The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-02-06
4 PLEA FOR HARRIS.
Scudder Says the
Alleged Wife Murderer
Should Have the Ben
eft Of a Doubt.


the Tabernacle last evening was a discus
sion of capital punishment and the Car
lyle Harris case. He said:-
Capital punishment is a relic of BAR
barlsm. Every decade its advocates are
diminishing In number, and soon it will
be unknown In all civilized communities.
Our remote ancestors were savages whose
doctrine was an eye for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth, life for life. Civilization has
partly outgrown these brutal instincts.
and is gradually substituting isolation
for execution and putting reformation In
the place of revenge. Today II A gouges
out the eye of B. society does not retaliate
by gougtng out AS eye.
''If In a drunken brawl, G strikes d and
knock out half a dozen teeth, society
does not apply the forceps and extract
a corresponding number of teeth from
C's mouth. 1t Furnishes the culprits in
less brutal a It sends them to prison
and makes them a damages. Thus
far, we are civilized, but with respect to
the taking of life, u governments are
as savage as ever. Today If q man kills his
neighbor, society turns round Il kills
him. In SO doing. it is simply guilty OF
murder. and violates the commandment
''Thou shalt not KILL" Why society
should murder the murderer any more
thar it should knock out the teeth OF the
tooth-breaker, is difficult to comprehend.
This revolving practice is due TO the
bloodthirsty element yet extant in our
nature: that base element tina causes
people to take savage delight in an exc
cutions axd impels them to go twenty
miles to see one.
SIT is claimed that the death penalty
deters men from committing murder,
aud hat executions are necessary for the
protection of society. In answer to this,
it may be said that an memorable, life
long imprisonment and hard labor would
brighten men far more than the present
uncertainty Of execution. Many a MUIR
derer escapes justice today because some
of the jurymen are too enlightened to
believe In ca pital punishment. 1t Is DOS
sible for society TO attain the same
end and not be so vindictively severe.
Assure a man hat murder will invariably
be followed by confinement for life, with
monotonous drudgery thrown in, n he
will not be 80 anxious to kill. All life Is
sacred, including even the life OF the
man slayer, and society should not do, In
a collective capacity, what it denies the
individual. An execution is only a dign1-
fed term for governmental murder.
THE CASE OF CARLYLE HARRIS.
t'These ideas are not new, but are sug-
gested by the present popular interest in
the case of Carlyle Harris, who stands
convicted of murder, and has been sem
fenced to death. Personally, am, opposed
to his execution on the general, ground
that all executions are forms of unwar-
rantable cruelty and official murder.
For the young man himself l have pro-
found contempt, and refuse to be swept
along by the present spas
modic wave OF sympathy in
his behalf. A man who wrecks the lives
of innocent women and brags about his
diabolical achievement, is the peer OF any
murderer and ought to spend the remain
der of his days in Sing Sing, where he
would be incapable of running others.
This mawkish s-entimentalism that cod
dies the criminal while it forgets his VIC
Tim and those he has plunged into unut-
cradle grief, is as vicious as it Is shallow.
1t travels upon mere feeling and lacks
10Th intelligence and moral principle. In
such cases our sympathy should be with
the injured rather than the inJurer.
GIVE HIM A NEW TRIAL.
Concerning Carlyle Harris, there seems
to be great diversity Of opinion. some be-
lieving in his guilt as strongly as others
believe in his innocence. Some point TO
the fact that he was convicted on circum-
~stantial evidence, and that the jury was
~prejudiced against him by reason of his
licentious career. Others point to the
significant fact that the Court of Appeals,
WulCu 10 COLupooCa u Sl6ibCA oicPocoA0h-
ate ~jurists, sustained the sentence with
out one dissenting voice, and ~adjudged
Harris guilty of murder. The breach in
public sentiment has been widened
by the statement that valuable
evidence has been found. since the trial,
which will establish the innocence of the
accused. Under such circumstances in
the eyes of many people, the execution of
Carlyle Harris, without another clearing.
would be an Injustice, If not a crime. For
my W part l rail to see how a new trial
can do any harm. II the new evidence
submitted is invalid, the prisoner can be
convicted and sentenced a second time.
and the doubters will be satisfied. While
no more favor should be shown Carlyle
Harris than the humblest citizen in the
land, while his cultured connections
and mothers grief should count for
nothing, justice demands that a man
standing face TO face with death should
have the benefit of every doubt, and no
execution should take place unless the
prisoner is proven absolutely guilty"