The Republican journal., 1898-12-08
The DEATH PENALTY.
Practical Results of its Abolition in
Maine.

Again the death penalty for murder
comes before the world for discussion.
The assassination of the Empress of
Austria makes it topic OF profound
interest Lite imprisonment happens to
be the extreme punishment in Switzerland,
where the Empress was Killed. so the
anarchist escapes. Millions in all lands
regret he cannot be hanged or decapitated
for his monstrous, unspeakable crime.
But it is declared that imprisonment for
life is vastly more terrible than swift,
merciful death. The average murderer
fancies there is fame, a sort OF honor, in
thus taking leave of the world. He
thinks himself martyr, dying gloriously
on the scaffold. But to be lost forever,
Gagged like beast III dark cell, slowly
dying in torture, is ominious-infamy.
THE NEW LAW IN MAINE.
A pertinent subject at this iuncture is
the experience of the authorities in Maine,
where capital punishment has recently
been abolished. Hele are the figures
compiled from the state Prison books
for the Sunday Herald
Under capital punishment from 1897 to
1867 there We're eight CONVICTIONS; from
1867 to 1877 there wtre twenty-five con
victloDs. This was period following the
civil war, when the morality OF the
country was supposed to be more or less
lax.
In 1876 capital punishment was abolish
ed, but restored again in 1855. During
the decade from 1877 to 1887 the life
sentence was in force tor six years, and
capital punishment only four years, The
number of convictions for murder during
this decade was thirty seven, exceeding
by twelve any record before or since in
the criminal reports Of the State.
The records, however, do not show that
the proportion was larger under the
death sentence than under the old system.
The death penalty was again abolished in
1887, and the majority OF the good peo-
Pile of Maine both in and out of the
churches thank heaven it has never been
restored
During the eleven years between 1887
and 1898 there have been but nine con
victions for murdeT-less than two per
cent and far below the record of any
proceeding decade since Appomattox.
And yet the population of the State has
increased considerably and the concentra-
ton of people in the larger towns and
cities has been notable. Crime is sup
posed to rapidly increase with population.
MAINE 5 GO CNERNOR SPEARS.
Governor Llewellyn Powers said to a
Herald correspondent
| have always opposed the intliction Of
capital punishment in a civilized COM
munity like Maine as unnecessary to pre-
vent crime or to protect the lives of the
citizens. | do not believe that the man
determined to commit murder in the first
degree, OF any other grave crime, Specu-
lates upon the difference, in case he is
convicted, between punishment by any
other mode,
''From my experience in criminal pros
ecutions and defence of persons chan ged
with crime, while | am confident thai i'll
most cases jurors come to connect conclu-
sions. | do not regard their decisions as
always infalible We know from the
teachings of criminal jurisprudence and
the history of criminal trials that they
have made mistakes: that witnesses are
not always reliable, and that circumstances
which seem convincing sometimes lead to
wrong conclusions, as i'll the recent case
of the Perkins girl.
NEITHER EFFECTIVE NOR HUMANE.
LAS long as there are secure prisons in
which to contne those convicted of crime,
as no writ Of error runs to the grave, in
case there should be a wrong verdict: and
as certainly all chances to reform the
criminal is destroyed by intiicting capital
punishment, and Tor very many other
reasons which will readily suggest them
selves / am confident that the more hu-
manc and the wiser policy in civilized
communities is to refrain from udicially
taking the life OF the criminal.
II introduced in our Maine Legislature,
tee, the first act abolishing capital punish
ment in our State After very bitter
contest We succeeded i'll passing t through
the House of Representatives by a majori-
ty of six votes.
lit was restored, briefly, some years
later, but was soon repealed.
81 do not think the sentiment Of the
people of Maine would again permit its
restoration. | think they are satisfied to
see the gallows vanish, with the whip
ping post and stocks, into the barbarisms
of the past There is a general belief, |
think, that all these instrumentalities
tend to brutalize rather than elevate and
protect our people,
In view of these facts it would seem
that the opinion of Warden Smith, of the
State Prison concerning the desirability
of the present law, instead Of the old
death penalty are well sustained, so far
as the State of Maine is concerned.
Another point should be borne in
mind-namely, that during the long
period of capital punishment in Maine the
law was executed in but comparatively
small number of cases. The last execu-
tiOn was that of Daniel Wilkinson,
November 20, 1885, for the murder of a
policeman in the city of Bath. A not
able fact, contrasting markedly with the
New \ ork records, is that no woman was
ever executed in Maine.
In an interview with a Sunday Herald
correspondent, Warden Smith expressed
himself as decidedly in favor of the life
sentence. He would not for any consd-
Grafton have the old system restored. He
would oppose it not merely on sentimental
grounds, but because of the practical
value of the law and its beneficial effects
upon the criminal population.
The death penalty, he said, was not eff
fective because of its terrors. Fears of
execution never kept man from commit
ting murder The fact that the penal re-
cords of the State show decrease in
murders committed under the life sent
ence, against an increase under the death