The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-08-21
THE KENINILER CASE.

THE KEMMLER CASE.
We would not like to undertake defense
of the opinion that some of our supposedly
wise men have been quoted as expressing
| in regard to the Kemmler execution. They
have said things of the execution that smack
strongly of fiendish spirit transmitted from
InquisitiOnal days. They sheer at those
whose sensibilities were Mortified by the
sickening scenes enacted in the death cham
Der in Auburn prison. They apply the term
"sickly SentimentalSts'' to such persons
They condemn the very feeling that keeps
people from becoming murderers. They
breathe spirit that the murderer breathed
when he sought to justify the killing of his
poor mistress by saying that he had to do it,
When expressing their views on that bung-
ling killing of Kemmler they say, what
of it-What if he was roasted and tortured
to death, the murderOus wretch deserved to
suffer-" Such remarks coming from igno-
rant persons would not sound so very
strange. but coming as they do from the lips
of men whose opinions are considered relia-
bic they sound like false notes in music,
and remind us of the reason we once heard
boy give as his justification for beating a
much smaller boy. He said: 1T don't
make no difference-his dad 8 in peniten-
tiary." If this Kemmler had been man of
bright intellect, scion of aristocracy, these
vorv mon xDouId prOpounoo tho ,noppor of b;c
execution disgrace to civilization. But
such was not the case. Kemmler was a
poor murderOuS wretch indeed, true son
of poverty and a pupil of ignorance weed
allowed to grow up in the garden of the
Lord. No one will pretend to say that
Kemmler was to blame for being born with
a weak brain nor that he was to blame be-
cause he followed the vicious instincts
which were inherited from his associations
as street gamin. All things considered,
Kemmler was entitled, according to the
highest laws of his country, to a merciful
(?) killing. So if he was no longer fit to
dwell in this world he was at least entitled
to be worked off, in decent manner, and
if accident or bungling method prevented
this, it does not look we'll for molders of
public opinion to attempt to justify the hor-
rible execution by referring to the victim as
only miserable wretch. Such argument is an
indication of weak cause, and sure sign
that the end of capital punishment is near
at hand. The fact is, the idea of executing
human being has become abhorrent to the
higher elements of humanity in this country.
This newly devised scheme for taking hu-
man life is only an attempt to make the
custom seem less barbarous. We have
heard several different reasons given in
favor of private electric executions. One
was that it would be more humane to the
culprit and less demoralizing to the commu-
nifty. another, that on account of its being
a strange, mysterious manner of death, it
would prove more terrifying to would-be
murderers. There are not two great men
living to-day who favor capital punishment
laws. So long as there are men willing to
put men to death at the command of their
felIow-men there will be men capable of
numbering on their own account. Human
life will not be held sacred by the indi-
vidual so long as the state continues to set
the example of taking human life.
mil oiroC q 40 orb fn ho