The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-03-29
1.-THE SINS OF SOCIETY,".
Plea for the Abolition of Capital Punishment
BY HALL GAME.

drunkenness and insanity. flung out on
the world, began to steal. and having
once stolen, and been sent to jail he was
practically outlawed from the ranks OF
lawful society He had to live, and, being
such a human monstrosity he was.
to live he had to steal, and to steal he
had to kill, and so he has come to the
condemned cell and to the foot OF the
gallows.
Mental and Moral Insanity.
1t is not necessary to urge the plea Of
, insanity in the ordinary sense. as his coun-
sci did in order to realize that this mis-
cradle being is only partly responsible
for his crimes Insanity is of two kinds.
mental and moral. Mental insanity is
the incapacty to coordinate Ideas and
to put them In their proper relation and
proportion. Edwards is not insane in
that sense, and the atrocity of his crime
is rather a proof of his control of his
mind than of Its control of him. But
moral insanity is the insensibility to vlr-
tuous emotions, and the inability to dis
tinguish them from Viscious impulses.
In this sense, Edwards is obviously in
sane, and his insanity is of a kind that
comes partly out of his conduct partly
out of his circumstances. and partly out
of his parentage. and is, therefore, partly
the sin of society through many gener-
ations.
The Theory of Capital Punishment.
Yes. society has condemned to death
the monster 1t helped to make! Is this
right? What is the theory of capital
punishment Is it that the law, adopt
Ing the Mosaic maxim of an eye for an
eye, says the murderer shall give his
life for the life he has taken? II so,
how pltiful and inadequate Is the bal
ance the law has struck What sort of
laVatf 10 t1O ,F III.
the three blameess lives he took? is It
that the law says that the murderer
shall die, not only for his crime, but in
order that crimes may not be committed?
How can ii be supposed that the death
penalty could deter criminal as eX-
perienced as Edwards and as mentally
sane and cunning? No, IL Is not possible
to escape the conclusion that being
moral maniac, Edwards could not resist
the temptation to crime And If he could
not resist 1t, has society a right to slay
him?
Is Capital Punishment Necessary?
But 1t may be argued that whether II
is right or wrong to infict capital pun
ishment such criminals as Edwards
II is necessary to do so. Is it necessary?
When dog is mad of hYdrophobia we
shoot ii. because it's condition is hope
less and 1t is danger to the community
Is the worst murderer In quite the same
position? And If he Is not is 1t necessary
to take his life?
The atrocity of crimes like those of
Edwards is not an argument In favor of
capital punishment, but against it. The
law is not an instrument of vengeance
II does not assume the functions of a
deputy deity 1t business Is not to meas
ure out punishments and rewards The
only function of the law Is to preserve
order. The more horrible the crimes Of
blood which a man commits the more
reason why society, while restraining him
from further crime by lifelong mprlson-
ment should leave the man to his Maker
Only God knows the measure OF his guilt
and can count 1t against the sins of so-
ciety in regard to him. Vengeance is
mine. says the Lord, I viii repay"
l am not a whit afraid of the charge OF
sentimentalty when I say that after the
first few moments of repulsion and hor-
ror can never regard a great criminal
with any feelings but those of sympathy
itself.
Insenslbly there gathers about him an
atmosphere of tender humanity, and the
pity of that fights and conquers the ha-
tired of his crimes. What matter that
the man does not want your pity? He Is
a proper object of It just the same What
is 1t to us that the human tiger at the
Old Bailey was utterly insensble of the
gravity of his position? That he was SO
Is another reason why we should pity
him from the depths of our souls. And
then we have only to look closely to see
the human streak in the life that seems
so inhuman. 1t appears that Edwards
attended Sunday-school as boy, and
this simple little fact opens up a vista of
observation In the dead-and-gone house
hold of his unhappy pareuts-the moth
er struggling amid sdualid surroundings
to regain the atmosphere of her own
childhood. and TO bring up her son in the
way she thought he should go, That
son is sitting at the foot OF the gallows
now, after a life Of revolving eriminality
but he was a child once. and his mother
had the same love of him. and the same
Joy of him and the same hopes for him
as any other mother has for her inno-
cent babe