Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-08
hurley. must HANG
,sy-st
President Refused to Com
mute. Sentence.
SEVERE ENDORSEMENT
ATTORNEY GENERAL DID NOT
RECOMMEND cLEMENcY.
His Execution, Fixed for the 26th In
slant, Will Not Be Inter-
fered With.

1GIeQ WIN.
PRESIDENT Roosevelt today refused to COM
mute the sentence of John w. Burnley, the
negro who is under sentence to die in the
District jail August 20. for criminal assault
upon little girl of his race, and in passing
upon the case the President unreservedly
approves the death sentence for this crime,
"hlch he pronounces as most infamous.
The President thinks that if rape is speedily
punished by legal death, lynching Will be
minimizad
In passing upon the case, after confer
ence with Attorney General Moody this
morning. President Roosevelt placed the
following Endorsement upon the petition tor
communications
The Presidents Endorsement
1.-The application for the communication or
sentence of John w Burley is denied This
man committed the most hdeous crime
known to our laws. and twice before he has
committed crimes of similar. though less
horrible, character. In my Judgment there
Is no justification whatever for paying heed
10 the allegations that he is not of sound
mind. allegations made after the trial and
conviction Nobody would pretend that
there has even been any such degree of
mental unsoundness shown would make
people even consider sending him to an asy
lum If he had not committed this crime.
| Under such circumstances he should GER
family be esteemed sane enough to suffer
the penalty for his monStrOuS deed l have
scant sympathy with the plea of insanity
advanced to save man from the conse-
quenceS of crime, when unless that crime
had been committed it would have been
impossible to persuade any responsible au-
thority to commit him to an asylum in
sane. Among the most dangerous criminals.
I q nd nialIx hoe 70
nit this particular kind of offense there
are plenty of a temper so fiendish or so
brutal as to be incompatible with any other
than a british order OF intelligence; but
these men are nevertheless responsible tor
their acts; and nothing more tends to en-
courage crime among such men than the
belief that through the plea of insanity or
any other method it is possible for them to
escape paying the just penalty of their
crimes. The crime in question is one to the
existence of which we largely owe the ex-
1Stence of that spirit of lawlessness which
takes form in .lyncfiing. 1t is crime so
revolving that the criminal is not entitled
to one particle of sympathy from any hui
man being. 1t is essential that the punish
ment for it should be not only certain
but swift as possible. The jury in this
case did their duty by recommending the
infection of the death penalty. 1t IS to be
regretted that we do not have special pro-
vision for more summary dealing with this
type of cases The more We do what IN US
lies to secure certain and swift justice IN
dealing with these cases, the more effective
ly do we work against the growth OF that
lynching spirit which is so fun of evil omen
for this people because it seeks to avenge
one Infamous crime by the commission OF
another nf equal infamy.
THE application Is denied and the SEN
tence will be carried into effect
Attorney Generals Recommendation.
The recommendation of Attorney General
Moody in the case of Burley was as fol-
lows:
Mr. President: I have the honor to re-
port upon the petition in behalf of John
w. Burley, under sentence of death of the
Supreme Court of the District OF Columbia,
, to be executed on August 26 instant The
petitioner was convicted by verdict of a
jury of the crime of rape. The punishment
for such crime prescribed by the code of
the District of Columbia is Imprisonment
for not less than five nor more than thirty
years unless in such cases the jury adds to
the verdict of guilty the words with the
death penalty, in which case the pupnish-
| ment is death by hanging. In this case the
jury added these words. The rape was
committed by the prisoner upon the person
| OF a girl of four and a half years of age.
| whom he had enticad from her home into a
| stable loft, where the crime was committed
In October. 1892, the prisoner was convicted
| of carnal knowledge of a female child I'M
| der sixteen years of age and sentenced to
| Imprisonment in the Albany penitentiary
| for twelve years. In 1901 he was convict
| ed of the crime of indecent exposure and
| served term in jail of three hundred and
| sixty-four days.
The petitioners pray that the above SEN
tence be committed to Imprisonment for
life and base their petition upon the allega-
| ton that the prisoner is of such a low or
| der of intelligence and of such weak mind
| as to be irresponsible for his crime. In sup
port of these allegations. the statement is
made by number of residents of Washing
| ton that they have known the prisoner for
| fifteen years that he bears the reputation
of being weak minded. and in their opinion
| he is of unsound mind. The Jail physician
| under date OF. August 4, 1904, expresses in a
letter to me the opinion that the prisoner
is of unsound mind and utterly rresponsi-
bic for the crime for which he was con-
victed And. further, I believe him to be
an imbecile' and am firmly convinced of
his mental responsibility.
1.-The prisoner has recently been examined
by two experts, one of whom says: I feel
quite sure that the man is far from being
a normal man. AS to the type of insanity
| that he may possess, feel that it woul dbe
very difficult indeed to designate, but he is
certainly demented and has very peculiar
| ideas regarding his acquaintanceship with
the Almighty.
..The prisoner is forty years of age and
so far as appears to me has gone about
his usual pursuits and vocations all his life
except when confined for crime without
any suggestion that he was of unsound
mind No such defense was offered at the
trial, nor has any ever been made under
| the law which enables the court, even af-
| ter a verdict of guilty to cause a jury to
be impanelled to inquire into the insanity
| of the accused The verdict of the jury
was rendered on the 3stf of December. 1903.
| Therefore ample opportunity has existed
| for such a judicial inquiry. The United
| States district attorney advises against the
granting of the petitioners application.
| 'JTpon the foregoing facts am of the
| opinion that a 3ttinx-case for the imposition
| of the extreme penalty of the law has been
| shown. and no mental condition is described
which ought to excuse him from the penalty
which the law Axes TO his crime. and there