The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-06-19
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
senator lngalls' Views on the InflicttoN
Of the Supreme Penalty.


Senator Ingalls, Views ON the Infiction
Of the Supreme Penalty.
We are all under sentence OF death.
BY some mysterious and memorable law
it IL appointed for all men to die. Other
incidents may or may not occur. but
death ID inevitable. There is no re-
prieve, no new trial, no pardon, no ex-
ccutive clcmency. Life, the most sacred
Of all natural rights, is the one Of which
all arc deprived by an arbitrary decree
of nature. The verdict Is pronounced
and judgment rendered before we are
born.
The right Of man to live is sacred and
incontestible, and yet it may be re-
nounced. IL am attacked, have the
right to kill my assailant, II his death is
necessary for the preservation of my
own life. This is not denied by any
code of morals or OF laws. Life may be
legally taken not only in self-defense
but IN the protection OF property, OF
honor, and the State. II the right to
slay exists. then the right to live is
forfeited. because two contradictory
rights affecting the same individual can
not exist.
Civil governments are established,
among other objects, to dispense with
private vengeance, and to punish crimes
against individuals as offences against
tho social compact. The citizen relin-
quishes his right to kill the man who
has slain his father, his brother. his
wife or his friend, upon the agreement
that society shall avenge the wrong,
and punish the offender.
This seems to be the rational iustifica-
tion of the death penalty, which has
been universally recognized from the
beginning of history.
And yet it can not be denied that as
the conscience of nations becomes more
| sensitive and the sacredness of life more
| apparent its infiction grows more re-
pulsiye. Tribunals, juries and legisla-
lures are perceptibly reluctant to en-
force the fatal right of retaliation.
Limitations are imposed. The con.
| demned criminal becomes the object oi
excessive and inexplicable sympathy,
Philanthropy strives to devise less ter
rible methods of execution. The bar
barous torture of the stake, the gibbet
the wheel, of beheading and mutilation
once deemed essential to the safety o
society, are regarded with horror, and
have been definitely abandoned. HUI
manity shudders at the contemplation
and inquiries whether the sacrifice o.
life is not indefensible ii the isolation
of the felon is sufficient for the protec
tion of the State from the repetition o.
! the crime.
The public sentiment for the abolition
OF capital punishment is evidently grow
ing stronger in all parts OF the civilized
world. For political offenses, except il
actual war, it has been finally sup
pressed. Had Waterloo occurred twt
centuries earlier Napoleon would hav.
been sent to the block instead of to st
Helena.
The right of government to inflict thu
death penalty must be conceded. Tht
objects of punishment are to reform
the offender and to protect society. TIL,
idea of vengeance has been eliminated
| No gcntlemaa oan b0 considarod as ra
formed by being hanged, and tho onl.
remaining consideration. therefore. i
that of social utility. This is dcbatabl'
ground. and is not susceptible of demon
stration. There are some incorrigibl,
and predestined criminals, the wolves
tigers and cobras of the human race
whose execution gives general satisfac
ton: but the victims of heredity. o
want. of sudden rage, of ungovernabl
impulse are regarded with compassion
The Indications are strong that societ
will ultimately be reinforced with sui
ficient intellectual and moral guarau
tees to enable it to dispense with thi
supreme penalty.
At present the general conscienc
would probably reflect the sentiment o
the challenged juryman in Montana
who declared that he was opposed t
capital punishment, except when II
fiictcd by vigilance committee.
The Legislature of Kansas has adopte
the ingenious device Of ordering Grim
nails condemned to death to be confine
for one year after sentence to the peni
tentiary, and then executed at the pleas
ure of the Governor. The result is a.
accumulation of job lot Of convicte
felons, whose lives having been jud
cially forfeited. instead of being abbre
Waited, are indefinitely prolonged b
improved diet. scientific sanitary regl
lations, and enforced good habits, at tn
; expense of the State.-John James II
gals, in n. Y. Sun.