Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1904-02-05
The Case of Mrs. Marsh.

. The case or Mrs, Isabella MARSH WI
= died in the states prison last week,
: condemned murderess whose sentenC
: of death had been committed to in
n prisonment for life Is worthy
I thoughtful consideration in conneo
+ ton with the question of the abolitio
of the death penalty in Vermont.
According to facts established b
| court testimony. the crime of Mr.:
Marsh was similar to that of Mr.:
Rogers, recently convicted at Benning
ton of murder and sentenced I
death Both women had husband
whom they wished to dispose of il
order to marry other men with whom
they were infatuated. If il is true al
claimed that Mrs. Rogers, whos'
crime is fresh in the public mind de-
serves hanging and can not escape II
without gross disregard of duty on the
part of the state, then it must be that
duty was disregarded some time ago In
the case of Mrs. Marsh.
The truth is, as has often been
pointed out, we are glaringly incon-
sstent and insincere in our efforts at
criminal discipline. 1t is no wonder
that murderers, whose plans mlscarry,
count confidently on a Communication of
the death sentence and final pardon
and freedom, when they see that pre-
cedent established in the most shock
ing cases of premeditated murder. The
death penalty can be no deterrent of
crime when prospective criminals
have learned, through long record of
murder cases that it is not at all like
ly to be inflicted
The case of Mrs Marsh presents an
other instructive aspect as an exam
pie of the workings Of the life i'm
prisonment penalty, which it practical
ly is. Mrs Marsh has spent seven
years in prison. She has been shut out
pleasure In a narrow, monotonous ex-
istence separated from the man for the
mitted a dreadful crime, i'll and suffer
ing, ought not her punishment to be
heavy enough to satisfy even those of
her fellow creatures who clamor 50
loudly for something bad" enough to
fit the case of th.a, ns.rderer, every time
a mI4Ger is commuters Would not
such a punishment, shorn of the hope
1t now has of ultimate pardon and
freedom, be more dreaded by prospec-
tive criminals than short sharp |,
stroke, ending life?
If Mrs. Marsh had lived, she might, |
according to precedent, have been par
Toned sometime and set free. But
ieath has interviewed and has given US
IN example of a punishment short, but
lifting the crime, and free from all
of human injustice. Who
,nows what the lessons of those years
# solitude and suffering were to that
Unhappy woman? If she lived to I'M
erstand the nature of the mistake she
made in choosing the course she chose,
nd to hate it, those years were well
pent and the punishment wise and ;
lerciful. At any rate humanity does
s best by a criminal when, without :
other human interests. it :
ives him a chance to repent.
We are not in favor of committing -
lie sentences of condemned murder
IS who have been fairly tried and
according to law. We are V
ot in favor of committing the sent u
ice of Mrs. Rogers to life imprison- u
ent, unless it be done through ac- u
1owledging the death penalty wrong II
I'd abolishing it. According to the II
Mrs. Rogers deserves the VI
.treme penalty of the law and the law p'
ould be respected. Not to give her VI
at, is to acknowledge that the pre-
ribed penalty is unfit to give any Ell
dy. Ell
We are in favor of abolishing the VI
ath penalty as non-corrective, nom -
terrent, and plainly unreconcilable m
the public conscience. We are in W
vor of an extreme penalty for muir
r of Imprisonment for life with la
oven innocence.