The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-05-10
PUNISHMENT FOR MURpERERs.


While the governor of Kentucky is
considering the question of a pardon
for Caleb Powers and Jim Howard, ac-
cused of the assassination of Governor
Goebel and the pardon board of Idaho
is preparing 10 commute the sentence
of Harry Orchard, who has confessed
the murder of Former Governor Steu-
nenberg and a long series of diabolical
crimes, the whole country has been
startled by the horrifying discoveries
on the Guinness farm. near La Porte,
Ind; a BARRIERS apprentice in Brooklyn
arises in the morning, cuts the threats
Of three journeymen and attempts to
Stay the proprietor of the shop and his
Butte, Mont, and three souls are
hurled into eternity; an aged pawn
broker is butchered in fiendish manner
at Portland, Ore, by an opium fiend;
Express Messenger Charles H. Wright
is murdered in his car on the Rio
Grande between Salt Lake and Denver.
These are but few of the crimes
which have occurred in the last few
days. Only a short time ago a priest
was slain at the altar in Denver. and
soon after the news was flashed over
the country that a bomb intended for
Il New York police had exploded
prematureIy in the hands Of an an
archist IN a crowded park in New
York.
In view of the red record of the re-
cent past II appears to the average
citizen about time to call a halt upon
the TOO free exercise of the pardoning
power. whether the motive be political
or financial. While justice should no
doubt be tempered with mercy, the eff
feet of Tightening the punishment of
human monsters upon those inclined to
A career of crime should be taken into
consideration. Are not their hands
nerved TO desperate deeds by the
thought that the vilest of criminals
often escape the gallows or even a long
term in prison owing to the imbecility
of turies. the ignorance of courts, the
weakness of pardoning boards and the
indifference of the public generally,
who have no personal interest in any
given case.
Toe Garcia, the slayer of Policeman
Ford in this city. was shot by Seattle
detectives as soon as sighted. Does
any sane man believe the officers
should have approached the desperate
and attempted his capture at the risk
of their lives? No, no. Garcia was
wild animal. beyond the pale of the
law. and il was eminently proper for
the representatives Of the law to
shoot him first and arrest him after
wards There was no need of risking
other human lives in his case. Why,
then, spare Orchard, the blood OF whose
numerous victims soaks the ground in
many states?
One more thought in this connection.
II was not an edifying spectacle pre-
sAnted by the Kentucky state Repubh-
can convention when a premature re-
pout was received that Howard and
Powers had been pardOned. Cheers
rent the air for many minutes, a col
lection was taken up for Powers and a
boom for congress launched for the
man who had been not only once, but
several times convicted of completely
in the murder of Goebel. Is ii not time
that swift justice is melted out to those
who redden their hands with the blood
of their fellow men? Let US balance
the scales equally, but at the same time
insist that the public welfare impera-
lively demands that no interference
with just retribution be allowed.