The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-02-16
THE 0ALLOWS IN RHODE ISLAND.

Inc OIQ, OlO Que6COu OI WuotuOT .
man shall be hanged by the neck until
he is dead, after he has wilfully and
maliciously taken tho life OF fellow, is
agitating the Rhode Island public with
unusual severity at present. 1t is OF
little moment that the State did away
with the death penalty after hanging
an innocent man, for the mere force of
example pointed out in this sorry
blunder has long since lost its potency.
It would hardly be safe to reckon the
majority of our citizens as either for or
againet. the death penalty. There are,
as usual, two sides to the argument,
aud most people can view the problem
in all its aspects.
That the death penalty is really q
more fearsome punishment than life
imprisonm ent, everyone will concede,
for the constant hope Of escape or par
don invariably buoys up the unhappy
lifer. He never looks forward to
eternal separation from his kind. II
he is an unusually desperate man he
spends his moments dreaming OF some
method of effecting his escape. Ii he
is regenerate he looks to the Governor
for salvation. The prisoner condemned
to the rope, on the other hand, sees no
hope after all expedients for obtaining
q reprieve or commutation have been
exhaused. Once dead no Governor or
court of thie earth can reach him. We
venture to assert that no sane man,
given his choice between the two pun
ishments, would decide upon the gal
lows, however much he might prefer a
broken neck to life behind bars. He
would take imprisonment and trust to
fate. The deterrent effect OF capital
punishment upon crime. therefore, is
greater than that of life imprisonment.
But the moral side:
Scriptural authority is quoted by the
advocate of death, and the Bible is
pretty plain on the point. But, not to
enter into any religious controversy
there are many who believe that in this
day and generation the eye for m eye
and tooth for q tooth law would not be
sanctioned 10y the Deity. Perhaps not
| But il the fate of man 10 to be Drowned
over the Goals Of . theological discus
sion, when each Investigator may give
. different twist to the skewer, it ii
time to cease any further attempt tc
regulate the conduct of the erring
What We all want to get at is, does thu
death penalty more than imprisonment
| really protect society9 This question
settled the rest is easy.
An innocent man may be hanged
granted. but il has happened once IL
Rhode Island, and this kind OF judicia
lightning 10 not likely to strike twice
| in tho same place. II is an exceedingly
rare case, ut the most, for few are thu
jurymen in this or any other state
who, holding the life Of fellow il
their hands, would condemn him Il
death, except after the most convinc
ing proofs of his utter and irrevocabl'
guilt had been established. The whole
argument, as we stated above, turns OF
the one unavoidable question, IL human
safety better subserved by the deatf
penalty than otherwise We may lool
forward to the millenniel day when tht
coins Of the earth shall be q matter o.
history, when mans blood is no longer
shed by rapacious men, and peace
rsigns universal, but in the meantim,
we must make some shift to protec
: ourselves from the marauder. II tn,
gallowe alone will accomplish this
: then let us build them, as high a
Homan's, IL necessary but IL imprison
ment will work the same result, lei
the scafiold be chopped into kindling
: We do not desire to see blood shed fol
bloods sake.