Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1905-10-17
THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
g.
..
DEcENTLY AND IN ORDER.

DEcENTLY AND IN ORDER.
The first execution In the state un-
der the new law requiring all execu-
tions to be held at the state penitenti-
airy, took place Monday night. John
Rooney, who for nearly three years
has waited for the punishment meted'
out to him in court of justice, was
visited with the EXTREMIST punishment
the law provides for. THE taking of
human life. There has been some
question as to the advantage of this
law and as to its superiority over the
former method Of hamgings by sheriffs
in the counties where the crime was.
committed. There is NO question now.
The law accomplishes all that it was
designed to do. It provides means
and place for the extreme penalty of
the law to be carried out, without un-
due notoriety, without the presence of
morbidly curious persons and without
more publicity than is necessary in
the operation of the machinery of the
law. n --:
There was no motive, in the number
of those who attended the execution
of this condemned criminal, that
might lead a man, vain of his criminal
achievements or DESTROYS of some sign
of interest from curious crowd, to
make any demonstration, either Of
words or actions. None were present
but those specially permitted by law.
There were the necessary physicians,
officials of the prison, the spiritual
comforter of the condemned man, and
newspapermen In none of these was
any sentiment that might be played
upon by any spectacular conduct of
the condemned man. He saw nothing
in the attitude of those who attended
the execution that gave him any hope
of even a temporary exaltation through
any words he might say. As conse-
quence, the man framed his conduct
in accord with his surroundings, and
was the criminal become serious and
repentant in the face of his doom. In
the solemnity and extremity of the oc-
casion, the man could not be otherwise
than what he was-the man who has
forfeited his life to the law and stands
at the Threshold of eternity fearful,
thoughtful and sensible of the Justice
of his punishment.
1t is in this wise and amid such sur
roundings that the law contemplates
the execution of the criminal. 1t in
tends to rob the execution Of any OBJ
portunity for display of bravado. It
intends to permit the presence Of no
morbidly curious or falf-criminal-wor-
Shipping spectators. It intends to
furnish no unintelligent. audience be-
fore which the criminal may declaim,
In the knowledge that he has some
sympathetic hearers. It intends to
make the execution devoid of any Cd
portunity for criminals to vaunt them
selves, that the bitter and cherries
circumstances may prove exemplary to
those who may be tempted to follow
in crooked pathways.
Such is the lesson that should 60
forth from the execution chamber.
We want not the sensational details,
the nlorbidly sympathetic descriptions
of the last days of the condemned
man, to work upon weak intelligences
and create false and undeseryed
pity. There is a pity that every
normal man feels for the being who is
condemned TO death, but 1t is not the
maudIn pity that furnishes flowers
and invests the criminal with a half
heroism. 1t is the pity that man
created in the image OF his maker
should shed the blood of his fellow
man and that in the prime OF his life
and the splendor OF his physical man
hood he should go to a shameful death
at the hands OF society. But pity
must be tempered with Justice as j,ls-
tice ii tempered with mercy. Let
those who are tempted to criminal
pursuits understand that justice shall
be exact, doom certain and the man
ner Of it shameful.
$k$ ~ - 94s3s 81
Keep i Grip on Yourself.
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