The Progress., 1893-02-11
THE GROWING FAITH
REV. THOMAS DIXON ON THE FUTURE
OF CHRISTIANITY


Ever Before.
NEW YORK. Feb. 5.-In his review of
current events before the sermon this
morning Rev. Thomas Dixon, Jr, dis
cussed the problem Of capital punish
ment, with an application to the case of
young Harris, under sentence of death,
convicted of the murder of his wife. He
said:
Has civilized community the right
to kill human being?
The answer cur laws make to this ia
an emphatic yes.
Upon what principles does the law
providing the death penalty rest?
The theory is that the community is
thus preserving its own life. Self pres
ervation is the first law Of nature. Un-
doubtedly there are hours of crisis in in
surrection and anarchy, when bad men
must be summarily executed. But in
times of peace and order is this true?
Our theory of the law is one thing
The fact of the origin Of the law is an
other. The death penalty is simply a
survival of the barbarism Of lex taliOnis
and God has said in unmistakable terms:
'Vengeance is mine. will repay
But it is urged that the state must
kill in order to deter other criminals
from murder. Again theory is one
thing. The fact is another thing. The
death penalty does not deter from muir
der. We had 900 murders in America
last year, and only 100 legal executions
Men who commit murder do not expect
to be hung or electrocuted. They know
that they have $500 chances of escape
against 100 chances of execution.
The risk involved is contemplate as
measured against the resistless impulse
of morbid passion demanding a life.
The penalty of law is a preventive of
crime not in proportion to its theoretic
severity, but in proportion to its GER
tainty of infiction. The man who com
mits murder has one chance only in
seventy against him. He does not fear
the one chance. The consequence is
that homicide is practically unchecked
today in America, so far as law is con-
cerned.
The progress of civilization must re-
suit always in reducing the severity of
penalties and increasing the certainty of
execution. The old English laws pro-
vided the death penalty for over $50 Of
fenses. Such were the laws of barbara
ans. Society has not suffered by the
modification of these penalties, but has
been always the gamer in their repeal
We long ago reached period of devel
opment when life imprisonment should
have been substituted for the death pen
atty. If men were imprisoned for life
for murder. the law against homicide
would not be dead letter. 1t would be
executed, and criminals would be de-
TERED. The rules governing the admis-
sion of evidence would be so modified
that conviction would be more surely a
certainty for guilt, and the prosecuting
attorney would not be handicapped by
the tremendous pressure of sentiment
1t is next to impossible to enforce the
death penalty today in our centers of life
If the victim be "a man who can excite
the least sympathy and about whose
guilt there fingers the least suspicion Of
error.
The heart of the community rebels at
the thought Of numbering any mothers
child, whether by law or without law,
and the thought of strangling an inno-
cent man TO death with chain of cir
cumstantial evidence that may, after all,
be a lie is an unspeakable horror that
ever haunts the heart of the people in
such a crisis.
Take the case of Carlyle Harris. Here
Is one OF the unlucky number of the 100
fatal cases for execution. Six thousand
nine hund escaped. He was canght
IN the tolls of circumstances that were
not explained to the satisfaction of
jury. The law says he must be roasted
to death with current of electric fire.
But now comes the supreme test for
the law. The mother of that boy ap-
pears upon the scene of this awful pub
hc tragedy-the mother whose heart
beat with joy at the cry of her firstborn,
who watched over his cradle with a
mothers divine love, who followed him
through the years with mothers pas
.sionate faith! All, we are all kin to that
~aOehct' AfCA WAu VI VI al ulou bOuCutS
all hearts alike. You hear i'm it tine pos
sible echoes of .your own souls cry of
despair.
There presses upon the soul of the
community again and again the terrible
thought that the boy may be Innocent
No matter if a jury did decide it against
him. Juries have hung many an inno-
cent man in the history of the world.
Trials are often slugging matches be-
tween legal giants, in which the strong
est arm wins-evidence or no evidence.
And in the case of this young man,
speaking from my own view of the evi-
dence. was amazed at the verdict He
may be guilty. but if | had been on the
jury I'd have hung that jury 30 the pres
ent moment before would have agreed
TO death or the evidence presented. 1t
seemed to me there was more than rea-
sonable doubt of guilt 1t may have been
proved that he was bad man, but do
not see how under the laws governing
evidence in such cases he could be found