The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1892-06-08
All Unjust PrerogatiYe

lStocks and stakes and racks and
galIows and pillories were the for
iresses behind which society en-
trenched itself. Every public square
was graced and adorned with these
browning demons of cruelty Side
by side they stood. the gloomy monu
lments af Il harharous age Hand In
hand they carried % sheir work If
human torture and human butchery;;
and mutually smiled upon the bleed
| ing, mangled. charred FORMS of their
helpless and unfortunate victims.
But many af these barharoas Gus
| toms and laws have been rocks iii
running water fsanIEy. moved BIZ
the gentle Spirit Of Him Who PRAYED
fnrs His enemies. has sw.,pt4 ast them.
The sfagni il snnul,ltiiag inIiieasEies
of observation-disclosures Tue rack and
the stocks and the piIlory NJ. longer
l'holaEin their ttrtnring embrace the
l'quivering human form. But the
seething currents Of human passion
have torn the galloWs away from its
old associates, pushed it along, upon
the foamy crest of the wave Of ven
geance, and now il stands in our
midst, dark and hideous, hoary with
age, its grim vissage. like Typhon's
scoWl, casting its gloomy shadows
over this Christian country, and it
looks with longing eyes back to the
barbarous daysof its childhood.
Why do we not now abolish this
old relic Of barbarism2 Why do the
laws requiring the execution of a
criminal remain upon our statutes?
It cannot be for the correction of the
offender; for it puts him beyond the
reach Of correction. 1t cannot be for
the benefit OF the offended; for TAX
ing the life Of the murderer does not
restore the life of his victim. There
is only one plea by which the expe-
diency Of the death penalty can he
supported: that Of making an ex-
ample of the criminal to deter men
from crime. #
This plea has been the foundation
Of the death penalty in all civilized
countries. But how fallacious! How
contrary to thephllosophy of human
ity Hanging as an example is not
beneficial; it will not deter men from
crime; but its tendency is to debase
and harden the heart, to fan the
flames Of hatred, and not to dimin-
ish, but to multiply murders. tits
not by the influence of sanguinary
act that an unhely passion is sub,
dued. JIG you would have men re,
morseless, familiarize them with
blood. Naturally man has a horror
Of taking human life. His instincts
revolt at it, and lis heart recoils at
the thought Of it. It is not the old
and experienced soldier who trembles
at the blood and carnage of the bat
tie field. but the man whose sytnpa-
thies have not been blunted by such
dreadful exhibitions. Let the men.
women, and children of any commun-
ity become familiar with the work Of
death, as sanctioned by the State in
the execution of criminals, und their
horror of blood shed will gradually
and certainly diminish, and they
themselves will kill when they have
what they deem sufficient provdca-
tion. The State sets the example.
Every principle begets its like and
harsh and sanguinary laws have a
tendency3to render man cruel, either
by fear, by imitation, or by revenge.
But laws dictated by mildness, hu-
mamie the manners of nation, and
heighten the, spirit of government.
We have long since learned that love
and kindness are thesoul of the home
the heart of the family that every
stroke of the lash upon the back of
a child makes scar upon his soul;
that children who are educated nm
lder the most stern and cruel author
lily are the most vicious and disobe-
dent. And yet we ignore the phi
losophy upon which we base our
hopes of domestic discipline, when
we comesto apply it to the govern
ment of a State, or nation. But what
is a State, or nation, but family2
| And we may be certain that whatever
! principles will exert ahealthful, NOR
alinauence overthe minds and hearts
LOT. children, will exert thesa infiu
ence over the minds and hearts of
men and women who are but children
| of larger growth. EN-
/ The Rev. Dr.. Roberts OF England
talked with one hundred and sixty
4 seven criminals under sentence of
| death, and all but three of them had
witnessed executions. In no two
States of this Union is the hangman
so frequently employed as in the
1 States of Louisiana and Kentucky,
and yet there are from three hundred
To FIVE hundred per cent more homi-
cides in those two States than in
Maine and Michigan, equal to them
4 in population, where the death pen.
Il atty has been abolished.
/ BY privately killing the offender in
4 prison, forbidding the presence Of
any but aFfayored few, many pf our
States have acknowledged the delete.
rious influence of public executions
! If the death penalty is so salutary
1 why would not hearing the creak d
h the galloWs, the parting words D,
the doomed man, and seeing bis
frightfM death struggles benefit thai
rough and disorderly class which in.
Eariably attends public executions
Fear Of punishment may deter /