The record-union., 1891-07-08
REFORM EXECUTIONS.


The wisdom of the New York law in
making executions private, and in ex-
Guiding press reporters from the oppor-
tunity to work up the agonies and fill
coiums with mawkish, demoralizing and
sickening details of last hours and
scaffold scenes, has been fully vindi-
Gated.
The four murderers who were ex-
ecuted by electricity Tuesday morning,
met their fate in the presence of the wit
nesses by law required, and before no
others. The most the reporters could do
was to cool their heels outside the walls
Of the prison, and speculate upon what
was going on inside the building. This
is an infinitely better system than the old
one. Under the method heretofore OBJ
tanning, the sensational press teemed
with details of the executions of crimi-
nails that were absolutely disgusting.
They were of character of reports calcu-
lated either to excite sympathy for red
handed murderers or to exalt the con-
demned to seemingly heroic attitudes.
Such reports deadened the sensibilities,
hardened youth, robbed execution of its
solemnity and severity, and, as is well
known, directly counteracted the deter
rent purpose of capital punishment.
Formerly when an execution took
place in New York, as in California, the
country town was III state of abnormal
excitement; all thought was occupied by
the legal killing; men fought and strug-
gled for the privilege Of getting near to
the gallows to witness the death throes OF
the victims. The housetops near the jail
were crowded with men, women and
children, vainly seeking to look into the
prison yard. The reporters and lot of
sickly sentimental women swarmed about
the condemned, and while one class
showered him with flowers, the other
piled him with all manner of imperti-
nent and silly questions, until the
hero, since he was the center of SO much
attention. Every act of the murderer
possibly fit to be reported was put into
print. Every word he uttered for days
before, and supposed meanings of his
glances, were reported and dilated upon.
The march to the gallows tree was one
of the features in description of which
the sensational press was particularly at
home. But still more graphic and
dramatic were its accounts of the ascent
of the scaffold, the speeches Of the con-
demned, the behavior on the platform.
the adjustment of the moose, the pinion-
ing Of the limbs, the drawing on of the
black cap, the fall of the trap, the tug at
the rope, the twisting and turning of the
body with the spring of the cord, the
counting of the falling heart-beats, and
the fluttering of the pulse. Not even SO
small detail as the change of the color
of the nails and the involuntary mani
festations of nerve tension escaped the
Photographic pen of these sensational
writer's.
The aftermath of the execution was
also broad opportunity for them, and.
If anything, more disgusting one by
which they were enabled to describe the
appearance of the dead when the black
cap was removed; to picture the purple
crease of the rope about the swollen neck;
the autopsy, the preparation for the
grave, and finally the removal of the re-
mains by sorrowing friends.
The effect of such sensational reports
upon the people We're extremely demoral.
izing; they hardened youth and actually
inspired the vicious to seek the scaffold
to enjoy brief notoriety, which they mis-.
took for fame.
New York, Minnesota and the Da.
kotas have broken away from the
old custom; California has made a new
departure also, and all executions in thi:
State are hereafter to take place in one O
the State prisons, and will be practically
private. In most of the Southern States
public executions are still the rule, anC
we read of morbid tastes drawing five
and ten thousand people at time to wit.
ness ignominous death upon the scaffold
In other States the hanging is within
jail walls, but reporters are still
given opportunity to cater to the love O
blood by graphic reports that descend
into the most disgusting and debasine
details. Minnesota, New York and Califor
MIA lead in a humane and needed reform
How long will it be before all States follow
these examples, and how long will Cali
fornia cling to the rope, now that it ha.
been demonstrated that the electrical cur
rent is superior means9