St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-17
THE EXECUTION OF ROSE.

lie lie OF any one man, however
great,counts for very little in the course
of affairs; and when lie dies, the world
goes Oh very much as it did while he
was playing his part or before he was
born. The life of man like WILLIAM
ROSE counts for still less; and whether
he died innocent or guilty. except to
the few unhappy people who cherished
affection for him because of association
or relationship. his death makes no
difference: and had it come at natures
call there would have been only two or
three to notice 1t or to remember it,
even for Il brief season. But the sick
ening tidings which have been reported
from Redwood Falls Of the manner of
his execution give an Importance to
the fate of this poor wretch, the effect
of which may be productive of material
results.
The GLOBE is not prepared to take
the position that capital punishment
should be abolished, but it is prepared
to take the lead in demanding that ex-
ploits of Yesterdays sort shall not be
perpetrated in the name of the law or
in the name of anything else. Com
menting on the last hours of the muir
derer, this paper has already called at
tention to the horror of such scenes
when enacted with surroundings which
are inevitable in country village. The
funeral procession on its way from New
Ulm to Redwood Falls, exposed to the
gaze of the curious; the tarrying at
Sleepy Eye, and the lettering of the
condemned man in the lobby of the
hotel and his interchange of pleas
antries with his acquaintance who
dropped in to see him; the incarcera-
ton In the rude board lookup without
light or ventilation, the walk through
the town and the visit to the undertake
er's; the easy familiarity of the victim
with his judicial slayers, his bravado
and their pale shrinking from their
task; the thronging of men, women and
children from the country about to be
present at the taking of-all these
things make up the pages of a CHASTITY
tragedy unworthy of the countenancing
of great Commonwealth and incon-
siStent with the existence or hope of
high civilization.
But incidents of this kind are not to
be classed in disgusting awfulness at all
with the laundering and bungling work
III the chamber of death. Anybody who
knows the three men, sheriffs of their
respective counties, on whose shoulders
rested the responsibility of ending
ROSES life, knows that they are good
and honorable citizens, who try to do
their duty because it is their duty, how
ever distasteful it may be to them. 1t was
not their fault that the rope broke, and
that the murderer had twice to be sub
Jected to the strain of the fatal weights.
1t was the fault of the law, which i'm
poses on them business which they are
not fitted to discharge. They are sim
ply like the rest of US, trained and by
disposition inclined 10 the ordinary pur
suits of common mOrtals. They have DO
peculiar skill at killing their fellows.
and the statute which prescribes that
they shall do such things, and Shall do
them well, preScribeS all impossibiity.
Every week stories of similar horrors
due to the same causes come from other
points in the country, and they all carry
the same lesson. which is that the pre-
vailiRg system of executing criminals
is radically and terribly wrong.
This man ROSES death will be re-
membered if it brings home to the peo-
pie of Minnesota the truth of this view.
If murderers have to be killed, they
should be killed quietly, secretly. with
out needless physical agony; suddenly
and unexpectedly, so that their mental
agony may be reduced to minimum;
with solemn and serious surroundings,
and by experts thoroughly equipped for
the nauSeating trade, who will do the
deed skillfully, without miscarrying,
without faltering, without the exhibit
ton of feeling, with hardened hearts
and impassive eountenances, as the
priest of old killed the bIeat-
ing sacrifice on the altar. One
state only in the Union has shown
spirit progressive enough to introduce
material reforms in this direction, and
that is New York. Its new law is still
experimental, and exposed to criticism
from many quarters. But it issan evil
dence of an enlightened feeling and a
recognition of the shame of legal butch
cry. 1t is Minnesota'S duty, under the
suggestion of this most recent instance
and example, to follow the lead which
has TINS been made. To reform our
capital punishment law will be an i'm
portant duty of our legislature when
we next have one in session.