The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-08-13
ABOUT EXECUTING WOVEN.


York a great sentiment is at stake.
Marie stabbed an unfaithful lover.
She has been sentenced to be killed by
electricity. The women and men OF
New York are almost unanimous in
praying Governor Morton to commute
the sentence. They point out the fact
that no jury will convict man for
killing an. unfaithful wife and insist
that the sentence was unjust. This
is open rebellion, not only against the
law. but the courts of the country.
But it is a rebellion in a good cause,
and the sentiment of the whole country
is with Marie Barberi.
At the same time another case. not at
all like the one in New York, is agitat-
ing the people in Georgia. Mrs Deb
bic Mobiles, an old woman, was con-
victed of numbering her husband and
was sentenced to be hanged therefor.
At an earlier day q murder OF this kind
was designated petit treason, and the
woman was burned. But in spite Of
the gravity Of the offense the governor
Of Georgia is being deluged with petit
tons asking him to save the "erring
sisters life. The women OF the state
have taken up her cause. They as
sert that it is outrageous to hang a
woman, and they say further that Mrs.
Mobiles was driven to the commission
Of her rash act by the unkind treat
ment of her husband.
So much Of stir have the Georgia
women made, reinforced as they have
been by petitions from New York, Mas
sachusetts, and other states, that the
husbands of Georgia are getting
alarmed. Perhaps they feel that they
have not always treated their own
wives well and are afraid of the con-
sequences if the latter know they will
escape the gallows if they murder their
lords. Therefore the male citizens of
the county of Twiggs, in which the de-
ceased Mr.. Mobiles lived, have held a
mass meeting to demand the protection
Of men by the execution of female
murderers. They have adopted reso-
lutions in which they
Do most solemnly, sincerely, and ear
nestly protest against the extension in
any form of executive clemency for this
murderess, polluted with the lifeblood of
her husband, and do hereby declare our
perfect confidence in our chief magistrate.
and our belief that he will not be swerved
from the performance Of his sworn duty
by desire to cater to weak sentimental
ism or transient public feeling unless in
spired by desire for equal justice and the
sacred execution Of our laws.
They also inform the governor that
if he does commute her sentence he
may expect future offenders TO be
dealt with by Judge Lynch, from
whose decision there is no appeal"
To this brutal resolution it is only
necessary TO add that the men who
passed it are fools. The question of
the right, sentimental or other, to hang
Mrs. Mobiles, is one that could only be
passed upon after thorough study of
the evidence against her. If she had
lived with her husband for years, she
must have been goaded by some I'M
usual cruelty to have killed him at last
If that is true it was 4 mitigating cir
cumstance and should be weighed in
her favor. But legally she cannot be
saved by the mere fact that she is a
woman, if she killed her husband in
cold blood, without extraordinary pro-
vocation.
However. the two cases both in New
York and Georgia are certainly an in
dicatiOn of the strong position and as
sertion women are taking in public
life. In New York they have justice
on their side. In Georgia, they may
not have justice on their side, but they
have against them lot of low-browed
bruteS of men, and will, in all ikeli-
hood, win.