The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-02-19

Capital Punishment.

newspaper contained some startling
facts with reference to the number oil
! murders committed in the United
| States. This taken in connection
with the bill to abolish capital punish
ment just passed by the lower house
at Olympia, introduced by Hicks, OF
Mason, set me to thinking. Let us
briefly and dispassionately look at the
facts as they are and draw few con
clusions:
In 1896 the murders committed in
the U. S. were in round numbers TO-
600. A decade or so ago it amour ted
to about one half this number. The
| increase in murders therefore during
the last ten or fifteen years has been
out of all proportion to the increase
OF population. Now let us compare
ourselves with other nations, to begin
with the one nearest to us; England
with population of, let us say 35
million, has nearly stationary aver
age of about 800 murders per year.
Italy, "The land of MURDERS" has
been eclipsed by the U. S. To my
mind at least there is something awful
in the contrast of 300 murders to 35
millions and 10000 murders to 70
millions. Whether we like it or not
we have achieved the unenviable rep
utation of being the most murderous,
civilized nation On earth. And the
worst of it is that each decade shows
worse record than the last. When
and where shall we stop?
We are wont to lay the greater part
of our crimes to the lower class of
foreigners among us, but while this is
true Of most other crimes it is not true
of the one under discussion. The ma
jority of our murders are committed
by native born Americans. What are
some of the causes of this state of
things? 1st Disrespect of law and
justice by courts and people; and End
the light esteem in which human life
is held among US. A striking instance
of the first cause mentioned comes to
| 1;obt -, tLo l;,o1ce;o,, of II;ol,,, LII
in the lower house at Olympia. Rep
resentative Day is reported in the
leading papers as saying, II like the
bill, men will be lynched if it passes
and so fewer guilty ones will escape. "
A law maker calmly advocating the
passage of bill on the ground that it
will be the means of causing more
murders, is surely no pleasant sight to
law abiding citizens. Day evidently
believes that death is the only ade-
quate punishment for cold blooded
murder. We must draw the inference
from his words that guilty men now
escape the law. Is this true?
Take Seattle or San Francisco fol
instance and let any one who reads
the newspapers compare the number
of murders separate with the number
of executions. Look at Durrant in
| S. F. and the number of convicted
murderers lying in the Seattle jai
some for murders the most revolving
committed one, two, three or more
years ago. The courts, after endless
delays, and giving the accused every
legal opportunity to escape, thereby
saddling an enormous cost bill on the
people of those counties, have at last
passed sentence of death. Why is
the law not allowed to have a more
rapid course? We all know that
many cold blooded murderer escapes
Just punishment because of the laws
delays.
In no other cizilized country do sc
many murderers escape the just retri-
button for their crimes as in the u. S.
Is this the reason why so many are
murdered? We hear great deal Of
sympathy expressed for the man who
in cold blood kills women and children
for few paltry dollars, we hear less
sympathy for his innocent victims.
That a just estimate is not placed
on human life in many parts of this
country no one will deny. In Texas
they say horse thief is worse than a
murderer. In other states, public
opinion regards other crimes as being
| of graver menace to society than
homicide. Our courts sentence men
to 20 years in the penitentiary for
burglary; and other men to 3 years
! for murder. Public opinion is finally
responsible for both sentences. But
this whole question of capital punish
ment or life imprisonment, turns at
last, to my mind, on this question :
Which will best protect society? Shall
we make our laws for the ten thou
sand or the 70 million? Which will
be the most likely to prevent murder,
the knowledge of prompt execution to
follow, or imprisonment for awhile
with the hope of an Altgeld to come
and let down the prison bars? II
swift Justice, without fear or favor. in