The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-05
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
WILL HIGH CIVILIZATION RE-
NOUNCE OFFICIAL MURDERs

naturalization OF Juries 40 Refnrn IA
Capital Verdict-HOrrOrs OF Ixemm-
Ier's ExecutiOn-OmcfaI Murder a
Remnant of Bnrbarism-Nhy Exc
cutions in Prfvates AIPhOnse
Karr's Famous saying-OnIy in
Times of War Has Society the Right
10 kiIl-The Sixth Commandment.
Thou Shalt Not kilIr-The Duty of
society Toward Criminals.
Fifteen or twenty years ago the question
Of capital punishment was ardently dis
sussed. To-day it is a thesis almost aban-
doned Following in the train Of Beccaria,
in Italy many eminent men in other coun-
rries have called for the abolition
Of capital punishment 1t is sufficient TO
name Lamartine, Victor Hugo and Louis
Rlanc in France; Bentham in England
Livingston and Greeley in America The
Efforts Of these great minds have not been
altogether useless. Everywhere penal
legislation has been mitigated. Executions
have become more rare, and the scaffold
has even altogether disappeared from
some countries. 1t would appear as if
these results have satisfied public opinion
and that It now finds that the question
has not sufficient Importance for its dis
cussion to be pushed further. There are,
however, two symptoms which should be
noticed the first is that the juries of Eu-
rome. like those of America, evince grow
ing repugnance to the verdict which en-
tails capital punishment; the second is
that public decency compels almost every
where the scaffold to hide itself, and that
The governments have understood the ne
cessity Of concealing from the public gaze
the spectacle of the official murder. This
sufices to show that the question is not
vet completely elucidated, and that reason
awaits a more peremptory solution than
the one arrived at.
Here in the United States, the recent
execution of Kemmler has again revealed
the horror which the punishment of death
inspires in most men. 1t is true that party
spirit has taken up this sad case, to seek
in It some demonstrative arguments
against high officials, which were merely
hypothesis that might have been refuted
by a statement of positive facts, but which
become odious when used as a weapon to
strike political adversaries. However, it
would not have been so easy for a certain
party to take advantage OF this lugubrious
incident were it not for the emotion
caused by the fearful kind of execution
of this criminal. Kemmler, the obscure
assassin, had nothing about him to call
forth any special sympathy He murdered
in cold blood the woman with whom he
lived, and jealousy was, we believe, the
only motive which he could bring forward
in justification. But he was a man, quite
young man, whom we ought not TO con-
slider as a hardened wretch, and it suffced
to call attention to his case in one way
or another. to arouse public conscience to
mn no mir a Gl1-
ment
There is hardly a day in the United
States that there is not a case or two
of official murder by rope or by electric
ity. Physicians and electricians have eX-
amined the exact location of con-
tact by the electrodes. They know
now that by placing the victim in a more
recumbent position, in the fatal chair,
there Will be less occasion for any of
those horrible commissions of the Kemm-
Ter execution. Be it as 1t may, there does
not lie the question. Has society the
right to kill one of its members? This
is the question which has been long dis
Cussed without arriving at a clear soiu-
ton. Or at least if one publicist re-
solves 1t to-day in one sense, another VIII
be found tomorrow to demonstrate the
contrary Of what the first advanced. But
society speaks by its acts, by its conduct,
by its laws. Let us try to understand
Its language.
When society was of the opinion that
1t should get rid of all those who trOu-
bed or disquieted it, there We're judges
whose business it was to condemn, and
hangmen whose pleasure it was to put
their condemnation into effect At that
masters, whose chief duty was TO
watch over the safety and well-being
OF those who governed it. When it, how
ever became its own master, 1t recognized
the value of human life and declared that
II would take upon itself the deciding of
the penalty to be melted out to criminals.
It then instituted the jury. Even under
the new regime, the penal laws preserved
a great portion of their severity. 1t was
soon seen that juries eluded them OF
TOOK upon themselves to mitigate them
IN their application. Those laws have
been gradually modified, and the penalty
OF death, formerly inflicted upon most
Wrong-doers, has been reserved for as
sassins alone. This is not yet sufficient
Tor society, for we see in numberless cases
the jury, which represents it, giving the
murderer the benefit of extenuating cir
eumstances, thus diminishing the severity
OF the penalty, doubtless on account OF
the wholesome fear of condemning an
innocent person, as has often been the
case. DO we not see in this an evident
proof OF a tendency toward the abolition
OF capital punishment?
For those who doubt this. it will be quite
enough to show what care is now taken to
sNt 70 executions as secret a character as
possible. When society thought II pos
sessed rights over the life and death of
us members, 1t killed the criminal in broad
udy llsht and on the most public spot in
me town. IL saw in this means of inspir-
ing in criminals a salutary terror Why
mas 1t then renounced this practice? Why
uoeS IL hang man with closed doors, or
why does it cut his head off in a retired
spot before sunrise? Either it must have
recognized this inefficaey of the example,
Ut Lelt ashamed of the hideous business
Both reasons probably unite to decide it.
put we ought to have no shame for what
Is just, for what is necessary, for what is
legal. and if society hides itself when in
nlcung the last penalty upon it's victim, it
Is because it has serious doubts as to the
justice, the necessity or the legality of its
n nre, ana also because 1t transgresseS the
sshalt not kill" These doubts manifest
themselves every day with a new force.
IL Is impossible not to conclude from them
mat high civilization will soon renounce
the official murder. This is clearly what
We learn from the line of conduct it has
held for the last hundred years.
When society is involved in war, we I'M
destand that it should kill IT'S enemies to
defend itself. If it has this right, it
should use it with the most extreme re-
serve: But when it is living in peace and
n full possession of its power when 1t
has prisons and penitentiaries where Grim
mails can be kept in perfect security, and
compelled to execute works whose moral
ZlQg Influence should TO