The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-12-05

red by the State?
| Those who believe in the penalty OF
death as a punishment for certain
| forms of crime have at any rate the
argument of antiquity. Indeed, the
idea of capital punishment seems, as
/ someone has said, "a part of the
primal concepts of the race" Yet
the first murderer. Cain, was not exc
cuted for his crime; but mark was
set upon him TO guarantee bis safety.
The first divine word in favor of the
death penalty is found in the sixth
verse of the ninth chapter of Genesis:
| "Whosoever shall shed mans blood,
his blood shall be she'd" Among the
Jews capital punishment was a fea-
| ture of their criminal code and was
prescribed for many offenses. such as
murder. wilful assault upon parents,
cursing a mans father or mother, man
stealing, etc. The ancient Greeks also
had the death penalty, administered in
the case of freemen by poison; crimi-
nails OF low social grade were beaten
to death with cudgels. Among the
Romans there was a variety of meth
DDS of infiicting death, among them
cruciffxion. In England, during the
reign of George the Third, Blackstone
wrote:
1T is a melancholy truth that among
the variety Of actions which are daily
liable to commit. no less than one hun
dred and sixty have been declared by
act of Parliament to be felonious with
out benefit of clergy; or, in other
words, to be worthy of instant DEATH"
We can hardly believe the records.
The English law in the reign of George
the Third provided that a person con-
victed Of treason of any kind should be
drawn or dragged to the place of exc
'cution; that in case of high treason,
affecting the kings person or govern
, ment, the person convicted should be
disembowelled while still alive, be-
headed, and his body divided into four
quarters" On the ground that these
dreadful penalties would prevent
crime, executions were almost in
variably public and vast throngs at
tended them.
Great changes have taken place in
public opinion concerning the whole
matter. The number OF offenses pun
ishable by death has been steadily di-
minishing. 1t would seem to be true
that the makers Of the law discovered
that the extreme severity of punish
ment did not produce the desired
effect. On this ground, in part, we
must account for the fact that the
whole tendency has been toward fthel
reduction of capital offenses anf to-
ward the private execution ofk the
death sentence.
The conflict between the advocates
and the opponents of the death penalty
still goes on. At the present time most
governments of the earth infiict the
death penalty. 1t has been abolished
in Italy, Holland, Belgium, Portugal,
Roumania and most of the Cantons of
Switzerland. 1T has also been discon-
tinued in Michigan, Rhode Island,
Wisconsin, Iowa and Maine. Colorado
abolished it in 1897, but as a result
of a lynching outbreak in 1900, it
was restored in 1901. In Russia death
is inflicted only for treason and mill
tary characterization. 1t has fallen into
practical disuse in Finland and P-us-
sia.
These facts, gathered from various
sources, may be of interest to readers
OF the Herald. Later on we hope TO
make some attempt to comment upon
them and to interpret them.