The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-24
NEEDED LEGISLATION.

While the President was lingering be- tween line and death there were two sen timents uppermost in the minds of all r!ght-thinking people-hope and regret. With the fervent hope that he would re- cover was mingled the almost universal sentiment of regret that the assassin could only receive a nominal punishment. for all felt that ten years imprisonment was not an adequate penalty for the of fense committed. It was felt throughout the country that an attempt on the life of the President, especially under the cir cumstances surrounding the act of Czol- ( sz, should receive a more severe pun ishment than was possible under the jaws of New York,
 Of course the death of the President changes the issue as far as his slayer is concerned. It is hardly possible that he can be found guilty of anything but mur- der in the first degree, or that he can | escaue death at the hands of the execu- | tioner, and that will end all controversy and uncertainty so far as the actual criminal Is concerned, but there still re- | mains the question of constructive guilt and the responsibility of those to whose | teachings the cowardly crime may be l traced. How far are plotters and promot- | CTS responsible for the crimes of the act ual tools who commit the decd? is the question now being debated throughout | the country, and coupled with it is the l question of laws for the suppression of the plotters and the prevention of their designs.
 Two widely separated instances, both in time and distance, occur to our minds in this connection-one in England and the other in our own country. In 1920 what came to be known In history as 'the Cato Street Plot" was discovered, the chief organizer of which was one Arthur This tlewood, and whose object is thus brief ly set forth in a recent issue of The Portland Oregonian:
 Thistlewood was a desperate adventur~ CT who had lost his Wifes fortune in America and France playing the turf and
 in speculation, but his associates were genuine political fanatics. These desper- ate men to the number of twenty or thir- ty had assembled in stable on Cato Street. London, and were in the act of arming themselves when they were ar | rested, on the 23rd of February. 1920. Their purpose was to murder the whole of Lord | LiverpoOfs Cabinet, while at dinner in l the mansion of the Earl of Harrowby | seize the Bank of England and the Mis- l sion House, and proclaim provisional l government. The conspirators resisted ar | rest and a policeman was killed before l they were overpowercd
 It will be noted that no actual crime
 had been committed by these plotters
 when their arrest was determined. and
 that the killing of the policeman was only an incident connected with their ar
 rest and had nothing to do with the
 charge against them. They were tried
 for treason. ThistlewooG and foul
 others were convicted and executed. and
 five others were sentenced to transporta-
 tion for life.
 This was the English method of dealing
 with plotters during the last cetnury. Wt
 said there was one case in this country
 but there were two. though one occurred
 at a time and under circumstances whicl
 would hardly allow it to be looked on a:
 a precedent It will be remembered tha
 Atzerodt, Payne and Mrs. Surratt wer, | all hanged. though neither of them hac
 any actual hand in the murder of Prcsi | dent Lincoln. The time and circum 1 stances, however. were such that rcasol
 was for the time lost sight of and pas sion took it's place
 Of later date and under entirely differ
 cnt circumstances and conditions was tn { trial of the Haymarket rioters in Chica
 go in 1887, which Is still fresh in the mem
 ory. This riot was the result of an at