Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-26
LASH BETTER THAN HALTER.

hev. George Hodges Believes the Gallows
should Be Superseded by tho Whip
ping Post-Hanging a Relic Of Barbar-
ism With but Little Effect Upon Crime.
The whipping post should supersede the
galows and corporal punishment be in
f1icted upon criminals instead OF capital
punishment.
Such is the sentiment OF the Rev. DR..
George Hodges, rector of Calvary Episcopal
Church. tho most favored place of wor-
ship in East Liberty. DR.. Hodges was en-
pnatic in stating his sentiments to Dis
PATCH man yesterday evening. He declared
in vigorous language that capital punish
ment is relic of barbaric days and is more
lifting as dread topic of history than as an
existing evil.
punishment of criminals should be reme-
dial in its effect and the life should not be
cut on before the criminal has an opportun-
ity of exhibiting his penitence. Hanging is
barbartc, brutal and inhuman," con-
tinued the rector. at has but
one creditable feature, that is,
the effect 1t has as preventive of crime.
But this one feature is not noticeable as
the State affairs now exist; what with the
pardons the Communication of sentences and
the secrecy with which executions are con-
Quoted, the public cannot appreciate capital
punishment. If the public was permitted
to witness the executions and could exper-
ience the horrors of the spectacle, the effect
might be salutary in preventing crime. But
as II now stands the public cannot hear any
thing of it except through the press, and no
account, no matter how realistic, can affect
the mind as the actual sight.
Does Not Prevent Crime.
II am not in favor of capital punishment,
mn in hot ions
conducted. do not think they have any ef-
feet whatever as a crime preventive. To Illus
trate my belief l need but recall the ii me
In the not far distant past, when stealing
was punishable with hanging. If one looks
over the annals OF crime in those days they
will find with little search that stealing was
largely more prevalent than it is at present,
prison.
II nm no more in favor of long imprison-
ments than am OF hanging. A criminal be-
comes accustomed to imprisonmenI after q
time and many of tacm manage to pass
lfyable If not a comfortable time. American
prisons are filled with men and women, too,
who are serving a second and some of them
third, fourth and fifth term. To the per-
son OF easy temperament or Of no ambition,
who Is content to exist for the mere exist
ence. caring little or nothing for any OF the
better things in life, q term in prison is not
difficult to bear, and many persons offend
the law simply to return to prison. Hard
labor is sentence that prevents to certain
extent many great crimes, but the fault 1.
have to find with that is that such a SEN
tence is but seldom passed.
"Punishment of criminals should be, as
have said before of remedial character,
and there is nothing, in my estimation, so
effective upon the criminal mind toward
the prevention of crime as the fear of physi-
cal suffering.
Strongly Favors the Whipping Post.
II am in favor Of corporal punishment, or,
to,put it more direct, am in favor of the
whipping post. I would not be nAsinter-
that would be considered favorable to a
revival of the slave traders brutality, as 1
am averse to inflicting unnecessary or ex-
cessive pain. But I think a series of whip
pings administered at various or regular
times would have such a terrorizing effect
upon the average criminal that the number
of crimes would be much smaller than it is
at present.
"The whipping post in jails and prisons
with little solitary confinement would un-
doubtedly have most beneficial effect or
this am convinced. Just turn to Delaware,
where the wife beater is punished by whip
into effect there have been but very fewcases
where the whipping post was used. From
other parts of the country there are cases of
horrible brutality practiced by mon upon
their wives, and yet their punishment is but
a simple confinement where the temporal
wants of the body are cared for as they are
out of confinement, and oftentimes much
better.
"Abolish tho scaffold, abolish barbarous
hanging, punish the criminal bv lnflicting
pain, and you will find criminal history
much shorter than 1t is at present"