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

RI g II NJ N d, vA--Special-
In this weeks issue OF the RELIGIOUS
Herald. Or. r. III Pitt. the editor. con-
tinOeS the discussion OF the subject,
Putting TO Death He writes as
follows.
On Putting 10 Death.
1t Is no easy task 10 find trust
worthy and verinable facts and ig-
ures on this most interesting subject.
scnd il is already clear 90 US that II
will probably be difficult, 70 say the
least. TO come out upon weu-grouno-
ed conclusions concerning the wisdom
of inflicting the death penalty rather
than long term imprisonment We
ourselves are trying 10 study the Ques-
ton with open mind and cordially IN
Vite our readers to help us ia this
investigation. We give in this artcle
a few ascertained facts, setting them
down without any particular order.
We mentioned last week that Rhode
Island was among the States that had
abolished the death penalty. In gen
eral, the statement holds good, but
there is one singular exception IN
the case Of murder committed py one
already under life sentence OF lmpris-
Onnent the death sentence may Oe
imposed. The theory Of this seems
TO be that. inasmuch as the oHenoer
is already under life sentence, the oniy
additional punishment which can pc
inflicted is death. No case, however,
has ever arisen in RhoOe Aslaho uh-
der this peculiar law.
In order 20 get at facts at hrst
hand, we have written to the secrS-
taries of States in each or the I'VE
States where capital punishment mas
been abolished. We asked these three
i. When was capital punish
ment abolished in your Slater
q Has its abolition resulted IN
an increase or a diminution Of
g r.rfr,, WI
had been originally imposed?
g. Are convictions for this type
OF crime more easily obtained now
than when the sentence of death
was inflicted?
We have received answers from
four Of the States. Ne reply has yet
come from Iowa.
The Secretary of State of Rhode
Island sends us a pamphlet prepared
by the warden of the State prison.
From this we learn that capital pun
ishment was abolished in Rhode Is
land with the singular exception
above noted) in 1852. Hon. Charles
L. Stearns, who was for eight years
associated with the Attorney Gene
rails office of Rhode Island, IS quoted
as intimating his own opinion that
the Rhode Island laws might wisely
be modified so as to permit the SEN
tence of death to be inflicted for hrst
degree murder. The pamphlet. how
ever. gives us no comparative facts
or figures from which any Intelligent
Judgment can be formed.
From Maine the Secretary Of state
writes:
I'VE have no data in this office
showing an increase or decrease
in this type of crimes. 1T would
be impossible to state whether
the change from capital punish
ment has affected in any way the
securing Of convictions" In
Ill 81 II
thority, an interesting history Is
given of the progress Of legisla-
ton toward the abolition of the
death penalty, which seems 70
have been finally abolished in
1887. IN 1876 the death penalty
was abolished. In 1888 IL was
re-established for murder alone.
In 1885 the Governor, in mes
sage, pointed out that the resto-
ration of the death penalty had
not afforded the protection an
ticipated, and in 1887 the death
penalty was again abolished.
The paper adds: The senti-
ment OF our people is now so
strongly against capital punish
ment that it may be safely as
sumed that il will never again be
enacted in Maine"
From the State Board of Control
OF Wisconsin. Secretary NJ. ]. Tap
pins writes an interesting letter, from
which we quote:
Capital punishment was put
into operation in this State I'D
1S4S. and was abolished in 1859
During this period only three
executions took place.
1T is difficult to give you any
comparison of statistics which
would show whether capital Of
lenses have increased or dimin-
ished since capital punishment
81, IL, Id
the time IL was in operation all
the conditions were very diff
ferent from what they are now.
The State had only been admit
ted into the Union a short time;