St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-19
FIERCE AND CRUEL.
A Sermon Suggested by the
Bungled Execution OF Will
lam Rose.
Cruel Toptures in History
Performed in the Name
OF Cod.
Han Has No Divine Authority
to Inhict Brutal Pun
ishment.
Rack and ThumbscPeW Used
Because He'll Waited in
the Future.

took for his text: Sufficient to such
one is this punishment which is afflicted
by the many" ii. Cor H., 6. He said:
| have come to discuss the general
features presented by the horrible ac-
cident occurring at the last execution
in our commonwealth. | announced
as a subject brutality in Punishment"
consequently you will not expect me TO
90 into other phases, and raise tine Ques-
lion, Can we not devise means of
dealing with criminals that will have
The guarantee of sufficient punishment,
and yet be relieved of brutaIity?" To
this line / am pledged by my announce
ment, and beyond it am not expected
to go: but | am perfectly willing 10 ac-
knowledge all that seems to me prop
erly urged by those who differ from my
position. and | give place TO what con-
slider the sentiment OF a majority OF
people
1t Is urged that we are unduly eXcit-
ed by this accident. True, the rope
was broken. True. the unconscious
man fell heavily to the ground. True.
The body had to be held up 10y sturdy
men Willie another knot was tied. But
the majesty of the law was vintiicated.
The officers had the satisfaction OF See
ing the work finished. And they say
you only object because you are accus-
toned to association with quiet people,
and, besides, you are excited to warmth
and not in condition 10 properly view
the subject. TO all of which | say:
Let it be so, only let me refer you to
what Mr.. Beecher once said, always
remember Whm man Says when he
angry" We shall at least get an opIn-
ion without an apology.
Again, it is urged that this indigna-
ton is only wave of Sentimenta!ism.
Often sympathy for The criminal is de
yeloped. Men of the worst type receive
flowers and books. The corridor or the
prison Is like a rece Otlpn hall. Without
discrimination we use the words of
Cesar. NO music is so dear Ia ME as
the requests Of my friends and the sup
picati0nS OF those i'll want of assist
ance.''
Besides, we are told that there is a
large class of the criminal type who
cumber the ground, who are outlaWed,
who are
Guilty CT s2ioOd
aud who have forfeited by common con-
sent the right to live. But / reply, if
we only allowed men credit for what
they absolutely are, | am afraid we
would all dwindle very much in size
According to Swift. CULVER in travel
ing found two Kingdoms, in one of
which the men were so small he had to
take them in his nand i'll order TO hear
them speak, in the other of which they
were so large they had to take him i'm
their hands and hold him up in ORDER to
hear him speak; and the two, fear,
represent man as he Is according to his
own estimation. and as he is according
to the result possible by subtractinga,l-
his lttleness and vice and allowing
nothing for his possibilities. If the best
h0rSeDreeder in America should be
presented with the little vicious. woolly
animal of prehistoric times that was The
original OF the finest horse You may
possibly find. and should you see the lit
tie awkward animal stamping around
in the lot. he would not feel encouraged
to look at once for Spokane or Allerton.
lake man at his best, and / am afraid
you will still have to wait for the full
tillment Of the Biblical vision, Thou
hast made him little lower than the
angels, and Thou hast crowned him with
glory. honor and immortality"
Still comes the objection. we are to
make ali example of man that we may
fulfill the teaching of religion. 1t is not
out of ill-will TO the person. but out of
our sense that it Will do good to the gen
eral community. The state rises 10 the
sheds the blood of his fellowman. 10y
man shall his blood be shed. | am sorry
10 say this principle has been taught as
4 tenet of the religion. and it is found
i'll tile Hebrew Bible, but could not
believe it if it were found in a thousand
Bibles Happily. it was abrogated by
Christ who taught its opposite. But
that phase of the question / waive for
the present. Whether capita! punish
* al = or Ntn af tas1if
entity see by the study of history, that
best OF all commentaries on any reli-
giOn. Yet once more | ain told that we
are to Initiate God by
Making PunIsi,iment Terrible.
Il punish heretics.'' said Queen
Mary, with fire in this world, and God
will punish them with everlasting fire
In the next" And Cromwell is re-
ported to have justified the slaughter of
men by the conclusion that he was only
assisting the Almighty. To assist the
Almighty ecclesiastics and officers
placed boy upon rack. The wheel
was turned until he SWooned liestora-
tiveS qaickened him to consciousness.
A man with huge bicppS lifted a heavy
bar and broke his arm. lie swooned
again. He was restored. and the other
arm broken. And so his torture went
on until at last the final scene came
when his breast was broken by the bar.
But it was all done to help God! And
before we go 10 extremes in orr eager
ness to help God, might it not be well to
see whether we are sure that we are do
ing him service or merely following our
precOnceiyed ideas?
| believe that a change should lie at
hand for us in this regard Jerrold al
ways said that some people never could
enjoy the new moon out of respect for
that venerable Institution, the old ONE
This, l hope, is not our case. Ii our
methods are wrong, | am sure we are
willing to make them better.
Speaking positively, let me say bru-
tallty never did check men from crime.
Can you imagine anything more severe
than to take woman and place her in
large bag with Il dozen wild cats, to be
torn and poisoned by the maddened
creatures? Is there anything that COM
pares, even in the mind of the widest
romancer, with that of putting a man I'D
narrow cell, without ability to rise
above the floor, and then turning i'm
from an upper window a busbel of
yipers? During the reign of Henry the
VIII. men were
Boiled in Oil
In Smithfield. At time when there
were nearly 800 capital offenses, when
men were constantly hanging in chains
at Tyburn, when terror was in the very
atmosphere, crime held its widest car
nival. Men were treated as beasts. and
the treatment developed the beast with
i'll. They were hunted as ishmaeliles,
and their hands were against the hand
OF every other man. In our own land it
is notorious that when executions were
public the effect was such as TO inffame
the passions of the multitudes. and as a
consequence parties of both sexes, after
witnessing the executions, often ended
the day by Il drunken orgy that was a
shame to humanity. These displays
were so vile that public executions were
abandoned. If brutality would -,form
men, then long ago the world would