The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-04-30

SALTWATER, MINNESOTA, APRIL 3d. 1896.

tween two large stones, and other in
human tortures too horrible to men
ton. The history of Persia shows that
the punishment meted out to crimi-
nails was hardly more dreadful than
some of the crimes committed even by
kings and members of the royal family
and so-called nobility. Here are a
couple of illustrative passages:
"Xerxes II. was assassinated by his
brother, Sogdianus, forty-fve days
after he ascended the throne. Sog-
dianus, who assumed the government,
enjoyed the fruits of his fratricide
| only six months and half, when he
was smothered in ashes IA mode of
torture invented on this occasion and
afterwards inflicted on great crimi-
nals), by order of his brother Ochus,
who took the name of Darius Nothus."
A few years later there was another
Ochus, "who poisoned his brother, and
murdered all the princes of the royal
family. He invaded Egypt, plundered
the temples and killed the priests. But
his chief minister, enraged at the ruin
of his country, poisoned him." Hor-
rible punishments did not prevent
horrible crimes-in Persia.
Examine the history OF crimes and
penalties in England. Did capital
punishment prevent highway robbery,
counterfeiting, or shoplifting? Wom-
en-, and even young girls, have been
executed in England for the most
trivial offenses. In the days of Queen
Elizabeth an act was passed making
picking apocket capital offense. In
the reign of William III. the same
penalty was affixed to shoplifting
even when the article did not exceed
five shillings in value. A human life
was worth less than dollar in those
days. ain the list of capital offenses
was that of stealing linen from q
bleaching ground" But the law die
not work as the bleachers expected. II
did not prove deterrent. More liner
was lost than before it was passed
The Constitutional History of Eng
land says: "And large body of bleach
ers presented petition to parliament
entreating the repeal of the statute, OF
the ground that practically it had beer
found not to strike terror into th'
thieves, but almost to secure then
impunity, from the reluctance of jurie
to find a verdict which would send
fellow creature to the gallows for sucl
. an offense."
" Capital punishment does not pre-
!, vent murder, nor will it entirely pre-
vent any other crime. Its opponent
Il say that it has tendency to increas
Il murder by lowering the sanctity o
human life. If the law-the expresse
- will of the majority-can kill when
. suits its purpose, why should not tn
, individual-one of the majOrity-ki
=, when it suits his purpose? Very poe
reasoning and altogether wrong, br
unfortunately the majority of Grim
= nails are poor reasoners they woul
y not be criminals. For, to engage
u crime is the very poorest investmer
y that any human being can make {
- his time and talents.
d, Punishment may act as deterren
II but the more severe the penalty, tt
10 more anxious the criminal is to eScap
i0 and the more likely to commit Sc
10 ond or third crime to conceal tt
a' first. No form or amount of punis
ment will entirely prevent Grim
, Treating him like wild beast is n
the way to conquer the wild beast
man. Punishment too often is b
or revenge. because you have dol
ne evil to me-" says society, II will {
to evil to you." The wild beast in mar
X nature is aroused and he deies societ
ut He forms professions and march
n through streets crying: "Down wi
N the law! Away with order! Give
of freedom!" and scarcely realizes t
meaning of his own words. A lar
nd part of crime is due to Ignorance
re perhaps it would be true to say th
IT. all crime is due to ignorance. Not t
les ignorance that cannot read, but
De- ignorance that cannot reason;