The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-04-18
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT LIVE
 ISSUE IN EVERY STATE
(Continued from Page 1.)

punishments. He gave us the parable i of the unworthy servant. The law oi
 reward and punishments is a part oi every nature, the babe at it's mothers breast is taught that if it does right it will be rewarded by kisses and ca spanking. The trainers of lower i animals accomplish results in the same way. Man should do right be-
 cause it is right, he should refrain
 from doing wrong because it is wrong,
 and some people make that the rule of
 life We hope the day will come
 when all will do likewise, but when
 they do it will be that glorious day
 when the lion and the lamb shall lie
 down together without the lamb be-
 ing inside the lion.
 Some say that because crime in in-
 creasing (especially murders) it is
 proof positive that capital punishment
 does not deter the criminal. I be-
 iieve that every one who has given
 the matter worthy thought will de-
 termine at once that it is the manner
 in which our laws are executed that
 is responsible for the increase in
 crime, or rather the lack of execution
 It is my humble judgment that if
 every one was hung who committed
 the crime of murder the hangman could soon take a rest The criminal
 in court has 11-12 the advantage to
 begin with. Suppose a man commits a cold-blooded murder; he is arrested and tried before an examining court;
 if it says he is guilty, and he is
 bound over to the grand jury. There until lately in this state, three men out of eighteen could release him from custody. There he has three against fifteen. The case goes be- fore the district or superior court, and the challenges he has of jurors often makes the case a farce. Then when twelve men hear the evidence one man can hang the jury in his favor and the case will probably never be retried-he is scott free on one mans vote, although eleven men vote him guilty. But suppose he is found guilty. The case is taken before the supreme court and on some techni- cality he is given new trial. By time for the new trial some of the inn freed But suppose he is found guilty and sentenced to hang, some governor with more sentiment than for law, by one dash of his pen sets him at liberty. And this is the history of many; the murderer law once, is more bold in crime, be- cause he has just learned the combina- tion.
 In England, where few murderers is rare indeed. The courts did not civilide California; it was the vigil antees. When nine bad men were hung from the pier at one time, San Francisco was made so a man could walk down the street without much fear of being slugged and robbed. In Fresno county life and property were unsafe. A few vigilantees found partly completed frame house, a good and five men were hung one night; then people did not have to stand guard over their horses at night. Everyone who knows any thing about the early settlement Of the Texas frontier, knows that it was not the courts that put a stop to and cattle rustlin2- Even our own city was made much safer to live in after two murderers were strung up to the old cottonwood tree that stood where the big cannon now is.
 The hope of reward will stir up souls of many people to good deeds, but shall we be so narrow-minded as to lose sight of the other part of the same law, the fear of punishment? During the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria there were four at tempts on her life, and some of the assaiIants were tried for insanity Parliament met and passed an act providing for the speedy execution of any who attempted to take the life of the queen, and from that time to the day of her death no one made an at tack on her.
 The immortal Lee told his son that the greatest word in the English Ian guage was duty" some smaller men seem to think that sympathy for the stands away above it in the scale of words. Certainly every man would dislike to take another's life, even if commanded to do so by the law, yet any man should be willing 70 discharge his duty, if that came in his line The first effect of capital !