The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1915-07-02

OF CRIMINALS
Capital Punishment Is
Likely to Become a
Political Issue.
BY :. d. NOON.)

Just now there seems tn be a nation
wide recruiting OF forces to inaugurate a
crusade against capital punishment Ii
will not he a matter of surprise il in a
short time the question of extreme pun
ishment becomes a political issue.
Ii WAS provided in one OF the early
amendments to the federal constitution
that cruel and unusual punishment should
not he inflicted. Hanging was at that
time considered a very mild and humane
method of execution The people at that
time thought with horror of the old ways
OF torture---of drawing and qusrtering, 8"
immersion in boiling oil, gradual crush
ing out of the life of one condemned by
a leisurely addition of heavy weights and
other means equally as ingenious---and
congratulated themselves, that among
other blessings of republican government
secured TO themselves and their posterity.
the abolition of the Darbaric practices
heretofore OBTAINING in depriving their
fellow creatures Of life at the behest of
the law was not the least.
When electrocution was III st used. there
was some doubt a. To whether or not
such an innovation WAS cruel and unusu-
al punishment; but the courts held that
eiectrocution was an even milder and
more humane method of detachiug life
from the flesh than hanging.
Now another stage of humanity has
been reached and there is a widespread
feeling that for this day and generation
electrocution il cruel and unusual pun
ishment. IL IL argued by many that
capital punishment a. a deterrent of
grave crime has proven failure, and
offer in support of their argument, among
other things, that according 70 the sta
tistics of those states in which capital
punishment is not inflicted, there are
fewer murders and other heInous crimes
committed than in those wherein the
gallows and the electric chair uphold the
old doctrine Of "a life for life," and
not infrequently the amended form, that
requires life for less than a life.
The prohibition wave will very prob
ably be followed by a great uprising
against capital punishment. Expediency
A. well as utility and humanity will he
used as weapons of argument In this
connection, We recall that one Of the last
official acts of Bryan WAS 10 intervene in
the behalf of five Mexicans condemned
to die in Arizona for murder, and out OF
Difference to the opinion of Bryan, that
carrying out the death sentence would
have deleterious effect upon the Mex
lean attitude toward the United States.
the executions were stayed purely on
grounds OF expediency.
OF late years, too, persons of promi-
nence have been so frequently found
guilty of crimes calling for the death pen
atty, that the horror of the thing has
made itself manifest in quarters where
there was only Indifference a. long a. the
fruit for the gallows and electric chair
was gathered only among the poor and
lowly.
Most Of rs believe that the body acts
soley on the instruction and command
OF the mind; then. il is not futile To kill
the body and leave the accessory before
the fact unpunished? for unless our be-
lief be false, no matter how many per-
sons are executed, there j. A. much
mind in the world a. before. and We
know not what crime il may commit in
some other form Of reincarnation. When
a man l. hanged or electrocutcl. accord
ing TO the prevailing theories Of immor-
tality, his spirit---the very part that or
dered him % transgre-s---is turned loose.
and nobody can tell what further damage
Il may do in some other guise. Il would
seem safer, therefore. TO make life i'm
pr'sonment the extreme punishment for
human error.
IL l. doubtful, however, whether the
present cutlery against capital punish
ment - an evidence Of increased tender
ness Of the public heart or merely a man
Hesitation Of the maudlin sentiment that
periodically burns incense At an altar
erected 10 crime and dedicated 70 great
criminals.