The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-01-24
ANTI-HANGING BILL KILLED.
Capital Punishment Will be Melted
Out to Indiana Murderers.

Representative Condos bill abol-
ishing capital punishment met its
| death in the Lower house Monday
very soon after it had passed to sec
ond reading 1t was killed on the mo-
ton of Representative Cravens of the
minority side.
The bill made it illegal to inflict
the death penalty on murderers in In
diana. IL was one of the reform
measures urged by Governor Hanly
in his message to the Legislature 1t
was said the Governor hoped to save
the lives of four condemned men now
in prison. The Governor has long
opposed capital punishment and Rep
resentative Condo, knowing that he
had strong ally in his fight against
this system of punishment, had felt
that his bill had an excellent show
of becoming law.
The debate for and against the bill
was listened to by well-fillled CALLER
les. The bill was before the House
on the report of the Committee on
Criminal Code, recommending its
passage. The report of the committee
was made last week and action on
the report was postponed until Mon
day afternoon.
Representative Condo led the de-
bate in favor of his measure The
friends of the bill and those against
it made frequent references to the
Scriptures in support of their argu-
ments.
81 contend" said Mr.. Condo, "that
there is no distinction between the
execution of murderer by the State
and the execution of an individual
citizen by another"
The speaker depicted the horrors
of prison life. Death" he said, "is
release from punishment" He held
that people do not fear death as they
used to fear it. The increasing num-
Der of suicides, he asserted, would
support this contention. 1--WE are liv-
ing a death sentence every moment
of our lives" he continued. us il
punishment to you and me to be un-
der that sentence? No, because we
know that it is bound to come.
maintain that there is absolutely no
punishment in the death sentence. 1t
does not blot out crime; it does not
restore the victim"
The speaker declared that to inhict
the death penalty is to mock Chris
tianity. He said the State, in the
execution of a murderer, transgresses
the law of the Scripture which says
that no man knows when hi; life is
to be taken. He recited the biblical
story of Cain and Abel, recalling that
the Lord did not say to Cain, You
shall die" but instead banished him
from society. The speaker alluded
to the scriptural passage, Whose
sheds mans blood, by man SO shall
his blood be shed"
"They do not comply with tina,
passage in Indiana" said Condo
why? because when you execute a
man you do not shed one drop of
blood. His neck Is broken. Then this
passage is violated when you convict
man of manslaughter and send him
to prison"
"If capital punishment was pre-
scribed in the Old Testament" as
serted the speaker, st was abolished
in the New"
Representative Fruechtenicht OF
Allen county spoke against the bill
He declared that capital punishment
is menace to those who would COM
nit murder and serves as restraint
Representative Brown OF the minor
ity spoke in support of the commit
tees report He said he favored the
bill Representative Garrard of the
minority took the other side.
Mr. Carmichaels of Delaware coun-
", said that while it is fearful thing
to take human life the man who goes
out and deliberately commits murder
forfeits his right to live. Mr.. Car
michael is minister and his remarks
were given close attention and he
was frequently applauded.
The bill then passed to second
reading. but survived only few min
utes. 1t was killed on the motion of
Representative Cravens that the
measure be indefinitely postponed,
the vote being 4s to 30.