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

that the law places upon his conduct
are weakened or totally destroyed.
The sentiment with which the Young
er brothers, their crime and its pun
ishment have been regarded from the
beginning in this community is not vim
dictive or revengeful, but salutary and
wholesome. 1t has in mind the great
ness of their crime. One has but to
read over again an account of that oc-
currence. whose details have slipped
from most minds in the passage Of
years. to feel the reawakening of hor-
ror and the thrill of conviction that
those who We're guilty of this diabolical
deed have received so far above their
deserts when they escaped the hang
mans moose that, instead of asking for
mitigation Of their punishment, they
should return thanks to the state until
the drawing Of their last breath be-
cause they were allowed to live. How
people felt about this, how they ought
to feel, how nearly all still feel was
admirably expressed the other day by
the relation of an incident recalled by
Mr. N. p. Langford, of st. Paul. Mr.
Langford, whose views on this subject
will carry great weight, is unqualified
ly and unalterably opposed to the re-
lease of the Youngers. He remembers
that years ago, when the Rev. DR..
Breed was preaching in this city, he
dWelt, in sermon upon the heinous-
ness of certain forms of crime, and said
that there were sins which even the AL
mighty could not forgive. He explained
! that he did not mean to limit Omnipo-
tence. but that the Almighty would
have to be other than He is, to change
the nature Of His being and stand at
| contradiction with Himself, if He could
overlook offenses committed under GER
tain circumstances and conditions ITO
illustrate this" said DR.. Breed, no gov
ernor of Minnesota can pardon the
Younger brothers," By this, he went
on to explain, he did not mean to deny
the existence of the pardoning power
There it lay ready for use, and any
governor, by signing his name, had
the physical and legal power to open
the prison doors to the Youngers Yet
such would be the common horror
spread abroad; SO hostile to every
human interest, to every demand Of
public morality and law and order and
the conservation of the state would be
this act, that any governor must for
all time feel himself as much precludad
from exercising the pardoning power
in behalf of the Youngers as if it had
been taken away from him by statute
DR.. Breed was right His theory was
perfect. He could not look forward to
day when there would be men who
should call for the exercise of some
thing greater than OmnipOtence to turn
these criminals loose upon the world, to
become the heroes of the younger gem
GRAFTON and a lesson to all the world
in the safety of violating law and the
certainty of escaping the consequences
which legislatures and juries and con-
% CSo nave oNOIu SOleIuHly Snail 1Ol-
low. The unimaginable thing has hap
pened, in that there are those who dare
to counsel the pardoning of these men.
1t has not touched or changed the heart
| and mind of the people, and we do not
and will not believe that it will work
it's way to success. The responsibility
for consequences that rests upon the
board of pardons must make them
anxious to do the right. Not merely
the effects personal to themselves,
which, though serious enough, are a
slight matter, but the knowledge that
with them rests the power to say
whether there shall be sanctity or con-
tempt for the law in this state here
after; whether the young shall be en-
couraged or deferred from entering into
crime, and whether we are to remain
under the reign of law and order, or
to commit our criminal cases hereafter
to the bar of Judge Lynch, must have
its effect; and we believe that these
men, taking all the circumstances into
account, will feel, with DR.. Breed
the impossibility of pardoning the
YOunoars