The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-01-17
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR wo- r. ]-. ..., MEN. g .a,t t

Two women, one in Pennsylvania and
 one in Vermont, are under sentence of
 death for murder. In each case the
 crime was a most atrocious one. In
 Vermont Mrs. Mary Rogers, woman no longer young, enticed her husband
 to the bank of a river, and with the as-
 sistance of her lover, a mere boy, bound
 him with d rope Che unsuspecting, and
 consenting to 1t as an act of horseplay)
 and threw him into the stream. The
 drowned body of the husband was
 found some distance from the spot.
 Mrs. Rogers and her lover were both
 put on trial and convicted; the accom-
 plice is now serving life sentence, and
 the woman Is to die on February 8, un-.
 less Governor Bell reprieves her. There seems to be doubt whether the governor of Vermont can commute a death sentence; he can, of course,
 grant a reprieye on the discovery of new evidence. The constitution says that the governor and council "sfiall have power to grant pardon and remit fines, in all cases whatsoever except In treason and murder, in which they, governor and council, shall have power to grant reprieves, but not to- pardon, until after the end of the next session of the assembly: and except in cases of Impeachment, in which there shall be
 no remission or mitigation of punish
 ment, but by act of legislature" This l is about as obscure paragraph as could be framed by a laW-making body.
 Some lawyers contend that it author izes the governor to pardon after the adjournment of the legislature, but it seems to be a strained construction. The attorney-ge has advised Gov ernor Bell that he cannot pardon Mrs. Rogers, or even commute fler sentence;
 and the governor holds the matter-of. fact view that the law should take it's course in the case of woman just as
 surely as in the case of a man. Never
 theless, there is strong and growing sentiment in Vermont against capital
 punishment for women. $s Mrs. Edwards is to die in Pennsylva-.
 mia on February 16 for the murder of her husband It is said of her that | when "she was admitted to the prison at Reading she was broken-down,
 wretched creature, pitiable to look at and repulsive. She has become doeile and gentle, has improved in general ap- pearance, conduct and conservation, and in rearing her child in her prison cell she has shown all the finer instincts of womanhood" She is evidently not a woman of ordinary intelligence, and on that account much sympathy has been | aroused in her behalf. If hanged, she will be the fifth woman to suffer the death penalty in Pennsylvania. Gov | ernor Pennypacker would like to save
 her from the gallows, being opposed to tory. They all contrast strikingly with capital punishment, but as lawyer he | has concluded that he cannot interfere. | It is therefore almost a certainty that
 these two women in Vermont and Penn l sylvania will be hanged next month.
 Their fate will have the effect Of great | ly increasing the repugnance to the
 death penalty for their sex. If capital I punishment should ever be generally abolished in the United States 1t wilt be
 because of this repugnance in the case of women. Some legislators would like to do away with the death penalty all | together, others to exempt women from it; but obviously there cannot be one
 law for men and another for women.