New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-19
REVOLT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

Uumanitarians who are opposed to capital
punishment should feel encouraged. The tide is
evidently setting in their direction. By what
means this has been effected does not appear.
We have no knowledge Of any specific propa-
ganda of late in such behalf Yet there seems
TO be an unmistakable indication that public
sentiment is turning against the electric chair,
as against the scaffold. and indeed against the
imposition of the death penalty in any form for
any crime. At the present rate OF progress we
should say that another year or two should
make certain an overwhelming popular majority
in a plebiscite for the abolition Of the death
nenalty in this State. Whether such change
would be for good or Ill we are not prOphesylng,
nor are we arguing in favor Of or against 1t.
We merely record the fact of current indications,
so clear that he who reads must run against
them.
These indications are to be found in the decla-
rations of talesmen summoned for jury duty in
sensational murder trials. Such men are sup
posed to be fair. average citizens representing
the general intelligence and Judgment OF the
community. 1t Is part Of our theory of jurls-
prudence that they should be such. Now, 1t
cannot escape the attention Of even the cursory
reader Of the daily press that large proportion
Of the talesmen are found on examination 10 he
iIreversbly opposed to capital punishment, SO
that they cannot consclentiously serve as jurors
in a case in which conviction would necessarily
mean the imposition of the death penalty We
are not sure but that the majority Of them thus
express themselves We are quite sure that
such is the case with a strong majority of the
more intelligent and judicious talesmen. Many
OF the ignorant and illlterate who are caught in
the Jury dragnet seem willing TO send fellow
man to his death But the moment man of
intelligence and thoughtful judgment Is brought
forward, the very man who should make most
acceptable Juror and the man who may properly
be reckoned to represent the best mind Of the
community II is discovered that he has given
much study and thought to the problems Of
penology and has come to the deliberate and
fixed conclusion that capital punishment is
wrong.
Now. 1t is gratifying TO learn that so large a
proportion Of our citizens have given thought
and study to such matters. 1t vindicates us
against the reproach of carelessness In civic
matters and OF exclusive absorption in money
making. If the average "solid man." the man
OF affairs or of social light and leading has
taken to studying penology we may be assured
he is also studying the other problems Of gov
important 1t is reasonably TO be assumed that
a man who has formed intelligent convictions
upon the subject Of capital punishment is also
prepared to give reason for the faith that is in
him on such subjects as the taxation Of corpo-
rations, municipal control Of franchises, Protec-
ton and Free Trade, strict or free construction
of the Constitution and the constitutional status
of the new territories acquired by the United
States In brief, we are TO understand that, as
represented by these taleSmen American citizen
ship is becoming almost ideally intelligent and
public spirited. And that. Of course, is n matter
of vastly greater importance than the mere in
dicatlon that capital punishment is on the verge
Of abolition, TO which we referred at the be-
ginning of this article.
It is quite true that an anonymous correspond
ent from Blackberry Hollow-whose screed we
read by inadvertence, not noticing that 1t was
unsigned-makes the base suggestion that some
OF these talesmen are opposed to capital punish
ment for this occasion only as a convenient
means Of avoiding jury duty. We mention that
| contemplate aspersion only to treat il with the
scorn which It deserves. For. rs we have said,
It is not the ignorant and irresponsible fellows
who profess such opposition, but the men Of
| parts and substance, whose sense OF duty TO the
State is altogether too high and strenuous to
admit OF any such petty subterfuge. No, they
must all be I'm sober earnest and we must there
fore reckon ourselves not only face to face with
great popular uprising against the death pen
alty but also upon the threshold OF n golden aCe
I'm which not only every citizen will he n SOW
ersign. but every such sovereign will be states
man and sage.