The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-11

ago. beg to say that have this day received
Ia communication from somebody in Richmond,
which reads as follows:
The questions which YOU ask in your article,
as Voio OF FACTS and figures as 1t was full of
your own thought1ess effusons. were answered
IN the article you attempted to answer
AS to sensible men being swayed by doc
Urine IL Is likely that the sensible people will
accept facts rather than hot air and fiction"
ana 1urther this deponent sayeth not. On
one sue OF mis- sheet of paper he pastes my own
offending article, and on the other side he
pastes an article, headed Capital Punishment
ana statistics" which latter Is signed L. w.
Hendrckson" Nashville Tenn Sandwiched in
between these two clippings from The virginian,
all on the same side Of the sheet of paper,
Is round the communication quoted above. This
pen shot reminds me of the priesty Melchizedek,
ihasmuch as 1t is without father, or mother
without beginning ending, salutation vale
diction. in word, is nameless forevermore As
general rule headless and tailless letter is
not worthy of consideration, but fnasmuch as
would nave word or two to say to this name
less swachbuckler, l am under the circum-
stances, compelled to do through the public
print.
Now. Mr.. No Name, beg to say that had
read the statistical effort of Mr.. L. w. Hen
erickson before but not referring particu-
larly to that when I wrote the article which has
caused you so much perturbation that you for
get to sign your name to personal communica-
ton. AS you advance arguments of your
own 7 will touch lightly upon those contained
in Mr.. Hendricksons letter to The irginian. The
net result of his study in homicida statistics is
embodied in the following excerpt, viz:
The general average for the years reported
for Maine. Michigan Rhode Island and Wis
cons.n-four States where the death penalty
has been revoked--is 3.S2 per 100, 900, while
for the State inhicting the death penalty for the
same period the general average is 5.25, or
nearly lis per cent greater"
have not examined these statistics, but TAX
ing It for granted they are correct, ask what
then? Are we to conclude that simply because
fewer murders were committed in the four
States named in which capital punishment has
been revoked. than committed i'll the other
States where capital punishment obtains, that
is fewer in proportion to the inhabitants, there
fore capital punishment instead of being
crime deterrent is in fact melting cause of
crime? Not much. That would be reductio
ad absurdum with a vengeance. And it is hard
TO conceive of any man being fatuous enough
to argue seriously that punitive law has the
effect of increasing the very crime which it is
designed to deter and avenge Whatever may
be the true reason for the reported diminish
ment of murder in the four States referred to
no thoughtful man Will for moment suppose
that the adjustment of capital punishment has
anything to do with it, that in the other
States where homicides have increased the
operation and enforcement of that law has any
thing to do with that increase. There must be
reason in any proposition gain the consent of
a reasoning mind. And If Mr.. No Name can
from the depts of his own profundity give any
reasons Tor mis- claims We Will be open TO con-
viction.
Let it be remembered that it is a great fallacy
to believe that figures infallable and when
an array of figures is set forth to prove that
capital punishment tends to increase the crime
of murder the proposition is absurd on the face
of it, and it is the thoughtess and not the
thoughtful, who quick to gulp such bait.
The State of Maine for instance. is a dry
State and for many years the open saloon has
been taboo. 1t is far more logical and nearer
n conclude that the diminishing ratio
of murders in that State is due TO the abolition
Of the saloon than it is to assume that the
revocation of the death penalty has aught to
do with the decrease. And SO in the other
States cited. it is necessary to take into con-
sideration the local conditions, the character
Of the inhabitants, etc. and various causes
which conducive to homicide. If you COM
pare Maine with New York, New Jersey
| Pennsylvania almost any moral issue per
capita you would, IL you had any real per-
sona knowledge of the people in those States,
naturally expect the balance to hang in favor
fNiaine
Let us suppose for moment that capital
punishment were abolished in Virginia. Does
any man with scintilla of knowledge of the con-
dtions here suppose for an instant that the cap
ta crime of rape would forthwith gradually
decrease? The proposition is too absurd to
engage the thought of growing men, and
sure Mr.. No Name. himself. would work his
Adams apple pretty hard before he could articu-
late affirmative answer to that question.
! 1t a species of run-mad emotionalism which
is clamoring for the abolition of the death PEN
atty and a flood of this maudlin stuff ef-
fervesced the State a result of the
atrocous Allen outrage but be it known to all
that the great body of the solid and thoughtful
men of Virginia stands like a phalanx behind
the laws of the Commonwealth, and there is no
sign discernible upon the horizon that these
men are being impressed by the hysterical eff
huria of Mr.. No Name and his ilk
With this Parthian shot, requiescat in pace.
b. w. WILLIAMS