San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-01-13
USE THE KNIFE.
DIR. F. E. DANIELS, A LEARNED M.
D., OF AUSTIN,
Speaks of the Criminal Glass and
Suggests Some Good Remedies
for Suppression.

gave out the following for publica-
ton: "The negro Nichols, who
was executed here yesterday
for one of the most revolt
ing and horrible crimes known
TO the annals of criminal juris-
prudence, for a week or so was
made the object of great religious
attention and solicitude by his
people. The colored minister has
prayed with and for him unceas-
ingly and Thursday he was bap-
tized in the Jail in a large tank
made especially for the occasion.
He had at last been brought to
that state of mind to believe, and
through a letter which was in
local paper announced and declared
that his soul was pure;' that it
had been washed clean through
the blood of an all merciful Re-
deemer,' and that he was going
straight to His bosom and eternal
life. He had to all intents been
figuratively clad in robes of sanity
glory and made ready for para
disc.
''The only thing that can be
claimed for capital punishment is,
it is alleged, to restrain the GRIM
inal propensity and lessen crime !;
it is claimed that a display of the
laws terrible majesty and pow
er will strike terror into the
souls of evil doors and thus
lessen crime. On all other
scores capital punishment is to be
condemned. On the score Of al
imony because as a producer a
man is worth $1,000 year to the
state. On the score of eXpediency,
because as is well known, inno-
cent persons are sometimes con-
victed on circumStantial evidence,
and we may hang the wrong man.
On moral ground, because If one
murder is wrong the murder of the
murderer, even by the state, does
not make it less so or right it. AS
to the claim that a display of the
laws vengeance will deter crimi-
IlOlo anu lNSStI VI VIC dSh lily
then are the executions private?
1t is q mistake; instead of de-
terring criminals it acts as
suggestion puts in the minds of
certain persons that which per-
haps they would never otherwise
have thought of. The one here to-
day, although private, was wit
messed by hundreds of all sorts,
sizes, colOrs and previous condi-
tions. Like buZZards lowering
over the cornage field for hours,
they waited, Purchased on every
roof and other elevation that COM
manded view of the jail yard, to
satisfy their morbid curiosity to
see a human wretch hurled into
eternity. That is phase of human
character hard to understand.
statistics show that capital
punishment has failed to les
sen crime; and all Texans
have seen that the terrible ven
gence visited upon the wretch at
Paris has really acted as a sugges-
and revolving form is greatly on
the increase. The case for which
this fellow was hung was since
then and similar in its horrible de-
tails. Every hope contains one or
more such records all over the
country. But when an execution
is preceded and attended with all
the mysteries and attractions of
religious embellishments that have
surrounded that of today, 10 the
culprit and all OF his sOrt-cer-
tainly to his friends ana
sympathisers the majesty of
the law is lost sight of
and the occasion is shOrn of all its
horror, and becomes a great re-
ligiOus sacrifice. He becomes a
martyr. He believes and is permit
ted to announce that he GOES
straight to heaven. He thus be-
comes, especially to the supersti-
tiOus initiative cOlOred man, an OBJ
iect of envy and of religious vener-
alton. He is a fetch, and as he has
pointed the way-demonstated and
declared that the road to glory be-
gins at rape, and leading
via the gallOws, is the
shortest cut to eternal life
What is the tendency and natural
result OF such hanging? To the
negroes imaginative and supersti-
tious nature II is powerful sug-