The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-11
= JAIL DELIVERY.


the pardon of the Younger brothers
ripen early. There are forty-one ap-
plications before the board of par
dons There is a petition on the
street for the release of a man who
has been confined at Saltwater on the
charge of murder for twenty-five years.
The arguments are all on his side. His
character prior to his crime was free
from faint. He was not a desperadO
as these men were; his offense was less
heinOus in it's circumstances than
theirs; and, if twenty-one years wipes
out all records, as it does according to
the worshipers Of bandits, then he is
entitled to his release on the face of
the returns. Another petition is in cir
culatiOn requesting the Communication
of the sentence of the Sherburn coun-
ty bank robbers from execution to i'm
prisonment for life.
We can see at once how the raising
6-.,f this other issue complicates all other
questions of punishment and distorts
and throws out Of the balance the nice
adjustment of justice and mercy. 1t
may be that this plea for the commu-
tation Of death sentence could be
granted without injury to the state
We are not prepared at present to pass
upon the merits of that question, but
we may and must say that the posi-
BILE release of the Youngers would OPP
o
law either too lax or too severe In the
face of their pardon, to commute a.
death sentence to life imprisonment
would mean to change it to imprison-
ment for not more than twenty-one
years. Men who would be willing to
take the one step would hesitate at
the second. And so throughout the
whole administration of justice, the
granting of this petition must mean
that deserved applications for mercy
will be denied, because the pardon it.
self will carry with it a lessenng of
all penalties; while, in other cases, men
justly incarcerated and receiving, pos
sibly, less than their due, could claim
in common fairness, equal treatment
with the most notorious criminals ever
sentenced in the state Of Minnesota
The pardoning of the Youngers would
Seem to be the first step, in case the
board of pardons desired to be fair and
impartial, toward a general jail deliv
cry.
The fundamental, unanswerable and
insuperable argument against this mis-
taken form Of clemency, however, re-
mains in its effect upon the community
at large. We do not believe that there
are many persons familiar with human
actions and especially with the disposj
tion and records of criminals who GRO
not convinced that the pardon of the
Youngers would be most deplora.ble in
dts effect upon society, and in its on
enlargement to those inclined toward
and those who have already enterad
upon a life Of crime A gentleman
who had had large experience in deal
ang with bold criminals said, in con-
VersatiOn with the writer the other day.
that. as far as the deterrent effect unon
society was concerned, a twenty-one
year sentence would be practically in
operative. The great majority of des-
perate criminals-that is of men who.
In addition TO robbery are ready to
commit murder, il 1T is necessary to
complete the crime or to cover up their
traces-are comparatively young in
years. They have a fear OF only one
thing on earth, and that Is the gallows.
With the carelessness and bravado Of
youth they are ready to snap their fin
gers at an Imprisonment, however long
the term. There are thousand chances
In that. The gallows does not offer
them one. Imprisonment for twenty
one years means twenty-one years of
possibilities Of escape This might be
by cunning, or by daring, or by the
opportunities Of friends and the yield
ing of weak hands to which the par
doning power had been entrusted. But
the fact remains that to the average
criminal Of the more desperate sort a
sentence of Imprisonment for a long
term Of years has about as much ter
for as a popgun. If he believes that
that is all that life sentence amounts
to in Minnesota for him, the restraints