South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-02-05
DEATH PENALTY
HELD AS MURDER
Capital Punishment is IntoIer-
able in Present Age, Says
Prosecutor at the Monthly
Round Table Banquet.

Capital punishment was character
Ted as murder by the state" and de-
nounced as 'intolerable in this day OF
enlightenment" by Pros. Atty. Chester
r. Montgomery in the course Of an
address before the Round Table We'd
nesday evening.
Montgomery subject was "Crimi-
nails and the Punishment for Crime"
The prosecutor outlined two main
classes of criminals, the habitual and
the occasional. and discussed various
methods of punishment and reforms
in administering punishment which
are being undertaken.
Besides scoring capital punishment
in the rOundest and most decisive
terms and advocating its abolition,
the speaker drew attention to the
operation of the suspended and indie
terminate sentences now allowed I'M
der the law. He pointed out the need
that provisions for intermediate
grades of sentences be provided for
various offenders committing the
same crime. MOntgomery's theory as
he advanced it was to tit the punish
ment TO the criminal rather than TO
the act.
Reference was made during the
talk to Whitley Black" formerly
head OF the Lake Shore gang and
probably one of the most daring bank
robbers in the country. who died re-
Gently in an Ohio penitentiary. Mont
gOmery said he was convinced from
his talks with Black that the man,
growing up in an environment not
conducive To morality. had become
embittered toward society and that
his experiences in prison had famed
=
hatred, especially of those who had
been his jailers.
Il wish to call attention to a more
or less local character who was known
by the name of Whitley Black. This
man belonged TO a gang of bank rob-
bers. Some fourteen years ago, he
was convicted and sentenced to the
Jackson penitentiary in Michigan. in
connection with what was known as
the Richland bank robbery. He SerY-
ed there about twelve years. In the
summer of 1912 he was released. and
he returned to South Bend, to his for
mer alleged wife About six months
afterwards he was eXtradited from
this state. in fact from this city, and
taken to Ohio where he was convicted
for his completely in bold bank rob
berry in the town OF Bowling Green,
near Toledo, O.
This man was desperate character
and would commit murder if necessary
in connection with his occupation.
Whether he was so inherently bad and
vicious that he might he ciaSsed a
born criminal. or whether his tenden-
cies were to a larger degree acquired,
IS a question. Ny opinion is that as
desperate as he was, he belonged to
the lesser type or the criminal from
acquired habit.
but he felt bitter toward society
Cd to 20 &c
position in life He told of the gross
" inhuman treatment he had received
in the Michigan prison and | could
see that he hated its officers, and in
fact the entire state of Michigan,
with a bitterness Of a murderer's
heart. Yet this man, L believe, had
large amount of good in him. and to-
gether with his natural ability and
force, it is not impossible that had he
been born into different circumstances
and been reared with certain advan-
tages. he might have become q good
citizen. perhaps leader in some use
full activity.
THE life in the penitentiary had
crushed the man, had pressed all the
life forces out Of him. He came out
untitled for life. unequal to
any task-in worse condition by far
than when he went In, and undOubted-
" schooled to the preconceiVed idea
that the world itself was without scru-
pie, or without pity. more bad that
it was good, a battle OF the wicked
and strong.
1.-THE limits Of this paper cOnfine
me to a treatment of the more seri-
Gus Offenses, termed felOnies. which
are crimes punishable by penitentiary
/ wish, however, to make
just this brief reference TO existing
jail systems They are damnable, hell
producing high schools for crime.
This general assertion can be proved
by abundant evidence, and our chief
of police and sheriff would bear with
me. 1t is not the treatment they re-
ceive while there that makes the Jail
bad. but rather the evil OF the system
itself. Personally, I know Of no task
more unpleasant to perform, as one OF
the duties OF office, than TO be re-
quired at times 10 argue for a jail
sentence. At the most, the Jail should
serve no further purpose than that of
being a place of temporary detention
for those awaiting trial, etc. The jail
is bound TO go as is indicated in our
state by the passage Of the penal farm
bill already mentioned.
MANY Of us know Of professional
men. business men, or men in other
walks Of life, who are habitually com
serious criminal OffenseS,
some of them occasionally caught.
many of them not Many OF these are
instructive, born criminals as much as
is the actual convict, even though
never within a penitentiary. They are
simply a different variety of the same
general type. formerly described as
lacking in moral sensibility,
excessively selfish and perhaps bru-
tai: generally crafty and sometimes in