The Topeka state journal., 1897-10-09
Thinks the Law Ought to Be
Changed,
so THAT THE JUDGES
Should Fix the Date of the
Execution,
Which Should Take Place, I'm
less the Governor Interferes.
The Staffleback Affair is a Case
in Point.

The subject of capital punishment
among the governors of Kansas has
had very few, if any, supporters, but
Gov Leedy stands squarely on the is
sue and is strongly in favor Of it,
The governor said today to Journal
reporter:
Imprisonment Of criminals for life
does not tend to prevent crime. So long
as there is life there is hope. and these
convicts, with but little work and
plenty to eat, spend their time planning
schemes whereby they will be able to
secure their release after the parties
interested in their punishment have
passed away or left the country.
This is not strange condition, par
ticularly in Kansas. The population
fuctuates greatly each year People
move from one place to another, and
crimes are forgotten. Then it is that
men serving life sentences for murder
manage to secure favorable cOnsidera-
ton of their applications for a pardon.
and when no protests are made they
are frequently given their liberty.
1t is of course true that sometimes
men are sentenced to be hanged, which
means life sentence in the peniten-
tlary in this state, when there is some
doubt as to their guilt. In these cases
it is a manifestation of wisdom on the
part of the executive to investigate
them, and if he discovers that an in
that he should exercise the prerOgative
conferred upon him and furnish relief.
Our law is at fault too" continued
Gov. Leedy. 1T is now provided that
after man has served one year in the
penitentiary, he may be hanged upon
the order of the governor Our law
should be so amended as to require the
district judge to fix the date of the
hanging, at which time it should take
place unless the governor interfered.
There are cases in which governors
would be compelled to interfere. but
the majority of them, believe, should
be permitted to end in hanging. A life
sentence in the penitentiary does not
protect human life from the hands Of
murderers. Were they compelled to
recognize that in taking a life, theirs
would be the forfeit and the penalty,
then we would have fewer murders.
There are today in the state peni-
tentiary At 9eOnvicts who have been SEN
fenced to be hanged. I have no doubt
that nearly all of them should suffer
the penalty. It was passed after thor
Ough trials and extended investigations.
These men were found guilty of murder
in the first degree during the years
that have passed, and not one of them
has been executed, because no govern
or has felt inclined to order them hang
ed. They are permitted to retain their
lives and enjoy an existence of reason
able happiness because of that cOndi-
tiOn. Yet the question arises: Are
they being dealt with as they should
be?
I do not know that I will order any
of them executed. The large number
of prisoners already under sentence of
death would make such action seem
inhuman and would also seem like un-
fairness. Had the men who have pre-
ceded me in this office had the nerve to
order executions, I would have follow
ed their example readily. As matters
now stand. I could not order the crimi-
nails who have been sentenced to hang
since l was inaugurated, and permit
those who have been under similar SEN
tence for years, to remain in prison.
If the law is ever changed, or if the gov
ernor starts out to carry the present
law into effect, he viii have to dispose
of all those who are under the death
sentence" "
The Staff1eback family. sentenced to
be hanged for murder and recently sent
to the penitentiary from Cherokee
county, are the only criminals who
have received such a sentence during
the present administration. but the
governor believes they should be hang
ed; under the circumstances he can
not in justice to himself, order the ex-
ecution.
The governor will probably not order
the death penalty inflicted during his
term of office, but he nevertheless ad-
heres to the belief that capital punish
ment is the best method of dealing
with that class of criminals.