own good So that we End as we bef
gin with an instance thag 1T IS the du- 4
| tv of the State, or OF tlas States, TO
entrust this grave RESPONSE 4llty TO q
bureau OF carefully selected and train
| ed men, at whose head shall be a rec
ognize9, well paid chief, upon when
can be laid this terrible burden ofreaT-
rying into effect the laws decree.
AS has been told in The Graphs, sci:
entists and hun1anitarians have petit
toned the Legislature for an investi-
Some prefer death by electricity,
some by the garrote, none approve OF
the present system. Human nature
| has changed IN no whit since Adam
and Eve and his Imperial Majesty.
Lucifer, wandered through the shaded
groves and bathed in the linpid pools
in the Garden Of Eden. Trouble Will
| come between men and women, and
even brothers will develop a murder
Gus tendency now as they did when
Cain and Abel strove for the mastery.
This nervous system OF ours. TINS
rare Connected set Of physiological
structures with their nerve centers,
their gray masses are just as sensitive
to-day as they were IN the past, and
they will be Just as sensitive in the fu-
ture as they are at the present time,
SO we may expect lealousles, enVles,
Observation-Disclosures to: do their brutal
work in the future precisely as they
do to-day, and did in the long forgot
ten past; and law must take cognl-
zance of the interferences Of life, APP
portioning punishment according to
thegrade ofUhe offence. "AlitefOr a life,
seems to be the proper caper IN mod
ern' as 1t was In ancient society, ana
unless we are willing to relapse into
that condition of barbarism which
warrants man to put his individual
bullet through the brains ofhis enemy,
Or stick his individual stiletto in the
heart OF his opponent, society by its
organized agents must step between
thesvengeful and his victim, and I'M
some universally recognized way car
ry out the law regnant in every hui
man mind, "an eye for an eye and g.
life for a life.'
Hanging is no good.
In the first place, it requires a, vast
amount of perfunctory preliminaries.
Feet have to be bound, arms must be
tied, moose must be adjusted, the
cap must be drawn, the rope must be
cut or trap must be dropped, and
| with it seems to be an essential train
| Of possible accidents. Sheriffs as a
rule are simply successful politicians,
rewarded by their party for exception
al work in the party:s interest with a
good, fat office. Ii they are men Of
sensitive organization they natu1-
ally shrink from any duty that brings
them into disagreeable contact with
their fellowmen. If they are thick
skinned, opinionated. brutal, forceful
fellows they will quite as likely shock
their fellow citizens by displays of
their brutality.
We have had illustrations OF the
| brute in power. -
The late Isaiah Rynders, although
| IN many respects in his later years a,
kind-hearted old man was in his early
and middle life a typical rounder who
delighted in all manner OF brute dis
plays. When Hicks the pirate was
hanged Rynders was United States
marshal, and it is an undeniable fact
that under pretence Of giving Hicks q
| pleasant sail, the steamboat which
was chartered for the purpose of car
rylng the prisoner to Ellis Island,
where he was to be hanged, was crowd
ed to the guards with roughs and
tOughs from the city, and the trip was
| prolonged IN order that the bar might
be sold out. Robert Murray, who.
succeeded Rynders as United State
marshal, was a man of robust type,
! thick-skinned in all matters of public
duty, although very kind and charita-
bic in private life. 1t was his duty to
execute Captain Gordon, the slave
don took poison early in the morning
OF the day Oh which he was
to be hanged, and it required the
active service OF aastomach pump and
a continuous plying of the whisky
bottle to keep the remnant of life in
his emaciated, shrimp-like body, un-
| til the earliest possible hour when a,
legal execution could be had. Thea.
| supported by two sturdy deputie&,
| filled to the very brim with whisk3,
| the little fellow was half led, half puf-
| ed from the cell on the ground floor to
| the plaza between the cook house and
the woman's prison, and drunk as O.
lord the body was yanked in the air
and the soul besotted, betricked, befoul,
| .went-well, of that am not compe-
| tent to speak. The law which denies
the Sheriff the right to invite specta.
tors is step in the right direction. 1t
takes from the prisoner all the slim
illus OF an audience waiting to be ad-
dressed. 1t removes the poetic sur
roundings of sympathetic admirers.
1t reduces the procedure fcem, one OF
flowery effervescence to the place OF
common perfunctory killing. tt 1,f.
/ fords a. sharp contrast between 1he
explanations OF McGloin. eyes" he
yelled, II am a tough" as he drove
. the knife into his opponents breast.
"God have mercy on my soul,;' he
said a few weeks thereafter, as he
stood with the rope dangling over his
head
If the garroting collar is used, or the
electrlct button substituted, there,
will be no more lighting, biting, kick