Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-04-22
ELECTRICAL EXECUTIONS.


derer, is TO be executed by the new cleo
trlcal process provided by the late Legis-
lature of that State in statute abolishipg
the brutal rope and scafold. A good
many sickly sentimentalists have shud
dered over the electrical means, and some
OF them have endeavored, but ineffectu
ally, to have the law declared unconstitu-
tional, because it provides an unusual mode
for executing criminals All new things
are unusual at first but thatthe electrical
method will prove less painful and more
certain than the hangman's rope, is not
now for moment to be doubted Kemler
will be shunted off into the unknown
without twinge of pain, and in space of
time so small as to be Unreasonable by
any of the ordinary means of computation.
Since 1t Is the end of the law to execute
with the least possible pain, the new
method is therefore superior to the old
Many of the press of the East have
taken decided stand and propose to rebel
against that provision of the law exclud-
ing reporters from the scene of the ex-
ecution, and that prohibits the publication
OF sensational reports of the affair. That
1t Is wise provision of the law we are
convinced. The sensational accounts of
executions ale demoralizing; they tend to
defeat the purpose of the law by making
the criminal something of hero; they
familiarize the public with execution
scenes, and thus shear them of the terror
they are intended to inspire among the
lawless. No reporter who has reported
hangings will honestly declare that he
believes such reports as are referred to
conserve any good purpose. The recital
of the details of the preparations the
minutie of the last hours; the dramatic
movements of the party mounting to the
scaffold; the scene upon the gallows
tree; the contortions of the victim. the
examination by the physicians the count
ing OF the waning pulse beats the removal
OF the body; the post mortem examin-
alton; the excitement among the outside
multitude; the devices of the morbidlv
curious to catch a glimpse of the hanging;
the atter-rush for bits of the rope: the
crowding in to look at the scaffold where
the victim perished-all these things.
together with the feverishness of the pub
lie pulse in the town where an execution
takes place, tend, as every experienced
newspaper knows, to harden the sensibili-
ties; to deprive the execution of its warn
ing character; to actually stimulate men
to murder that they may enjoy the brief
noteriety which the man on the scaffold
gains through the mischievous agency of
sensational reporting.
The truth is, that so soon as man is
finally condemned by the law to death he
ought to be considered dead to society.
As in France, his very name should be
supplanted by number; sentimental
women and whining emotionalists should
be forbidden access to him, to weep over
the murderer and strew flowers upon the
floor of his cell, and by their sickly and
misdirected sympathy to exalt the villain
to the pinnacle of heroism When the
hour of execution arrives he should be
deprived of life IN the presence of the wit
nesses the law provides, and with the least
possible dramatic effect. The privacy Of
an execution adds to its terror, and thus, as
a restraining influence, one of its chief
purposes is attained by its private char
acter Most of the New York papers de-
clare that they will defy the law in the
Kemmler case and make as sensational re-
ports as they possibly can, though any
thing more than the announcement that
the decree of the law has been carried out
is forbidden. If the New York newspapers
do this, we trust that the officers whose
duty it is will prosecute the offenders.
The press should be leader in obedience
to the law, not a promoter of rebellion
against ii.