The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-08-01
A Dying Mans Request.
phoenix Republican, ;

~
1t is pretty hard to refuse the re-
quest of a dying man. In the hour
and article of death, Jacob Open
heimer, who expired in Folsom pris-
on on Friday, addressed himself to
the women of the country, urging
them to bring about the abolition of
capital punishment and clear the
land of gibbets and electrical chairs.
Mr.. Oppenheimer himself in his life
time was an ardent advocate of the
abolition of capital punishment. He
looked with extreme disfavor upon
'1egalized MURDER though from his
youth he had not disapproved of ''un-
legalized" murder. In fact, he had
practiced it somewhat himself, be-
ginning at the tender age of fourteen
years. Much of his life thereafter
had been spent in confinement.
In periods of freedom which a mis-
taken mercy allowed him, he com
mitted two brutal and malicious muir
laws of California, he might have
been hanged While, serving a life
sentence for the second murder, he
killed a fellow convict in a particu-
larly cowardly manner. Soon there
after a law was enacted in California
making punishable by death the Of
tense of committing an assault upon
guard or official of state prison,
and it was for an offense of this
hanged The guard was not serious
ly injured, but the assault furnished
the excuse for doing what weak
juries had neglected to do.
In appealing to the women of this
country to abolish capital punish
ment, Oppenheimer committed the
same error that so many of the advo-
Gates of anti-capital punishment COM
nit They assume that the natural
tenderness of women weakens their
judgment and inclines them to a
. compromise with the most hideous of
crimes.
men we will all concede, but their
horror of murder is greater than that
of men. But neither the quality Of
tenderness nor the emotion of horror
obScureS their judgment of what is
best for the protection of society,
and it is not best for society that OPP
penheimer or any red-handed muir
derer should live.
We know pretty we'll how the wo-
men of Arizona stand on the question
of capital punishment. Last winter
at the convention of the State Fed
Grafton of Women'S Clubs, at Doug
las, a resolution in favor of the
abolition of capital punishment was
presented for the purpose of bring
ing the subject before the conven-
ton, as there had been some little
preliminary agitation in favor of it.
The lady who presented the resolu-
ton Immediately moved to table 1t,
and that was done overwhelmingly.
The members of that convention were
representative of the culture and re-
Guo of nj
They were representative of the wo-
men who make study of matters af-
fecting society.
There are, of course, many excel
lent women, as there are many excel
lent men, who believe that capital
punishment is essentially wrong.
But the proportion of such women
we believe is smaller than the pro-
portion of such men. We believe,
also, that if the women of this state
were to sit as jurors in the trials of
the life sentence as an alternative of
the death sentence would be much
more rare than it has been in Ari-
IONA. Women would bravely face a
duty which our law gives us an OPP
portunity to evade.
Sam Bradner, formerly of Benson,
has resumed his position as secretary
of the State Live Stock Sanitary
Board, which he resigned to resume
his seat in the Legislature which con-
stituted plain violation of the Ari-
ona Constitution. The action of
Bradner in keeping himself connect
ed with an official salary and posi-
ton, in the face of a plain consti-
tutional provision prohibiting
member of the legislature from hold
ing any other office of emOlument
shows that the constitution don't
count where its provision separates
an administration pet from an Off
ciaI salary.-Bisbee Review