The evening times., 1899-01-12
EARNEST PLEAS FOR 4
CONVICTED MU REDRESS
PETITIONS FOR IDA w. PLACE
Governor RooseNeIf Asked to Conn
mute the Death Sentence-His
Decision Eagerly tN8itcG.

New York. Jan. l2.-Gov. Roosevelt's S
action in the Place case will be 2 matter
Of keen interest throughout this St@te.
Tho woman was convicted OF numbering
her step-daughter. Ida ". Place and Of
attempting the life Of her husband in
Brooklyn enc year ago.
Since the court Of appeals has denied
her lawyers motion for new trial there
is only one thing that stands between
Mrs. Martha Place and the electric chair.
That is a commutatiOn OF sentence sisned
by Gov Roosevelt.
The governors action will tend TO estab-
Ilsh a precedent in cases CT women con-
demned to death, and viii BE- watched
with anxiety. The general quest on
whether women criminals should undergo
The death penalty as il is inflicted on men
Is an open CGe. Opinions diner f!dely.
Howard MacSherry, the leading crimi-
nal lawyer at New Brunswick, is circu at
ing a petition for executive c!emency
which ne Will present Ia Gov. Roosevelt
On behalf Of Mrs. Place.
Mr. MacSherry's ground for clemency is
insanity and the allegation that Mrs.
Place did not have a fair trial. He has
secured large number Of signatures in
Brooklyn of prominent men, and many IN
New Brunswick, where Mrs. Pace 1or-
merly lived. He was in New York city
yesterday adding names 10 the list
Included in a number OF opinions from
representative men and women on IGlS
question are the following:
Rev. Madison C. Peters: Il am not in favor Of
,apitg1 punishment IN any circumstances. Yet 80
long as il remains the statute books OF New
York state there can bc no reason Tor discrlmi-
Mating among convicted murdcrers on the score OF
sex The law should be no Tc-peCtcr Of persons.
Capital punishment should De abolished 30 long
a. we have iurieS of the sort We have at present
AHd IL does not appear il il would ever be pos
sue To get jurics OF more intelligence under the
conditions now prevailing. II i a proved fact
Iuat in the four States uf tic lnion wherein
capital punishment has been abolished, crimes
against the person have decreased in 4 remarka-
Llc ratio. No better argument could be ad
duCcd In favor of the belief which ] hold in com
mon with many Others that execution OF crm-
mats i no deterrent TO crime.
Emanuel Friend Il am opposed 10 inficting
capital punishment upon women. l believe that
IL Is no deterrent To crime, and that it is a
relic of baIbaTism. At all events woman i the
weaker OF the sexes and ] have never yet come
across case in which the woman accused had
really understood what the consequences of her
aci might be. Woman i naturally good in her
pIoC.glllcs. and her instincts criminal.
hcu she does commit 4 hpinous ofFense il is
without intent, and responsibility for the crime
can always he traced to some other than the
woman who perpetrates the act. Justice should
always be- mcrciful. and while ] do not contend
that the law should discriminate 80 that women
IUay feel that they can do aS they please vet
the white pages OF the history OF Empire
State SHOULD not be blotted with record that
would show nhuman and baTblrogs enough
to put 10 death. criminal though she might be-
q woman"