Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1905-01-20
1T FROM THE SHOULDER
.T oeJEcToR" HITS CAPT.
6AL PUNISHMENT LAW
Open Letter to Gov. Bell-Hs
y Some Truths but Fails to
slider Repeated Endorsement Of
law-custom Really Law.


zen letter to Governor Bell:
simple citizen of the state, ma
prn, who has ever had the well
Ind reputation Of Vermont at
! desire to appeal to you for a
Ne in behalf OF Mary Rogers,
constitutional right for which
ttorney- general himself declared
(bted the last evening of the
h.
is a woman, no matter how
she committed this crime, she
pnly nineteen years Of age, and,
Ia all question, in that condition
hich all woman-kind are liable,
often renders them irresponsible
eir acts.
fact that we have invariably
buted every death sentence that
before the legislature for the
3wenty-th three years, in one in
3, four at a time, has a heavy
Rg on this question, since GUS
i not statutes, really make law.
Il be because they were men in
of women, with the single ex-
Dn of a woman whose commute
WAS necessary in order to effect
Eof her paramour? II certainly
hot because their crimes were in
Stance as heinous. Does 1t look
FOR a body of men to thus act?
= the ground, and take it boldly.
before we hang a nineteen-year-
larry we string up a few Jims and
g possible, Your Excellency, that
hall hang this woman without
! her the benefit always given
Dfore in such cases. a commits
10 examine her sanity and mental
nsibility? And this when such |
Ihe unanimous voice of the house |
representatives. as deliberately ex-
ID in their resolution. which |
,tion, as we now understand, |
of passage in the senate be-
they thought it needless-that
(pwer lay fully in your hands
bit it, your relations with that
being such as led them to throw
sagreeable responsibility, so far
bsible, upon your shoulders.
D woman is friendless and PEN
no doubt degraded and de-
b. If she were from family of
Iconnections and influence, If
I of funds had been back of her,
were of engaging presence and
Lnor, If the surroundings of her +
nus life had opened TO her a pos
path of rectitude from which
ad deliberately gone astray,-
II would be the more fitting to
|his horrid warning of rebuke.
Upon the contrary, shall the fact
lis friendlessness and poverty,
tter hack of opportunity for the
be of virtue, be reason why
hould be selected out as the I
convenient means for establish
|e fact that this rule for our '
FOR the Communication of the
sentence, like all other rules. $
De to an occasional exception. h
Interests of others, also, are di- Y
Econcerned in this matter. The +
'of Vermont, in this present stage a
dlization and consequent high n
of sensitiveness, has no right
one of her citizens to perform
ct of execution. The sheriff
ndsor county, they say, is
man. So was his predecessor II
Jung Mrs. Meeker. Yet peace
lep thereafter was denied him. C
mage Of struggling woman,
lg upon the gailows, choked to n
by his direct act, invariably
before his mental vision, when ;,
sed his eyes. Relief could be
ID only in morphine.-and NOR
~ man ever hung in our county "
It's formation, passed all the
ears of his life with palsied II
livering nerves, solely attribu- NJ
0 his connection with the death la
The bravest act that the
of Windsor county could per- il
7ould be to say this is too W
or me. I Will have no more to al
4 it." 1t would be an honor to
1t if no one of her citizens m
allow himself to be forced to M
! the act. he
sister New England states have ha
rded their regulations in this "
that not since the earliest re-
lnce of our grandparents. we'll
nee the time of witchcraft,
ley led a woman to the gall NJ
pray you, sir, TO name a single pe
that would be subserved by re
rid state homicide. Why not, N.
AIRY out the unanimous wish
people as voiced by that body Ri
coming from the heart Of the mi
alone can express it, and
Irs. Rogers a reprieve in order w
r mental responsibility can be to-
ated? NJ. j. Hapgood. w