The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-03-09
Men SENT TO JACKSON FOR
| HOMICIDE SAY THEY DID
NOT THINK OF PENALTY
Does Capital Punishment Serve
4s-An-E Example -Read=
What They Say
L1FERS INTER VIEW ED
Rum Is Blamed For Downfall of
Large Number of Inmates
of Penitentiary
INTER VIEW E D
BY w. G. SHEPHERD.

= man who commits murder stop be
foro hand to think of the possibl,
punishment?
II he does so, then capital punish
uent Is, perhaps, useful.
In Michigan, you know, they have
bad no capital punishment since 1S47
and 30 TO find out directly IL muir
Qefers thought of the punishment be-
lore they committed the crime,
vent TO the penitentiary at Jackson.
There 1 found murderers a-plenty-
lQ8 OF them who are serving life
sentences.
am going to set down what some
Of these men told me in first-hand
Conyersation about murder, and about
capital punishment.
Charles Virgins, convicted OF muir
der in connection with a robbery, has
spent III years in Jackson prison,
do you know many murderers?"
asked him.
About two hundred" he answer
Cd, "and know all about their
crimes"
did you ever know a murderer
| who stopped beforehand to count the
cost OF murder"
II should say not" said williams.
~Ol, I'll take that back. did know
>of one young fellow here who plotted
| for six months against a man who
was slowly running the life OF the
young fellows sister. He figured out
The punishment and time and again
restrained himself. Then one night,
ii c fury, he killed the betrayer.
why, do you know there are muir
terers in this prison who don't know
and can't remember what crime they
have committed. All they have is
the word of the Judge and jury and
| the fact that the murdered wife,
relative or friend is missing, TO prove
- them that they are murderers.
Their crimes were committed when
they were blind drunk, and yet in
other states where they have capital
punishment, they would have been
hanged.
There Is one man here who woke
MP In police station cell about 16
years ago and saw his little 10-year-
old girl standing outside the bars.
What did do? What am here for?'
asked the man. You killed mamma
with the bread knife said the little
Girl. I've seen this man sit in his
cell by hours and try to remember
the incidents of that awful night, ut
they have never come back to MS
mind"
Harold Dwiggins. "a years old, who
spent IL years Of iife-term In Jack
son, after being convicted OF murder
INC his best friend through jealousy
Of society woman, Is a young man
with more than average intelligence.
Indeed. men don't stop to think
when they commit murder" he said.
Hanging, burning alive, killing OF
all the members of his family, the
most horrible punishment that the
human mind could deyise-none Of
these things would have stopped any
OF the men know in this prison who |
have committed murder. And IL a
man doesn't stop to think of punish |
1nent, what good Is capital punish |
ment as a deterrent? Nobody expects |
to be punished. You know, it's an old |
adage among lifers that II every MUIR
derer knew before hand that he
would surely receive a sentence OF |
one years Imprisonment for murder, |
that murders would rapidly decrease.
This Is the lifer's way of saying that |
no criminal ever expects to be caught |
and punished"
John Herkimer, who was convicted |
OF numbering his mother In cold |
blood for her small fortune, % years
ago, and who also has killed one
PRISON guard by poison, in an effort |
TO escape, has served % years OF a
life term in Jackson.
i've studied capital punishment"
he said, for many years. You know
they permit us to read as soon as our
days work is done. I've applied the |
principles on which capital punish
ment Is based, everyone of the
lifers In this prison and can tell you |
truly that the state of Michigan |
would have committed a crime II 1t |
had hanged single one OF these
men. Murders are committed either |
I'm fury or else the murderer fully |
expects to avoid capture. In either !
OF these cases, capital punishment |
isn't deterrent"
There are Is men in this prison |
who have committed murder in some |
fury on account OF some awful COM |
bination OF circumstances that no |
human being without the aid of God, |
could have resisted. II you were to
stay in this prison three months"
said Rev. +. III. Tougher, prison chap
lain. you would find that these men
are Of as high grade and have as
many humane instincts as any man
you could meet. You would be very
proud, In any society, to have them
as friends. II would have been an
awful thing to have hanged these
men.
After my years OF acquaintance
with men who have committed muir
der, l find myself not only an oppon-
emit of capital punishment, but also
against life Imprisonment for muir
der. Better training for our children
and less capital punishment is the
way to solve this problem"
From what saw and heard among
the murderers In Jackson prison, |
think Il is safe TO assume that most
Of the murderers who have been
executed in the 40 states of the union
where capital punishment Is enforc-
ed and the thousands of murderers
who are serving terms in American
prisons would all have told us:
II didn't stop to think of the pun
ishment. Hanging or even burning
alive wouldn't have stopped me-"